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
Logo
Full nameSharjah Football Club
Nickname(s)Al-Malik (The Kings)
Short nameSharjah
Founded1966; 58 years ago (1966)[1]
GroundSharjah Stadium
Capacity18,000[2]
OwnerSultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi
ChairmanAli Al Midfa
Head coachCosmin Olăroiu
LeagueUAE Pro League
2023–24UAE Pro League, 4th
Websitehttps://sharjahclub.ae/en/
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

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Golden Age

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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

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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 were quickly promoted back to the top tier division in 2013.

New Era

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Sharjah FC won their first title since 1996 in 2019 with a record of only one loss. On 14 September 2019, Sharjah won 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 won two more UAE President's Cups 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

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Domestic

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Leagues

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Cups

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Regional

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Season-by-season record

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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
2019–20a 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
2023–24 1 14 4th Quarter-Finals Quarter-Finals

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

Club officials

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

Current squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   UAE Khaled Tawhid U23
2 DF   UAE Hamad Fahad U23
3 DF   UAE Al Hassan Saleh
4 DF   UAE Shahin Abdulrahman
5 DF   CRO Maro Katinić U23
6 MF   UAE Dhari Fahad U23
7 MF   UAE Caio
8 MF   UAE Mohammed Abdulbasit
9 FW   ESP Paco Alcácer
10 MF   TUN Firas Ben Larbi
11 MF   UAE Luanzinho
13 DF   UAE Salem Sultan
14 MF   UAE Khaled Ba Wazir
16 MF   CRO Darko Nejašmić
17 GK   UAE Mayed Mohsen
18 DF   UAE Abdullah Ghanem
19 DF   UAE Khaled Ibrahim
20 DF   KOR Cho Yu-min
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 FW   UAE Mayed Al-Kass U23
22 MF   UAE Marcus Meloni
23 FW   SUR Tyrone Conraad
24 MF   UAE Majid Rashid
27 MF   BRA Guilherme Biro U23 (on loan from Corinthians)
28 FW   BRA Alison Matheus U21
29 DF   BRA David Gondim U21
30 FW   UAE Ousmane Camara
34 DF   UAE Ali Al-Hadidi U23
40 GK   UAE Adel Al-Hosani
43 MF   UAE Matar Zaal U23
44 DF   SRB David Petrović U23
53 GK   UAE Abdulla Zaal U23
70 FW   UAE Badr Al-Sowaidi U23
71 DF   UAE Ali Taher U23
77 MF   UAE Khalifa Sembaij U23
88 MF   UAE Majed Hassan
92 MF   UAE Abdelrahman Murad U23

Unregistered players

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
25 MF   UAE Saeed Al-Kaabi
No. Pos. Nation Player
32 DF   UAE Abdullah Al-Hammadi

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
26 GK   UAE Darwish Bin Habib (on loan to Al-Bataeh)
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF   UAE Majed Suroor (on loan to Al-Wasl)

Performance in AFC competitions

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2004: Quarter Finals
2009: Withdrew
2020: Group Stage
2021: Round of 16
2022: Group Stage
2023–24: Group Stage

AFC Champions League history

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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
1989: Group Stage
1994: First Round

Asian Club Championship history

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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

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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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ "Sharjah". UAE Pro League Committee. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  2. ^ "2019 AFC Asian Cup Welcome Guide". Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  3. ^ https://www.sharjahfc.gov.ae/تأريخ-تأسيس-النادي/ Archived 2018-12-13 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL]
  4. ^ "Joint League" (in Arabic). UAEFA.ae. Archived 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
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