Shabab Al Ahliنادي شباب الأهلي

Shabab Al-Ahli Club (Arabic: نادي شباب الأهلي‎) is a United Arab Emirates professional association football club based in Dubai, that currently plays in the UAE ADNOC Pro League. Al-Ahli is one of the most successful clubs in the UAE.

Al Ahli FC has won 7 league titles, a record of 9 UAE's President Cup titles, 5 UAE super Cup titles, 5 UAE League Cup titles and 1 Emirati-Moroccan Super Cup, earning a total of 27 titles, making them the second most successful team in UAE. In the latest ranking by the IFFHS, Shabab Al Ahli is the 7th best club in Asia and ranked 110th in the world.

In 2017, the Dubai CSC and Al Shabab merged within Al Ahli FC making Shabab Al Ahli FC.

History

Establishment

Al Ahli club was established in 1970 when two local football teams Al Wehdah and Al Shabab (est. 1958) joined together for a training camp in Egypt but decided to merge as one single club under first club president H.E. Nasser Abdulla Hussain Lootah. Four years later another local team Al Najah joined to form Al Ahli Club.

Al Ahli translates to "domestic or national" in Arabic. The club won three UAE Arabian Gulf League titles in the 1970s and won its fourth in 2006, fifth in 2009, sixth in 2014 and seventh in 2016.

1973–1980: The golden age and aftermath decline

It took Al Ahli only four years after its establishment to win the UAE Arabian Gulf League twice consecutively in 1974-75 and 1975-76 then again in 1979-80 for the third time, which allowed them to permanently keep the league trophy. The victorious team, led by coach Mohamed Shehta and featuring players such as Hassan Nazari and Hassan Roshan. The team also won three President Cup titles during that period. Drawing hometown fans, Al Ahli has been and continues to be one of the most popular sports teams in the UAE. However, the club went into decline for few decades, the result of which saw the club relegated to the second division (1995–96) in a dramatic way, when Al