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 the Sharjah Stadium.

Sharjah

Full name	Sharjah Football Club
Nickname(s)	The King Sharjawy (supporters)
Short name	Sharjah
Founded	1966; 59 years ago (1966)[1]
Ground	Sharjah Stadium
Capacity	12,499
Owner	Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi
Chairman	Ali Al Midfa
Head coach	Miloš Milojević
League	UAE Pro League
2024–25	UAE Pro League, 2nd of 14
Website	sharjahclub.ae/en/
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Founded in 1966, Sharjah is considered to be one of the pioneers of UAE football since its inception. Achieving success through the years has 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, 3 Super Cups, and 1 AFC Champions League Two title. The club was also the first official UAE league champion since its establishment in 1974.

History

Golden age

Sharjah 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.^[2]

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

New era

Sharjah 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, In the 2024-25 seasons the club ended up winning their first ever continental title which was the AFC Champions League 2 only losing two games, and becoming the second ever UAE club to win a continental trophy.

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^[3]

Regional

• GCC Champions League
  • Winners (1): 1991
• Qatar–UAE Super Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2023–24^[4]

Continental

• AFC Cup / AFC Champions League Two
  • Winners (1): 2024–25

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
2019–20a	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
2024–25	1	14	2nd	Runner-ups

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

Club officials

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Miloš Milojević
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

Players

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 FW  UAE Caio Lucas 9 FW  ALB Rey Manaj 10 MF  TUN Firas Ben Larbi 11 MF  UAE Luanzinho 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 21 FW  UAE Mayed Al-Kass U23 22 MF  UAE Marcus Meloni 24 MF  UAE Majid Rashid 26 GK  UAE Darwish Bin Habib 27 MF  BRA Guilherme Biro U23

No. Pos. Nation Player 28 FW  BRA Alison Matheus U21 29 DF  BRA David Gondim U21 30 FW  UAE Ousmane Camara 32 DF  UAE Abdullah Al-Hammadi 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 49 MF  MAR Adel Taarabt 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 90 FW  GER Leon Dajaku 92 MF  UAE Abdelrahman Murad U23 — MF  UAE Majed Suroor — MF  ALB Feta Fetai (on loan from Lokomotiva Zagreb) — MF  BRA Igor Coronado — MF  ARG Gerónimo Poblete — FW  ARG Nicolás Clemente

Performance in AFC competitions

AFC Champions League history

• AFC Champions League: 6 appearances

2004: Quarter Finals

2009: Withdrew

2020: Group Stage

2021: Round of 16

2022: Group Stage

2023–24: Group Stage

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

AFC Champions League Two history

• AFC Champions League Two: 1 appearance

2024–25: Champions

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2024–25	Group C	Al Wehdat	2–2	3–1	1st
		Sepahan	3–1	1–3
		Istiklol	3–1	1–0
	Round of 16	Al Hussein	1–0	0–1	1–1 (3–0 p)
	Quarter-finals	Shabab Al Ahli	1–1	1–1	2–2 (5–4 p)
	Semi-finals	Al Taawoun	2–0	0–1	2–1
	Final	Lion City Sailors	2–1

Asian Club Championship history

• Asian Club Championship: 2 appearances

1989: Group Stage

1994: First Round

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

As of 18 May 2025

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	7	2	2	3	9	13	−4	028.57
Iraq	5	4	1	0	10	5	+5	080.00
Jordan	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	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	9	3	2	4	16	9	+7	033.33
Singapore	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
South Korea	2	0	0	2	2	11	−9	000.00
Tajikistan	4	3	0	1	6	4	+2	075.00
United Arab Emirates	3	0	3	0	3	3	+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	[5]
Dragan Gugleta		December 2001	2002	[6]
Pavle Dolezar		July 2002	October 2002	[7][8]
Pedro Rosello		October 2002	November 2002	[9]
Juma Rabea		November 2002	June 2004
Youssef Zouaoui		June 2004	2005	[10]
Henri Stambouli		2005	January 2006	[11]
Wajdi Essid		January 2006	February 2006	[12]
Rainer Zobel		February 2006	2006	[13]
Srećko Juričić		June 2006	October 2006	[14]
Renê Weber		October 2006	May 2007	[15][16]
Juma Rabea		May 2007	May 2007	[17][18]
Gerard van der Lem		July 2007	March 2008	[19]
Wajdi Essid		March 2008	2008
Youssef Zouaoui		June 2008	February 2009	[20][21]
Manuel Cajuda		July 2009	May 2011	[22]
Abdulmajeed Al Nimr		May 2011	2011
Carlos Azenha		June 2011	September 2011	[23][24]
Valeriu Tița		September 2011	December 2011	[25]
Jorvan Vieira		December 2011	February 2012	[26]
Valeriu Tița		February 2012	April 2012	[27][28]
Abdulmajeed Al Nimr		April 2012	June 2012
Faouzi Benzarti		June 2012	November 2012	[29]
Ayman El Ramadi		November 2012	2013	[30]
Paulo Bonamigo		June 2013	November 2015	[31][32]
Abdulaziz Al Anbari		November 2015	2016	[33]
Georgios Donis		July 2016	January 2017	[34]
José Peseiro		January 2017	October 2017	[35]
Abdulaziz Al Anbari		October 2017	November 2021	[36]
Cosmin Olăroiu		November 2021	May 2025	[37]

See also

• List of football clubs in the United Arab Emirates