Al Dhafra

Full name	Al Dhafra Football Club
Nickname(s)	Al Fursan Al Gharib (The Western Knights)
Founded	2000
Ground	Al Dhafra Stadium
Capacity	5,020
Owner	Hamdan bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Manager	Paulo Comelli
League	UAE First Division League
2022–23	UAE Pro League, 14th (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Al Dhafra FC (Arabic: نادي الظفرة لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club based in Madinat Zayed that competes in the UAE First Division League.^[1]

Their futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship.

History

Al Dhafra FC was established in 2000, as part of a policy to promote sports across the country and the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi had no team, so Al Dhafra is the first and only club to be located in the western region.^[2] For most of its history the club was classified as a semi-professional club according to the UAE Pro League committee and did not have licenses to compete in the AFC competitions but the team had continued to appeal for a license since qualifying for the UAE President's Cup for the first time in 2019.^[3] Around 2020 the club finally obtained their licenses, thus all pro league teams can compete in AFC competitions.^[4]

Honours

• President's Cup:
  • Runners-up (1): 2018–19
  • Finalist (1): 2019–20
• UAE First Division League: 2
  • Champions: 2001–02, 2006–07
• UAE Vice Presidents Cup: 1
  • Champions: 2012

Season-by-season record

_{Notes^ 2019–20 UAE football season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates.}

Current squad

As of 2023 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  UAE Rayed Reda (on loan from Shabab Al Ahli) 2 DF  UAE Ali Moustafa 4 MF  UAE Sultan Al Ghaferi 5 MF  UAE Mansoor Al-Harbi 6 DF  UAE Yasser Abdullah 7 MF  UAE Walid Amber 8 MF  BRA Antônio Falcão 9 FW  CPV Carlos Fortes 10 MF  UAE Khalil Ibrahim 11 MF  GUI Malick Sylla U21 12 MF  UAE Saleh Al-Hosani U21 13 MF  CIV Bi Gole Djehi U21 14 DF  UAE Rakadh Nashmi 15 DF  UAE Hamad Al-Marzouqi 16 DF  ARG Pedro Pavlov 17 DF  UAE Ibrahim Al-Hammadi 18 FW  NGA Joel Odinaka 19 DF  UAE Sultan Husain 20 DF  GHA Leonard Amesimeku U21

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  UAE Yaqoub Al Hosani 22 MF  UAE Lahej Al-Nofali 23 DF  UAE Ibrahim Al-Hosani U21 24 MF  MLI Sidiki Traore U21 25 DF  UAE Hamad Musalam 27 MF  NGA Joel Owargoga U21 29 FW  UAE Abdullah Al-Hammadi 30 GK  OMA Mazen Al-Harasi U21 33 DF  ITA Gabriel Santini (on loan from Ittihad Kalba) 36 GK  UAE Jarah Al-Hammadi U21 44 DF  UAE Majed Abdulla 55 GK  UAE Saeed Al-Mesmari 80 MF  GUI Mansa Konate 90 FW  BRA Diogo Acosta 92 FW  UAE Saeed Jassim 93 FW  COD Benik Afobe — DF  UAE Saoud Al-Karbi — FW  UAE Jassim Johar

Managerial history

Name	Nat.	From	To	Ref.
Piet Hamberg		2003	2004
Sebastião Rocha		2005	2006
Ammar Souayah		May 2007	November 2007	[5][6]
Ayman El Ramadi		November 2007	August 2008	[7]
Mohammad Kwid		September 2008	December 2008	[8]
Eid Baroot		December 2008	June 2009	[9]
Laurent Banide		July 2009	February 2010	[10]
Slobodan Halilović		February 2010	March 2010
Michel Decastel		March 2010	November 2010	[11]
Alexandre Guimarães		November 2010	April 2011
Mohammad Kwid		April 2011	June 2011	[12]
Baltemar Brito		June 2011	December 2011	[13][14]
Magdy Mostafa		December 2011	May 2012
Džemal Hadžiabdić		May 2012	December 2012	[15]
Laurent Banide		December 2012	April 2013	[16]
Abdullah Mesfer		April 2013	May 2014
Anel Karabeg		May 2014	September 2014	[17]
Marin Ion		September 2014	January 2015	[18]
Laurent Banide		January 2015	November 2015	[19]
Mohammad Kwid		November 2015	January 2018
Gjoko Hadžievski		January 2018	May 2018	[20]
Vuk Rašović		May 2018	September 2020	[21]
Mohammad Kwid		September 2020	October 2020	[22]
Aleksandar Veselinović		October 2020	January 2021
Mohammad Kwid		January 2021	October 2021
Rogério Micale		October 2021	March 2022	[23]
Badr Al Idrissi		March 2022	May 2022	[24]
Nebojša Vignjević		July 2022	October 2022
Aleksandar Veselinović		October 2022	February 2023
Badr Al Idrissi		February 2023	August 2023
Abdullah Mesfer		August 2023	November 2023
Paulo Comelli		December 2023	present