# 2024–25 Al Ain FC season

The 2024–25 Al Ain Football Club season is the club's 57th in existence and their 50th consecutive season in the top-level football league in the UAE.

## Season overview
### Pre-season

On 27 June 2024, Al Ain announced they would be touring in Rabat, Morocco, with four friendly matches against Union de Touarga on 24 July, Kénitra on 1 August, Chabab Mohammédia on 5 August and Raja CA on 10 August.

## Management

| Position | Name |
| Coaching staff ||
| Head coach | Hernán Crespo |
| Assistant coaches | Juan Branda Nicolás Domínguez Ahmed Abdullah |
| Chief analyst | Carles Martínez |
| Analyst | Tiago Freire |
| Goalkeeping coaches | Gustavo Nepote |
| Fitness coach | Federico Martinetti |
| U-21 team head coach | Ismail Ahmed |
| Physiotherapist | Santiago Thompson Felipe Perseu Pianca Abdelnasser Aljohny |
| Club Doctor | Nikos Tzouroudis |
| Nutritionist | Ricardo Pinto |
| Scout | Daniele Di Napoli |
| Administration staff ||
| Team manager | Ahmed Al Shamsi |
| Front office ||
| Sporting Director | Rodrigo Mendes |

### Board of Directors

| Office | Name |
| Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Ain SCC Chairman of the Executive Committee Chairman of the Board of Directors | Sultan bin Hamdan bin Zayed |
| Supervising Sports affairs | Mohammed Al Mahmoud |
| Supervising Media affairs | Mohammed Al Ketbi |
| Supervising of Financial and Administrative affairs | Ziad Amir Ahmed Saleh |
| Supervising the Academy and Talents sector | Abdullah Mohammed Abdullah Khouri |
Source: AlAinClub.ae

## Players
### First Team

| N | Position | Player | Age | Since | Notes |
| Goalkeepers |||||||
| 1 | GK | Mohammed Abo Sandah | 29 | 2014 | |
| 17 | GK | Khalid Eisa (VC) | 35 | 2013 | |
| 36 | GK | Amer Al-Faresi | 20 | 2024 | $^{U21}$ |
| Defenders |||||||
| 3 | DF | Kouame Autonne | 24 | 2021 | |
| 15 | DF | Erik Jorgens | 24 | 2020 | |
| 16 | DF | Khalid Al-Hashemi | 27 | 2023 | |
| 46 | DF | Dramane Koumare | 20 | 2024 | |
| 50 | DF | Manea Al Shamsi | 23 | 2021 | |
| 66 | DF | Mansour Al Shamsi | 23 | 2020 | |
| — | DF | Khalid Butti | 33 | 2024 | |
| — | DF | Marlon Santos | 29 | 2024 | on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk |
| Midfielders |||||||
| 5 | MF | Park Youg-woo | 31 | 2023 | |
| 6 | MF | Yahia Nader | 26 | 2018 | |
| 8 | MF | Mohammed Abbas | 22 | 2021 | $^{U21}$ |
| 10 | MF | Kaku | 30 | 2023 | |
| 11 | MF | Bandar Al-Ahbabi (C) | 34 | 2016 | |
| 13 | MF | Ahmed Barman | 31 | 2013 | |
| 18 | MF | Khalid Al-Balochi | 25 | 2018 | |
| 20 | MF | Matías Palacios | 22 | 2022 | |
| 21 | MF | Soufiane Rahimi | 29 | 2021 |
| 26 | MF | Ahmed Al-Qatesh | 23 | 2021 | |
| 30 | MF | Hazem Mohammad | 19 | 2023 | $^{U19}$ |
| 70 | MF | Abdoul Karim Traoré | 20 | 2023 | $^{U19}$ |
| — | MF | El Mehdi El Moubarik | 24 | 2022 | |
| Forwards |||||||
| 9 | FW | Kodjo Laba | 33 | 2019 | |
| 77 | FW | Rilwanu Sarki | 21 | 2023 | $^{U19}$ |
| 90 | FW | Eisa Khalfan | 21 | 2021 | $^{U21}$ |
| 99 | FW | Josna Loulendo | 21 | 2023 | $^{U21}$ |
| — | FW | Mohamed Awadalla | 22 | 2020 | $^{U21}$ |

