Al Ain Football Club

Founded in 1968 in Al Ain, Al Ain Football Club is the winner of the 2003 Asian Champions League and the first and only UAE club to win the AFC Champions League. It is also the 9-time champion of the UAE Pro League. HH General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, is the President of the club and Chairman of Honorary Board. In addition to Football, the club has later expanded to volleyball, handball, basketball, athletics and swimming, among others. Both the 15,000-seater Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium and Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium belong to Al Ain Football Club.

 

Al Ain Sports and Cultural Club was established in 1968 in Al Ain city, Abu Dhabi. It has evolved to become one of the most decorated sports club in the UAE. Football was the first activity offered by the club. However, as the popularity of the club grew it registered teams in volleyball, handball, basketball, athletics, swimming, and other competitions. In all endeavors the achievements of these teams upheld the club’s mission to be ranked one of the best sport clubs in the world.

With the advent of professionalism in sports, the club has taken on a new challenge to expand its administrative and commercial horizons to capitalize on the commercial interest in sports.

Al Ain Football Club

Al Ain Football Club, transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn

Sport in the United Arab Emirates is widely practiced by the people of the UAE. Football is the most popular sport in the UAE. Among the notable UAE sports achievements is the 2002–03 AFC Champions League won by Al Ain FC who also finished second in the 2005 AFC Champions League. The UAE qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals for the first and only time so far in 1990, the fourth Middle-Eastern country to have qualified for the World Cup after first Egypt ( qualified for Italy in 1934 ), then, Kuwait (qualified for Spain in 1982), and Iraq (qualified for Mexico again in 1986).

                                   

Football is the most popular sport in the UAE. The United Arab Emirates Football Association was first established in 1968 and since then has dedicated its time and effort to promoting the game, organizing youth programs and improving the abilities of not only its players, but of the officials and coaches involved with its regional teams. The UAE national football team qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1990 with Egypt. It was the third consecutive World Cup with two Arab nations qualifying after Kuwait and Algeria in 1982 and Iraq and Algeria again in 1986.

The UAE national team won the 2005 Kirin Cup, sharing the cup with Peru after a 1–0 victory over the host country Japan. The UAE team played a four-team friendly in Switzerland in July 2005, in which they beat both Qatar and Kuwait but lost 5–4 on penalties in the final against Egypt. In 2003, the UAE was the host nation of the FIFA U-20 World Cup between November and December 2003. In April, Dubai Holding agreed to provide the national team with Dh20 million (US$5.45 million) sponsorship money over the next four years. The fund will also go towards developing the sport.

The UAE also recently won the Gulf Cup of Nations held in Abu Dhabi in January 2007. The UAE are currently ranked 110th in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings. Abu Dhabi United Group have recently purchased Manchester City Football Club. A Dubai consortium known as DIC (Dubai International Capital) is also interested in buying the English Premier League club, Liverpool F.C. The UAE U-16 national football team qualified for the 2009 Youth World Cup which was held in Nigeria. The UAE U-19 national football team was also qualified for the World Youth Cup finals to be held in Egypt the year after.

H.H First General Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and

Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces

Al Ain Club President - Honorary Board President

                      H.H Sheikh Hazaa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

                                                                             Al Ain Club First Deputy President

H.H Sheikh Tahnon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Al Ain Club Second Deputy President

Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohd Bin Khaled Al Nehayan

Board Of Directors Chairman of Al Ain Club Football Company

H.E Rashed Mubarak Al Hajeri

Vice Chairman of Board of Directors of Al Ain Club Football Company

               The Club

 

 

Introduction:

 

              Last Sunday, we went out to visit with  Mr. Hedley Butterfield to the club and we met with the administrator Mr. Mike who was a gentleman and respectful. Initially he welcomed us and then we did a short interview with him .He accepted all the questions with an open mind and explained to us all the details about the club and then we went on a tour around the club; specifically in the reception center he explained to us some pictures that tell the history of the club and then we took some photos with him, and he gave as a gift a wonderful book that tells the history of the club from the sixties until today. I promise you when I finish processing photos taken there I will lay it down here. I do not want to forget Hedleys wife Mary; she played a big role in our visit to the club and gave us full information; we really thank her for her information. At the end, I would like to tell you it was a fun trip and interesting and I hope to visit that place again in the near future.

