Sport | Football
UAE's newest club has a home away from home
Players train about 200km away from their home ground meaning they only visit stadium for matches unlike other clubs.
- By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:30 September 12, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Al Dhafrah is the newest club in the UAE Professional Football League.
The club was founded in 2001 and made history by winning promotion to the first division in the next season.
Since then they have been the typical yo-yo club, unable to survive a season in the top flight but gaining promotion at the first attempt.
But last season they achieved their dream of staying in the top flight to become one of the participants in the first ever UAE Pro-League.
Al Dhafrah suffer from a unique problem.
They visit their home ground, Al Dhafrah Stadium in Madinat Zayed, only when they have home games.
Daily sessions
Their daily training sessions are held at the Abu Dhabi Municipality ground in Za'afranah.
They are almost visitors, like any other team, to their home ground, which is about 200km from their training ground.
Al Dhafrah were created from the old club, which was a branch of Al Jazira. They have depended upon reserve players from Al Jazira, Al Wahda and Al Ain in the past few years as well as local players from the western region of the emirate, from cities like Ghiyathi, Al Marfa, Tareef and Madinat Zayed.
This season, the club has strengthened its squad by signing Hussain Suhail and Mohammad Al Sayed from Al Jazira, Saleh Al Minhali, Abdulla Al Kindi and custodian Abdulla Fayrooz from Al Wahda.
These players have been joined by their Iranian colleagues Mehdi Rajabzadeh and Rasoul Khatibi.
The pair played for Emirates club last season but they were relegated to the second division.
Both Khatibi and Rajabzadeh have been playing with Iran in the Asian qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup.
Al Dhafrah are still looking for a third foreign professional to help them achieve their goals in the new season.
However they have signing a one-year deal with Syrian coach Mohammad Kwid to replace Egyptian Ayman Al Ramadi who resigned only ten days before the kick off of the new season.
In the past, Al Dhafrah has relied on using reserve players from other clubs such as Al Jazira, Al Wahda and Al Ain. The club has strengthened its squad over the summer with a string of new signings but are still looking for a third foreign professional.
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