Al Dhafra FC (Arabic: نادي الظفرة لكرة القدم) is a professional football club based in Madinat Zayed, United Arab Emirates. As of the 2020–21 season they play in the UAE Arabian Gulf League.[1] Their futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship.

This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013)

Al Dhafra FC
نادي الظفرة لكرة القدم

Full name	Al Dhafra Sport & Culture 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	Nebojša Vignjević
League	UAE Pro League
2021–22	UAE Pro League, 12th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

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]

Current squad

As of UAE Pro-League:

No Position Player Nation 1 GK Khaled Al-Senani  United Arab Emirates 2 DF Mohammed Saif  United Arab Emirates 3 DF Mohamed Adel (on loan from Al Wahda)  United Arab Emirates 4 MF Sultan Al Ghaferi  United Arab Emirates 5 DF Musallem Fayez  United Arab Emirates 6 DF Khalid Butti  United Arab Emirates 7 MF Amran Al-Jassasi  Oman 8 FW Mohamed Al-Junaibi  United Arab Emirates 10 FW Guilherme Augusto  Brazil 11 FW Saeed Al-Kathiri  United Arab Emirates 14 MF Eissa Al-Otaiba  United Arab Emirates 15 DF Hamad Al-Marzouqi  United Arab Emirates 16 MF Mohammed Al-Wahshi  United Arab Emirates 17 DF Khalaf Al-Hosani  United Arab Emirates 18 MF Ahmed Ali  United Arab Emirates 19 DF Mohammed Msarri U21  United Arab Emirates 20 DF Leonard Amesimeku U21  Ghana 21 MF Ahmed Amer U21  United Arab Emirates 22 MF Mohammed Yousuf U21  United Arab Emirates 23 GK Salem Khairi (on loan from Al-Jazira)  United Arab Emirates 24 MF Khalid Al Darmaki  United Arab Emirates 25 MF Lucas Cândido  Brazil 27 MF Ibrahim Al-Hammadi U21  United Arab Emirates 29 FW Abdullah Al-Hammadi U21  United Arab Emirates 30 GK Abdullah Sultan  United Arab Emirates 32 MF Mohammed Al-Zaabi  United Arab Emirates 41 DF Pedro Pavlov  Argentina 42 GK Hareb Al-Hosani U21  United Arab Emirates 44 DF Rashed Abdulla U21 (on loan from Al Wahda)  United Arab Emirates 55 MF Suhail Al-Mansoori  United Arab Emirates 66 MF Walid Amber (on loan from Ittihad Kalba)  United Arab Emirates 70 GK Jarah Al-Hammadi U21  United Arab Emirates 71 FW Saleh Al-Hosani U21  United Arab Emirates 73 DF Saif Al-Harthi  United Arab Emirates 77 FW Hamdan Al-Muharrami  United Arab Emirates 88 MF Sinisa Jolacic U21  Serbia 89 FW João Marcos (on loan from Al Wahda)  Brazil 90 FW Hassan Sameh U21  Egypt 94 DF Rashed Muhayer  United Arab Emirates 97 MF Khater Subait U21  United Arab Emirates — MF Mohamed Rayhi  Netherlands — FW Mitchell te Vrede  Suriname

Out on loan

No Position Player Nation 36 GK Zayed Al-Hammadi (on loan to Khor Fakkan)  United Arab Emirates — DF Sultan Al-Sowaidi (on loan to Emirates)  United Arab Emirates Managers Mohammad Kwid (2008) Laurent Banide (2009) Baltemar Brito (2011) Džemal Hadžiabdić (2011–12) Laurent Banide (2012–13) Abdullah Mesfer (2013–14) Anel Karabeg (2014) Marin Ion (2014–15) Mohammad Kwid (2015–18) Gjoko Hadžievski (2018) Vuk Rašović (2018–2020) Aleksandar Veselinović (2020–2021) Mohammad Kwid (2021) Rogério Micale (2021–2022) Nebojša Vignjević (2022–) Pro-League Record Season Lvl. Tms. Pos. President's Cup League Cup 2008–09 1 12 8th Semi-Finals First Round 2009–10 1 12 9th Quarter-Finals First Round 2010–11 1 12 12th Round of 16 First Round 2011–12 2 8 4th Round of 16 — 2012–13 1 14 8th Round of 16 First Round 2013–14 1 14 8th Semi-Finals Semi-Finals 2014–15 1 14 11th Semi-Finals First Round 2015–16 1 14 8th Round of 16 First Round 2016–17 1 14 7th Round of 16 First Round 2017–18 1 12 10th Round of 16 First Round 2018–19 1 14 10th Runner-ups First Round 2019–20a 1 14 7th Finalists First Round 2020–21 1 14 11th Quarter-Finals First Round 2021–22 1 14 12th Round of 16 First Round Notes^ 2019–20 UAE football season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates. Key Pos. = Position Tms. = Number of teams Lvl. = League 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 References "Al Dhafra SCC". Soccerway. Perform. Retrieved 16 May 2014. "Al Dhafra History". Al Dhafra. Al Dhafra FC. Retrieved 10 November 2014. "الظفرة يستأنف ضد عدم منحه ترخيص المحترفين" (in Arabic). البيان. Retrieved 28 June 2019. "14 نادياً تحصل على الترخيص الآسيوي" (in Arabic). البيان. Retrieved 20 October 2020. External links (in Arabic) Official site

На других языках

[de] Al-Dhafra

[es] Al-Dhafra Club

[ru] Аль-Зафра