 

History:

 

 

        When asking Mr. Mike about how the club was established in 1962 and how they get the idea to construct the club. He replied that someone spoke to his highness, and his highness said okay we can sort out, and a building which was 500 meters far from the main port gate, it was known by that time as the extirpator He said “okay, take this building and turn it to the club”, and that how we started in 1962. In 1966, sheikh zayed saw the club and one year later in 1967 sheikh zayed said to the extirpator if you went to leave this building we have a new place for you and he give them the previous land, and they officially started in 1967. At that time they had 152 members but today they have approximately 4500 the member are from 84 countries, 26 of them are formal ambassador, while 5% of the members are emirate local.

Interview:

        Moreover we asked the manger about the  membership and how much was the cost to be member in the club and he said the membership is for all nationalities, however it’s by invitation, and he explained detailing that who wants to join the club, they have to apply first, then their application will be reviewed then can be accepted or denied, as it depends on the demand while keeping in mind their resources. Furthermore we asked the manager about who the financial system of the club, the manager replied that the land was gifted by the late his highness sheikh zayed and they are grateful for that, and since there, the development and the construction was run by the profits of the memberships. Another question was if there is an opportunity of opening a shooting place in the club and he answered we must have the requirements for that and considering the space for it, also he said that it will be hard to require the equipment like guns for instance, while in his opinion they will face some healthy and safety issues, denying any financial obstacles for this facility as their policy is to provide a membership with a wide variety of services and facilities at an affordable price. We asked the manager about the future plans for the club and he said that there vision is to support the efforts of the government for their future plan of Abu Dhabi 2030, and their behavior is running in parallel to it, as they also contributed the Alnadi tower that presents the legacy of the club over the 50 years as they had over the last 50 years they had over 30000 members; he also talked about the non-emirate old members and said that many members said if the club did not exist at that time 1960th they will be gone back to their countries, so the club is offering many & various amounts of facilities  which afterwards they can contribute to the development of Abu Dhabi as they have members from all the sectors and he believes that their job of providing pleasure and comfort so when the go back to their work in Sunday feeling refreshed and it continues over the year as their goal to support a larger slice of the society of Abu Dhabi. Afterward, Nasser asked him about the system of invitation to friends of the members. He answered that there are two way , one if the invitation and you are not a member to use the facilities there are a guest fee, however if a member invited a friend there will be no charges whoever they were, but with just a call before for notice. Hamad asked him about the relation of calling the club the British club. He answered that its historical, however he denied immediately that it was never the British club and he reasoned that by that the first elected chairman in 1971-1972 was not a British.

Map:

 

 

 

 

This map shows all the sites in the club which was drawn 8 years ago by Mr. Hedley’s wife Mrs. Mary butterfield; who described the areas in details. Many changes happened since the map was drawn and we will explain these changes.

The vista offers wonderful sea views, the place is great and consistent and attractive and the food service was fine. There is an international menu and there are omani shrimp and everything you may like. The place is considered one of the best places for the family for many reasons the most important is calm and staying away from places nagging (opening hours: Sun-Sat 12pm to 1am)

The club’s breadth of sports and fitness facilities are among the most extensive in abu dhabi. The purpose built health complex includes a fully equipped gym, fitness studio and offers members personal training, programmer management and full fitness assessments. The sports complex features four flood-lit tennis courts, two squash courts and badminton court. Additionally, the club offers members swimming, sailing, scuba diving, volleyball and basketball facilities.

 

 

A. There was a water front cabin, currently there is vista.

B. There was ramp for boats, currently there is the deck.

C. Tennis courts and club section.

D. Fitness.

E. Facilities

F. Family friendly club.

G. Room family.

H. Private room.

I. Main entrance (reception).

J. Sailing Club.

Picture of the trip:

 

South Korea