Football in the United Arab Emirates

[1] The United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAEFA), the governing body for the sport in the UAE, was founded as recently as 1971, affiliating to FIFA in 1974.

[2] A "test" league was run by the formed body in 1973–74 season in order to determine a format for competitive association football in the country.

Amongst the names to compete have been Paraguayan international Roberto Acuña, former Internazionale Mohamed Kallon and 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year Fabio Cannavaro.

[citation needed] The United Arab Emirates national football team, nicknamed Al Abyad, made their first appearance in 1972.

In 1996, as hosts, UAE topped their group and then won games against Iraq and Kuwait to set up a final against Saudi Arabia.

The UAE started the group stages by finishing first right above Thailand and Bahrain, they would beat Kyrgyzstan at extra time and knock out the defending Asian Cup champions, Australia, in the quarter-finals twice in a row and would lose in the semi-finals to Qatar making it the second time in a row the Emiratis would lose in the semi-finals.

They were placed into Group D alongside leading European teams West Germany and Yugoslavia as well as South Americans Colombia.

Al-Ain became the sole UAE team to win the competition in the 2002-03 season, defeating Thailand's BEC Tero Sasana 2–1 on aggregate in a two legged final.