Al Ain FC

In the early 1960s, a group of young men learned the rules of the game by watching British soldiers playing football and formed their own team. The first pitch was very simple and small, taking the shape of a square sandy plot of land on the main street near the Clock Roundabout in Al Ain.[5] In August 1968, the club was officially established, taking its name from the city they lived. The founders thought it was necessary to have a permanent headquarters for the club and rented a house on the current Khalifa Road for club meetings. The club's founders took responsibility for all the club's affairs, from planning the stadium to cleaning the club headquarters and washing the kit.[5] Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan was approached for assistance and he provided the club
with a permanent headquarters in the Al Jahili district and a Land Rover to serve the club and the team.[6] Al Ain made a successful debut by beating a team made up of British soldiers and went on to play friendly matches against other Abu Dhabi clubs. In 1971, the team played their first match against international opposition when they were defeated 7–0 by the Egyptian club Ismaily in a friendly match for the war effort.

In 1971, a group members of the club (Hadher Khalaf Al Muhairi, Saleem Al Khudrawi, Mohammed Khalaf Al Muhairi and Mahmoud Fadhlullah) broke away and founded Al Tadhamun Club.[7] In 1971, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan provided the club with new headquarters with modern specifications: the Khalifa Stadium in Al Sarooj district.[6] In 10 November 1974, Al Ain combined with the breakaway Al Tadhamun, to form the Al Ain Sports Club. The first board of directors of the club was formed after the merger under the chairmanship Mohammed Salem Al Dhaheri.[7]

The founders were Mohammed Saleh Bin Badooh and Khalifa Nasser Al Suwaidi, Saeed Bin Ghannoum Al Hameli, Abdullah Hazzam, Salem Hassan Al Muhairi, Abdullah and Mane'a Ajlan, Saeed Al Muwaisi, Nasser Dhaen, Abdullah Matar, Juma Al Najem, Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, Ibrahim Rasool and Ali Al Maloud and Ali Bu Majeed, who were the members of the Bahraini group of exchange students and Maamoun Abdulqader, Mahmoud Fadhlullah, Al Fateh Al Talib, Hussain Al Mirghani, Abbas Ali and Nasser, Abdullah Al Mansouri from the Sudanese and Saudi community working in the UAE.[1][8]

On 2 February 1974, the club won its first title, the Abu Dhabi League. On 13 November 1974, Sheikh Khalifa was named honorary president of Al Ain, in recognition of his continuing support for the club.[7] On 21 May 1975, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected Chairman of Board of Directors. In 1975, Al Ain won its second Abu Dhabi League.[9] In the same year on 21 March 1975, the club played its first UAE President Cup losing 4–5 on penalties in the Round of 16 against Al Shaab after drawing 1–1 in normal time. In 1975–76 season, the team participated for the first time in the UAE Football League, finishing runners-up behind Al Ahli. Al Ain won its first League title in the 1976–77 season, after drawing 1–1 with Al Sharjah in the last match. In the following season, they finished runners-up to Al Nasr; Mohieddine Habita was the top scorer with 20 goals. In the 1978–79 season, Al Ain secure third place with 27 points in the league and defeated by Sharjah in the President Cup final.

Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan became president of Al Ain on 19 January 1979. Al Ain won the League again in the 1980–81 season and lost the President Cup final to Al Shabab of Dubai. In 1983–84, the team won Joint League Cup and followed with its third League title, becoming the second with Al Ahli to have won the championship three times. The team had the strongest attack with 35 goals, and Ahmed Abdullah, with 20 goals was the joint-winner of the Arab League Golden Boot award for top scorer, alongside Al Wasl striker Fahad Khamees. This season was the first season in which foreign players were excluded from the UAE League, a restriction which was opposed by Al Ain. After winning the League title in 1983–84 season, Al Ain failed to win any trophies until 1989 when they won the Federation Cup. In the following year they reached the final of the President Cup, losing to Al Shabab.

The 1992–93 season began with several new signings: Saif Sultan (Ittihad Kalba), Salem Johar (Ajman), Saeed Juma (Emirates). Al Ain won their fourth League title with three games left to play, after a 5–0 win at Al Khaleej. In the following season, they finished second in the Football League and were runners-up the 1993 UAE Super Cup losing 2–1 against Al Shaab. They also reached the President Cup final but were beaten 1–0 by Al Shabab, failing for the fourth time to win the Cup. In 1994 and 1995, Al Ain lost two President Cup finals, finished second in the League, won the 1995 UAE Super Cup and lost out in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup second round to the Kuwaiti team Kazma. In the 1996–97 season, Al Ain were eliminated in the round of 16 of the President Cup by Hatta and finished fourth in the Football League.

Before the start of the 1997–98 season, the honorary board was formed on 7 June 1997.[10] After this initiative, Al Ain won the league championship. In the following season, they won the President Cup and finished runner-up in the league and secured the third place
in their second appearance in Asian Club Championship, after the 1985. Ilie Balaci took charge in 1999. He led them to their sixth League championship, while in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup they were eliminated by Al Jaish on the away goals rule in the first round.

In 2003, Al Ain contested the AFC Champions League competition. In the Group stage they won all three matches, beating Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, Al Sadd of Qatar and Esteghlal of Iran. In the semi-final they were matched against the Chinese side Dalian Shide over two legs.
In the first game, Al Ain won 4–2 at home, with Boubacar Sanogo scoring twice. In the return match in China Al Ain went 4–2 down with six minutes to play but won 7–6 on aggregate after a late goal by Farhad Majidi the Iranian legend. The final saw Al Ain face BEC Tero Sasana of Thailand.
In the home leg, Al Ain prevailed 2–0 with goals from Salem Johar and Mohammad Omar. At the Rajamangala Stadium on 11 October, Al Ain were beaten 1–0 by Tero Sasana, but won 2–1 on aggregate to become the first Emirati club to win the Champions League.

