Sharjah FC

Sharjah Football Club (Arabic: نادي الشارقة لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club based in Sharjah that competes in the UAE Pro League. Their home stadium is Sharjah Stadium.

Sharjah

Full name	Sharjah Football Club
Nickname(s)	Al Malek (The King)
Short name	Sharjah
Founded	1966; 58 years ago (1966)^[1]
Ground	Sharjah Stadium
Capacity	18,000^[2]
Owner	Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi
Chairman	Ali Al Midfa
Manager	Cosmin Olăroiu
League	UAE Pro League
2022–23	UAE Pro League, 7th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Founded in 1966, Sharjah FC is considered to be one of the pioneers and top institutes in UAE Football since its inception, Achieving success throughout the years made Sharjah one of the most prestigious clubs in the country. Sharjah FC is also the most successful team in the Emirate of Sharjah, winning 6 Pro League titles, 10 Presidents Cups, 1 League Cup and 3 Super Cups. The club was also the first official UAE league champion since its establishment in 1974.

History

Golden Age

Sharjah FC was founded in 1966 under the name of Al Oruba Club, they were the first official champions of the UAE League winning it in 1974 after beating Al Ahli and Oman. The club would merge with Al Khaleej in 1974 to form Al Sharjah SCC and relocate their headquarters in Sharjah City. The club would later see itself win the league in 4 more occasions during the 80s and 90s and 8 out of the 22 players in the UAE's 1990 squad were players from Sharjah, more than any other club at the time.^[3]

Decline

During the mid-2000s however, Sharjah would see a decline as they would finish in mid-table consecutively and in 2012, the club got relegated for the first time in their history. However, the club managed to quickly get promoted back to the top tier division in 2013.

New Era

Sharjah FC has managed to win their first title since 1996 in 2019 with a record of only one loss. On 14 September 2019, Sharjah managed to win their first UAE Super Cup title since 1994 after beating Shabab Al Ahli in penalties 4–3. The club went on to win the UAE League Cup in the 2022–23 season for the first time in the clubs history, the club also managed to win two more UAE President's Cup back to back after reaching the final in 2022 and 2023 beating Al Wahda 1-0 and Al Ain 14–13 on penalties, making Sharjah FC the champions a record of 10 times, the most in the country.

Honours

Domestic

Leagues

UAE League

• Winners (6): 1973–74, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2018–19

UAE Division One

• Winners (1): 1992–93

Cups

UAE President's Cup

• Winners (10): 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2021–22, 2022–23

UAE League Cup

• Winners (1): 2022–23

UAE Super Cup

• Winners (3): 1994, 2019, 2022

Joint League Cup

• Winners (1): 1977^[4]

Regional

GCC Champions League

• Winners (1): 1991

Qatar–UAE Super Cup

• Runners-up (1): 2023–24^[5]

Season-by-season record

Season	Lvl.	Tms.	Pos.	President's Cup	League Cup
2008–09	1	12	10th	Quarter-Finals	First Round
2009–10	1	12	6th	Round of 16	First Round
2010–11	1	12	7th	Preliminary Round	First Round
2011–12	1	12	12th	Semi-Finals	First Round
2012–13	2	14	2nd	Quarter-Finals	—
2013–14	1	14	7th	Round of 16	Semi-Finals
2014–15	1	14	12th	Round of 16	Runner-ups
2015–16	1	14	11th	Quarter-Finals	First Round
2016–17	1	14	9th	Semi-Finals	First Round
2017–18	1	12	6th	Quarter-Finals	First Round
2018–19	1	14	1st	Semi-Finals	First Round
2019–20^a	1	14	4th	Semi-Finals	Quarter-Finals
2020–21	1	14	4th	Semi-Finals	Quarter-Finals
2021–22	1	14	2nd	Champions	First Round
2022–23	1	14	7th	Champions	Champions

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

Club officials

Position	Staff
Manager	Cosmin Olăroiu
Assistant Manager	Catalin Necula
First Team Coach	Gabriel Caramarin
Goalkeeper Coach	Eugen Nae
Technical Staff	Abdulrahman Al-Haddad
Fitness Trainer	Ferdinando Hippoliti
Rehab Trainer	Leandro Aiub
Analyst	Rareș Ene