### New contracts

| Date | Pos | No. | Player | Ref. | Notes |
| 12 July 2024 | GK | 1 | Mohammed Abo Sandah | | 2026 |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Position | Player | From | Fee | Date | Ref. |
| Summer |||||||
| — | MF | Mohammed Khalfan | Khor Fakkan | Loan return | 1 July 2024 |
| — | FW | Mohamed Awadalla $^{U21}$ | Khor Fakkan | Loan return | 1 July 2024 | |
| — | DF | Rafael Pereira | Khor Fakkan | Loan return | 1 July 2024 |
| — | MF | El Mehdi El Moubarik | Raja | Loan return | 1 July 2024 | |
| — | DF | Khalid Butti | Al Wahda | Free | 12 July 2024 | |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | €0 million | €0 million | €0 million |

### Out

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transfer to | Fee | Date |
| Summer |||||||
| 22 | MF | Falah Waleed | Dibba Al-Hisn | End of contract | 25 June 2024 |
| 4 | DF | Mohammed Shaker | Khor Fakkan | End of contract | 27 June 2024 |
| 44 | DF | Saeed Juma | | End of contract | 1 July 2024 |
| 27 | MF | Sultan Al-Shamsi | Khor Fakkan | End of contract | 1 July 2024 |
| 12 | GK | Sultan Al-Mantheri | Kalba | End of contract | 1 July 2024 |
| — | MF | Mohammed Khalfan | Dibba Al-Hisn | End of contract | 3 July 2024 |

### Loans in

| No. | Pos | Player | From | Start date | End date | Ref. |
| — | DF | Marlon Santos | Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 July 2024 | End of season | |

## Pre-season and friendlies

On 27 June 2024, Al Ain announced they would be touring in Rabat, Morocco, with four friendly matches against Union de Touarga on 24 July, Kénitra on 1 August, Chabab Mohammédia on 5 August and Raja on 10 August.
Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Pro-League | 24 August 2024 | TBD 2025 | Matchday 1 | TBD | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 41 | 25 | +16 | 050.00 |
| President's Cup | TBD | TBD | Round of 16 | Quarter Final | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 050.00 |
| League Cup | 18 August 2024 | TBD | First round | Second Round | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 075.00 |
| AFC Champions League | 16 September 2024 | TBD | League phase | League Phase | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 22 | −11 | 000.00 |
| FIFA Intercontinental Cup | 22 September 2024 | TBD | First round | African-Asian-Pacific Cup Runners-up | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 050.00 |
| FIFA Club World Cup | June 2025 | July 2025 | First round | TBD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 71 | 59 | +12 | 040.63 |
Last updated: 27 August 2024 Source: Competitions

### Pro League

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Shabab Al Ahli | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 13 | +25 | 41 | Qualification for ACLE League stage |
| 2 | Sharjah | 15 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 7 | +21 | 37 | Qualification for ACLE play off round |
| 3 | Al Ain | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 41 | 25 | +16 | 29 | Qualification for AFC CL2 group stage |
| 4 | Al Nasr | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 26 | |
| 5 | Al Wahda | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 25 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Soccerway

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Position | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 6 July 2024.

### AFC Champions League Elite
#### League phase

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Al-Hilal | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 7 | +17 | 22 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 2 | Al-Ahli | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 8 | +15 | 22 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 3 | Al-Nassr | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 17 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 4 | Al-Sadd | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 12 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 5 | Al Wasl | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 11 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 6 | Esteghlal | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 9 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 7 | Al-Rayyan | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 8 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 8 | Pakhtakor | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 7 | Advance to round of 16 |
| 9 | Persepolis | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 7 | |
| 10 | Al-Gharafa | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 18 | −8 | 7 | |
| 11 | Al-Shorta | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 17 | −10 | 6 | |
| 12 | Al Ain | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 22 | −11 | 2 | |
Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

### FIFA Intercontinental Cup

Al Ain qualified for the tournament by winning the 2023–24 AFC Champions League.

#### First round

African–Asian–Pacific Cup play-off

#### Second round

African–Asian–Pacific Cup