Al Dhafra FC
ClubnameAl Dhafra
Upright0.7
FullnameAl Dhafra Football Club
Founded2000
GroundAl Dhafra Stadium
Capacity5,020
OwnerHamdan bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
MgrtitleHead coach
ManagerZeljko Petrovic
LeagueUAE Pro League
Season2024–25
Position1st of 14 (promoted)
Websitewww.dfsc.ae/dhafra
Pattern la 1_dhafra2021h
Pattern b 1_dhafra2021h
Pattern ra 1_dhafra2021h
Pattern sh 1_dhafra2021h
Pattern so 1_dhafra2021h
Leftarm 165b7ec
Body 165b7ec
Rightarm 165b7ec
Shorts 1FFFF00
Socks 1FFFF00
Pattern la 2_dhafra2021a
Pattern b 2_dhafra2021a
Pattern ra 2_dhafra2021a
Pattern sh 2_dhafra2021a
Pattern so 2_color_3_stripes_gold
Leftarm 2003050
Body 2003050
Rightarm 2003050
Shorts 2003050
Socks 2003050

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

Season-by-season record

SeasonLvl.Tms.Pos.President's CupLeague Cup
2008–091128thSemi-FinalsFirst Round
2009–109thQuarter-Finals
2010–1112thRound of 16
2011–12284th—
2012–131148thFirst Round
2013–14Semi-FinalsSemi-Finals
2014–1511thFirst Round
2015–168thRound of 16
2016–177th
2017–1810th
2018–19Runner-ups
2019–207thFinalists
2020–2111thQuarter-Finals
2021–2212thRound of 16
2022–2314thQuarter-Finals
2023–242168th
2024–25141st
2025–26114

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

Players

Current squad

As of 18 January 2026

Coaching staff

PositionStaff
Head coachZeljko Petrovic
Assistant coachAhmed Al Hammadi
Goalkeeper coachAlexandre Lopes
Fitness coachVacant
AnalystVacant
DoctorSalem Mohammed
PhysiotherapistsVacant
InterpreterVacant
Team administratorKhamis Al Mazrouei
Team managerSultan Al Hammadi
Technical directorAhmed Kamal Ahmed

Managerial history

NameNat.FromToRef.
Piet Hamberg20032004
Sebastião Rocha20052006
Ammar SouayahMay 2007November 2007[5][6]
Ayman El RamadiNovember 2007August 2008[7]
Mohammad KwidSeptember 2008December 2008[8]
Eid BarootDecember 2008June 2009[9]
Laurent BanideJuly 2009February 2010[10]
Slobodan HalilovićFebruary 2010March 2010
Michel DecastelMarch 2010November 2010[11]
Alexandre GuimarãesNovember 2010April 2011
Mohammad KwidApril 2011June 2011[12]
Baltemar BritoJune 2011December 2011[13][14]
Magdy MostafaDecember 2011May 2012
Džemal HadžiabdićMay 2012December 2012[15]
Laurent BanideDecember 2012April 2013[16]
Abdullah MesferApril 2013May 2014
Anel KarabegMay 2014September 2014[17]
Marin IonSeptember 2014January 2015[18]
Laurent BanideJanuary 2015November 2015[19]
Mohammad KwidNovember 2015January 2018
Gjoko HadžievskiJanuary 2018May 2018[20]
Vuk RašovićMay 2018September 2020[21]
Mohammad KwidSeptember 2020October 2020[22]
Aleksandar VeselinovićOctober 2020January 2021
Mohammad KwidJanuary 2021October 2021
Rogério MicaleOctober 2021March 2022[23]
Badr Al IdrissiMarch 2022May 2022[24]
Nebojša VignjevićJuly 2022October 2022
Aleksandar VeselinovićOctober 2022February 2023
Badr Al IdrissiFebruary 2023August 2023
Abdullah MesferAugust 2023November 2023
Paulo ComelliDecember 2023February 2024
Alen HorvatMarch 2024May 2025
Željko PetrovićMay 2025Present

See also

References

  1. ^ "Al Dhafra SCC". Soccerway. Perform. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Al Dhafra History". Al Dhafra. Al Dhafra FC. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  3. ^ "الظفرة يستأنف ضد عدم منحه ترخيص المحترفين" (in Arabic). البيان. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  4. ^ "14 نادياً تحصل على الترخيص الآسيوي" (in Arabic). البيان. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  5. ^ التونسي عمار السويح مدرباً للظفرة
  6. ^ الظفرة الاماراتي يقيل مدربه التونسي السويح
  7. ^ الرمادي: استقلت من الظفرة احتراماً لمهنة التدريب
  8. ^ الظفرة يتعاقد مع السوري قويض لقيادة فريق الكرة
  9. ^ عيد باروت مدرباً للظفرة محل قويض
  10. ^ إقالة لوران بانيد مدرب الظفرة
  11. ^ الظفرة ينهi تعاقده مع السويسري دي كاستال
  12. ^ السوري القويض مدربا للظفرة الإماراتي
  13. ^ مساعد مورينيو مدرباً للظفــرة
  14. ^ مساعد مورينيو مدرباً للظفــرة
  15. ^ الظفرة يقيل حاجي وبانيد بديلاً
  16. ^ بانيد مدرب الظفرة الجديد يجتمع مع الإدارة واللاعبين اليوم
  17. ^ خميس المنصوري: 8 لاعبين يغادرون الظفرة
  18. ^ Al Dhafra appoint Marin Ion to replace sacked Karabeg
  19. ^ الظفرة الإماراتي يقيل مدربه بانيد ويعين السوري قويض
  20. ^ رحيل قويض عن تدريب الظفرة.. وجوكيكا بديلا
  21. ^ Al Dhafra appoint Rasovic
  22. ^ نادي الظفرة يتعاقد مع المدرب محمد قويض
  23. ^ البرازيلي ميكالي مدرباً للظفرة خلفاً لقويض
  24. ^ الظفرة يقيل ميكالي ويعين المغربي الإدريسي مدرباً للفريق