Current squad

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 Khaled Tawhid ^U21 2 DF   UAE Hamad Fahad ^U21 3 DF   UAE Al Hassan Saleh 4 DF   UAE Shahin Abdulrahman 5 DF   CRO Maro Katinić ^U21 6 DF   UAE Majed Suroor 7 MF   BRA Caio 8 MF   UAE Mohammed Abdulbasit 10 MF   BIH Miralem Pjanić 11 MF   TUN Firas Ben Larbi 12 FW   UAE Sebastián Tagliabúe 13 DF   UAE Salem Sultan 14 MF   UAE Khaled Ba Wazir 15 DF   UAE Abdulaziz Al-Kaabi 17 MF   UAE Dhari Fahad ^U21 18 DF   UAE Abdullah Ghanem 19 DF   UAE Khaled Ibrahim 20 GK   UAE Mayed Mohsen

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 FW   UAE Mayed Al-Kass ^U21 22 DF   BRA Marcus Meloni 23 FW   UAE Salem Saleh 24 MF   UAE Majid Rashid 25 MF   UAE Saeed Al-Kaabi 26 GK   UAE Darwish Bin Habib 27 MF   UAE Luanzinho 28 FW   BRA Alison Matheus ^U21 29 DF   BRA David Gondim ^U21 30 FW   GUI Ousmane Camara 33 DF   KOR Cho Yu-min 34 DF   UAE Ali Al-Hadidi ^U21 40 GK   UAE Adel Al-Hosani 71 DF   UAE Ali Taher ^U21 77 MF   UAE Khalifa Sembaij ^U21 88 MF   UAE Majed Hassan 91 FW   MLI Moussa Marega 92 MF   UAE Abdelrahman Murad

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 9 FW   ESP Paco Alcácer (on loan to Emirates) 16 DF   UAE Abdullah Al-Hammadi (on loan to Hatta)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   UAE Saif Rashid (on loan to Ajman)

Performance in AFC competitions

• AFC Champions League: 6 appearances

2004: Quarter Finals

2009: Withdrew

2020: Group Stage

2021: Round of 16

2022: Group Stage

2023–24: Group Stage

AFC Champions League history

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2004	Group C	Al-Shorta	2–0	3–2	1st
		Al-Hilal	5–2	0–0
		Al-Ahli	3–0	3–0
	Quarter-finals	Seongnam	2–5	0–6	2–11
2020	Group C	Al Taawoun	0–1	6–0	4th
		Persepolis	2–2	0–4
		Al-Duhail	4–2	1–2
2021	Group B	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	3–2	1st
		Tractor	0–2	0–0
		Pakhtakor	4–1	1–1
	Round of 16	Al Wahda	1–1 (p) (4–5)
2022	Playoffs	Al-Zawraa	1–1 (p) (6–5)
	Group A	Al-Hilal	2–2	1–2	3rd
		Al-Rayyan	1–1	1–3
		Istiklol	2–1	0–2
2023–24	Preliminary round	Bashundhara Kings	2–0
	Play-off	Tractor	3–1
	Group B	Al-Sadd	0–2	0–0	3rd
		Al-Faisaly	1–0	1–2
		Nasaf	1–0	1–1

• Asian Club Championship: 2 appearances

1989: Group Stage

1994: First Round

Asian Club Championship history

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1989	Group 2	Al-Ettifaq	0–1		3rd
		West Riffa	2–0
		Kazma	0–3
		Fanja	4–1
1994	First Round	Al-Muharraq	1–1	1–2	2–3

Record by Country

Country	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win%
Bahrain	5	3	1	1	10	3	+7	060.00
Bangladesh	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Iran	5	1	2	2	5	9	−4	020.00
Iraq	5	4	1	0	10	5	+5	080.00
Jordan	2	1	0	1	2	2	+0	050.00
Kuwait	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3	000.00
Oman	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	100.00
Qatar	6	1	2	3	7	10	−3	016.67
Saudi Arabia	7	2	2	3	14	8	+6	028.57
South Korea	2	0	0	2	2	11	−9	000.00
Tajikistan	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	050.00
United Arab Emirates	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
Uzbekistan	4	2	2	0	7	3	+4	050.00

