The first UAE FA, headed by the late Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, was soon busy preparing the country's first national football team to take part in the second Gulf Cup, in Saudi Arabia in March 1972. The UAE became a new member and competitor in the regional tournament.
Egyptian coach, Mohammed Siddig Shahta was the first coach and the players who represented the UAE were: Ahmed Eissa, Mubarak Balaswad, Salim Bushnain, Suhail Salim, Zaid Eissa, Ibrahim Ridha, Rajab Abdul Rahman, Mohammed Salim Suhail, Abdul Rahman Al Ussaimi, Jamal Moussa, Mohammed Al Kouss, Yousuf Nassir, Massoud Obaid, Jasim Mohammed, Awadh Mubarak, Salim Moussa, Abdulla Khalil, Nassir Hamad, Mohammed Al Banna and Yousuf Mohammed.
Friday, March 17,1972 was a memorable day in the UAE's footballing history. On that day, the UAE played their first ever official international match against Qatar in the second Gulf Cup in Riyadh winning by a single goal scored by Suhail Salim.
The UAE then faced hosts Saudi Arabia losing 4-0 and then eventual champions Kuwait who trounced them 7-0. The debutantes then met Bahrain and lost 2-0. That result was cancelled later after Bahrain withdrew from the tournament following their match against Saudi Arabia.
The UAE finished third winning a bronze medal in their first ever participation.
The UAE took part in the third Gulf Cup in Kuwait in 1974. As the number of teams increased to six after the participation of Oman, the teams were divided into two groups following a preliminary round where the UAE met hosts Kuwait and were defeated 2-0, Saudi Arabia beat Qatar 3-1 and Bahrain defeated Oman 4-0.
The UAE were selected to play in the second group with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The UAE trounced Bahrain 4-0, but went down to Saudi Arabia 2-1 to finish second in the group and reach the semi-finals where they eventually lost to hosts Kuwait 6-0.
The UAE met Qatar for the bronze medal and the regular time of the match ended in a 1-1 tie. Qatar won by penalties which was applied for the first time in the tournament.
The UAE failed to win any match in the fourth Gulf Cup, in Qatar 1976, despite the fact that they surprised everyone by forcing Kuwait, the strongest team and defending champion, to settle for a goalless draw.
But they lost 2-3 to Bahrain, 0-2 to Saudi Arabia, 1-3 to Qatar and 0-4 against Iraq. They drew 1-1 against Oman to finish sixth, one place ahead of Oman.
The team's Yugoslav coach Dimitri Tadic suffered a heart attack and national coach, Jumaa Ghareeb took over to become the first UAE national to coach the national team.
In 1979, Iraq hosted the fifth Gulf Cup and the UAE finished fifth after beating Oman 4-0. The team lost to Saudi Arabia 1-2, Bahrain 0-3, Qatar 0-1, Kuwait 0-7 and to Iraq 0-5. The UAE escaped from the bottom place in the standings by beating Oman in the last match of the tournament.
They UAE then pole vaulted from sixth place in the standings to third when they hosted the sixth Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi in 1982 at Zayed Sports City.
The UAE beat Qatar in the opening match by a single goal to the delight and joy of more than 60,000 supporters. The hosts then beat mighty Saudi Arabia by a solitary goal.
The UAE then lost to Kuwait. They then squandered a chance to win the silver medal by losing to Bahrain 2-3. Things got worse against Iraq when UAE captain Hamdoon squandered a penalty only for Iraq to win with a single goal. The UAE finished their matches defeating Oman 3-1 to win the bronze medal. Salim Khalifa won the top scorer title with three goals.
Oman organised the seventh Gulf Cup in 1984 as the UAE put up a good start and a bad finish in the tournament. They beat Kuwait 2-0 scoring their first ever victory over the team which won six of the seven tournaments. The UAE then beat Qatar by a solitary goal scored by Al Talyani and met Iraq forcing them to a goalless tie. At that point the UAE were leading the standings with five points form three matches.
The UAE then drew with Bahrain 1-1and lost another valuable point after a goalless tie. Having lost their last match against Saudi Arabia 0-2, the UAE finished fourth.
The eighth Gulf Cup in Bahrain in 1986, was a tournament which illustrated the progress of the UAE national team. They started their campaign with a draw against Iraq (2-2), but were unfortunate to lose against Kuwait (1-0).
The UAE compensated for that loss by beating Oman (1-0) before beating Saudi Arabia (2-0). The UAE then defeated hosts Bahrain (3-1).
The UAE's last match in the tournament against Qatar was regarded as the foundation of the "Qatar Jinx" that has plagued the team for a long time. The UAE led 2-0, but the match ended in a 3-2 victory for Qatar. The UAE took second place for the first time. Fahad Khamis was the top scorer scoring against all teams.
The UAE continued their good run in the ninth Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia in 1988. The event saw the opening of King Fahad's Stadium in Riyadh.
Debutant Zuhair Bakhit led his team to a win in their first match against Bahrain 2-0. Zuhair scored the first goal. Zuhair was in a class of his own scoring a single goal against defending champions Kuwait, while his colleague Abdul Rahman Mohammed squandered a penalty kick.
Qatar then halted the UAE 2-1 becoming one of the favourites to win the title with Iraq with whom they settled for a goalless draw.
The UAE had themselves to blame by settling for a 2-2 draw against hosts Saudi Arabia after leading 2-0.
Abdul Rahman Mohammed squandered his second penalty kick in as many matches only for the Saudis to come back in the second half and level the scores.
The UAE played their last match in the tournament against Oman and beat them by a solitary goal to earn second place in the tournament. Zuhair was leading top scorer along with Ahmed Radhi from Iraq. Both players scored four goals each.
The UAE shocked Kuwait in the 10th Gulf Cup in Kuwait in 1990. But the UAE guided by on loan coach Bernard Blout, from Poland, finished last amidst pressure as most of the spotlight was focussed on the players who had played at the World Cup in Italy.
The UAE settled for a 1-1 draw in their first match against Oman, a goalless tie with Qatar followed by a 2-2 tie with Iraq, before they withdrew from the tournament following Saudi Arabia who did not take part protesting against the tournament's mascot.
The UAE went down to Bahrain by a single goal before being hammered by hosts Kuwait 6-1 to finish last for the first and last time.
Qatar hosted the 11th Gulf Cup in 1992 only two weeks after the UAE's participation in the 10th Asian Cup in Hiroshima where they finished fourth.
The UAE FA sacked their Ukrainian coach Valery Lobanovesky a week before the kick off for the Cup appointing Poland's Tony Picsnick in his place on loan fr