In December 2018, Al Ain which celebrated the 50th anniversary participating in the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup, representing the host nation as the reigning champions of the UAE Pro-League. Al Ain beat Team Wellington from New Zealand in the first round and Espérance de Tunis of 2018 CAF Champions League champions to enter semifinal. On 18 December 2018, Al Ain defeated Copa Libertadores champions River Plate by penalties hosted in their home stadium Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium to enter the final for the first time in team history and became the first Emirati club to reach the decisive match. The final, on 22 December, Al Ain lost 4–1 to UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Al Jahili Fort is considered as a symbol of the club, because it reflects the history of the city and also was the formal home of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan since 1946 when he was a ruler's representative. It officially became a crest for the club in 1980.[11]
They import a single star in their emblem because of their 2003 AFC Champions League victory.

The team began playing in green and white in 1968. After merging with Al Tadhamon in 1974, their red colour became Al Ain's from season 1974–75 until the start of season 1976–77. During the first team training camp in Morocco in 1977, a friendly tournament was held by Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca with the Nice, Sporting CP, and Anderlecht. Al Ain admired Anderlecht's purple colors, and an idea came to change Al Ain's colors to purple. The idea was presented to Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, who agreed to change the club colors officially to the purple with the beginning of the season 1977–78.[12]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al Ain FC kits.

The club colours worn from 1968 to in 1974.[13]

Al Tadhamon colour became Al Ain's from 1974 to in 1977

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	P	President's Cup	Federation Cup / League Cup[n 1]	Super Cup	GCC	ACCC		Asia		Other		Top scorer		Manager
2010–11	1	10th	22	6	7	9	33	35	−2	25	R16	RU	–	–	–		AFC Champions League	GS	–		José Sand Omar Abdulrahman	11	Abdulhameed Al Mistaki * Ahmed Abdullah * Alexandre Gallo
2011–12	1	1st	22	17	4	1	52	16	+36	55	QF	GS					–				Asamoah Gyan	27	Cosmin Olăroiu
2012–13	1	1st	26	20	2	4	74	26	+48	62	SF	GS	C				AFC Champions League	GS			Asamoah Gyan	32
2013–14	1	6th	26	12	7	7	52	33	+19	43	C	GS	RU				AFC Champions League	QF			Asamoah Gyan	45	Jorge Fossati Ahmed Abdullah * Quique Flores Zlatko Dalić
2014–15	1	1st	26	18	6	2	62	19	+43	60	QF	GS	RU
																	AFC Champions League	SF			Asamoah Gyan	24	Zlatko Dalić
																	AFC Champions League	R16
2015–16	1	2nd	26	18	3	5	53	24	+29	57	RU	GS	C				AFC Champions League	QF	Emirati-Moroccan Super Cup	C	Dyanfres Douglas	18
2016–17	1	4th	26	17	4	5	58	37	+21	55	QF	GS	–		Arab Club Champions Cup	W[n 2]	AFC Champions League	RU	–		Caio Lucas	18	Zlatko Dalić Joško Španjić * Zoran Mamić
																	AFC Champions League	QF
2017–18	1	1st	22	16	5	1	65	23	+42	53	C	QF			–		AFC Champions League	QF			Marcus Berg	35	Zoran Mamić
																	AFC Champions League	R16
2018–19	1	4th	26	14	4	8	45	35	+10	46	R16	QF	RU		Arab Club Champions Cup	R32	AFC Champions League	GS	FIFA Club World Cup	RU	Caio Lucas	17	Zoran Mamić Željko Sopić * Juan Garrido
2019–20[n 3]	1	2nd	19	11	4	4	46	21	+25	37	Finalists	SF	–		–		AFC Champions League	GS	–		Kodjo Laba	28	Ivan Leko Ghazi Fahad * Pedro Emanuel
2020–21	1	6th	26	11	8	7	39	33	+6	41	R16	First Round	–				AFC Champions League	QS			Kodjo Laba	13	Pedro Emanuel
2021–22	1	1st	26	20	5	1	57	17	+40	65	QF	C					–				Kodjo Laba	31	Serhii Rebrov
2022–23	1	2nd	26	16	6	4	67	31	+36	54	RU	SF									Kodjo Laba	31	Serhii Rebrov

Notes

Updated 12 May 2023.
Bold indicates player is still active at club level.

Rank	Player	Years	Goals
1	Ahmed Abdullah	1978–1995	185
2	Asamoah Gyan	2011–2015	128
3	Kodjo Laba	2019–present	103
4	Mohieddine Habita	1976–1983	71
5	Majid Al Owais	1992	70
6	Omar Abdulrahman	2008–2018	62
7	Matar Al Sahbani	1983	60
	Salem Johar	1992–2005	60
9	Saif Sultan	1992–2005	55
10	Marcus Berg	2017–2019	51

Note: this includes goals scored in all competitions.[38]

Since 2002–03 AFC Champions League, includes goals scored in qualifying play-off
Statistics correct as of match played against Al Nassr on 24 September 2020

R	Player	TOTAL
1	Asamoah Gyan	18
2	Omar Abdulrahman	18
3	Marcus Berg	9
4	Boubacar Sanogo	7
	Ibrahim Diaky
6	Nenad Jestrović	6
	Caio Lucas
8	Mohamed Abdulrahman	5
	Douglas
	Danilo Asprilla
	Subait Khater

As of 24 September 2020. Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

• QS : Qualifying Stage, GS : Group Stage, R16 : Round of 16, QF : Quarterfinals, SF : Semifinal, R : Runner-up, C : Champions