Managerial history

Name	Nat.	From	To	Ref.
Faouzi Benzarti		January 2001	2001	^[6]
Dragan Gugleta		December 2001	2002	^[7]
Pavle Dolezar		July 2002	October 2002	^[8]^[9]
Pedro Rosello		October 2002	November 2002	^[10]
Juma Rabea		November 2002	June 2004
Youssef Zouaoui		June 2004	2005	^[11]
Henri Stambouli		2005	January 2006	^[12]
Wajdi Essid		January 2006	February 2006	^[13]
Rainer Zobel		February 2006	2006	^[14]
Srećko Juričić		June 2006	October 2006	^[15]
Renê Weber		October 2006	May 2007	^[16]^[17]
Juma Rabea		May 2007	May 2007	^[18]^[19]
Gerard van der Lem		July 2007	March 2008	^[20]
Wajdi Essid		March 2008	2008
Youssef Zouaoui		June 2008	February 2009	^[21]^[22]
Manuel Cajuda		July 2009	May 2011	^[23]
Abdulmajeed Al Nimr		May 2011	2011
Carlos Azenha		June 2011	September 2011	^[24]^[25]
Valeriu Tița		September 2011	December 2011	^[26]
Jorvan Vieira		December 2011	February 2012	^[27]
Valeriu Tița		February 2012	April 2012	^[28]^[29]
Abdulmajeed Al Nimr		April 2012	June 2012
Faouzi Benzarti		June 2012	November 2012	^[30]
Ayman El Ramadi		November 2012	2013	^[31]
Paulo Bonamigo		June 2013	November 2015	^[32]^[33]
Abdulaziz Al Anbari		November 2015	2016	^[34]
Georgios Donis		July 2016	January 2017	^[35]
José Peseiro		January 2017	October 2017	^[36]
Abdulaziz Al Anbari		October 2017	November 2021	^[37]
Cosmin Olăroiu		November 2021	Present	^[38]

See also

• List of football clubs in the United Arab Emirates

References

1. "Sharjah". UAE Pro League Committee. from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
2. "2019 AFC Asian Cup Welcome Guide". Asian Football Confederation. from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
3. https://www.sharjahfc.gov.ae/تأريخ-تأسيس-النادي/ 2018-12-13 at the Wayback Machine ^{[bare URL]}
4. "Joint League" (in Arabic). UAEFA.ae. from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
5. "Al Arabi clinch Qatar-UAE Super Cup title". Gulf Today. 13 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
6. البنزرتي مدرباً للشارقة الإماراتي
7. بطولة الامارات: مواجهات قوية في المرحلة السادسة
8. الشارقة الإماراتي يتعاقد مع المدرب الفرنسي دوليزار
9. المدرب دوليزار اول ضحايا الموسم الاماراتي
10. مدرب الشارقة الضحية الثالثة!
11. التونسي الزواوي مدرباً للشارقة خلفاً لجمعة ربيع
12. الشارقة الإماراتي يقيل مدربه اسطنبولي
13. التونسي وجدي الصيد مدرباً للشارقة
14. الشارقة يتعاقد مع المدرب الألماني راينر تسوبيل
15. ستريشكو يقود مران الوداع في الشارقة
16. ويبر يقود تدريبات الشارقة.. والفريق يطوي صفحة ستريشكو
17. الشارقة يقيل ويبر ويكلف جمعة ربيع لقيادة الفريق
18. تفاؤل حذر في الشارقة بعد تولي جمعة ربيع المسؤولية
19. جمعة ربيع يعتذر عن عدم الاستمرار مع الشارقة
20. Van der Lem is new Sharjah senior coach
21. الشارقة يتعاقد رسمياً مع الزواوي
22. الزواوي يستقيل من تدريب الشارقة
23. Sharjah coach Kajuda sacked
24. Sharjah get Portugal's Azenha as new coach
25. Azenha resignation stuns Sharjah
26. Tita takes over as new Sharjah coach
27. Saleh move pays off for Calderon and Baniyas
28. Sharjah about-turn on Tita sacking seven weeks on
29. Tita dismissed as Sharjah coach for the second time
30. Benzarti Sharjah coach
31. الرمادي: هدفي مع الملك بناء الفريق والصعود للمحترفين
32. Paulo Bonamigo's rebuilding job at Sharjah starts with Ze Carlos
33. Paulo Bonamigo leaves struggling Sharjah; Walter Zenga linked with return to UAE
34. Sharjah denied victory by ten-man Al Dhafra in 0-0 draw
35. Donis arrives to take charge of Al Sharjah
36. Coach Peseiro sacked by Sharjah
37. Al Anbari takes Sharjah hotseat
38. Cosmin: My ambition is great with Sharjah team to achieve titles

External links

• Official website