# Sharjah FC

Sharjah Football Club (Arabic: نادي الشارقة لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club based in Sharjah that competes in the UAE Pro League. Their home stadium is Sharjah Stadium.
Founded in 1966, Sharjah is considered to be one of the pioneers and top institutes in UAE Football since its inception, Achieving success throughout the years made Sharjah one of the most prestigious clubs in the country. Sharjah FC is also the most successful team in the Emirate of Sharjah, winning 6 Pro League titles, 10 Presidents Cups, 1 League Cup and 3 Super Cups. The club was also the first official UAE league champion since its establishment in 1974.

## History
### Golden Age

Sharjah was founded in 1966 under the name of Al Oruba Club, they were the first official champions of the UAE League winning it in 1974 after beating Al Ahli and Oman. The club would merge with Al Khaleej in 1974 to form Al Sharjah SCC and relocate their headquarters in Sharjah City. The club would later see itself win the league in 4 more occasions during the 80s and 90s and 8 out of the 22 players in the UAE's 1990 squad were players from Sharjah, more than any other club at the time.

### Decline

During the mid-2000s however, Sharjah would see a decline as they would finish in mid-table consecutively and in 2012, the club got relegated for the first time in their history. However, the club were quickly promoted back to the top tier division in 2013.

### New Era

Sharjah won their first title since 1996 in 2019 with a record of only one loss. On 14 September 2019, Sharjah won their first UAE Super Cup title since 1994 after beating Shabab Al Ahli in penalties 4–3. The club went on to win the UAE League Cup in the 2022–23 season for the first time in the clubs history, the club also won two more UAE President's Cups back to back after reaching the final in 2022 and 2023 beating Al Wahda 1–0 and Al Ain 14–13 on penalties, making Sharjah FC the champions a record of 10 times, the most in the country.

## Honours
### Domestic
#### Leagues

* UAE League
** Winners (6): 1973–74, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2018–19
* UAE Division One
** Winners (1): 1992–93

#### Cups

* UAE President's Cup
** Winners (10): 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2021–22, 2022–23
* UAE League Cup
** Winners (1): 2022–23
* UAE Super Cup
** Winners (3): 1994, 2019, 2022
* Joint League Cup
** Winners (1): 1977

### Regional

* GCC Champions League
** Winners (1): 1991
* Qatar–UAE Super Cup
** Runners-up (1): 2023–24

## Season-by-season record

| Season | Lvl. | Tms. | Pos. | President's Cup | League Cup |
| 2008–09 | 1 | 12 | 10th | Quarter-Finals | First Round |
| 2009–10 | 1 | 12 | 6th | Round of 16 | First Round |
| 2010–11 | 1 | 12 | 7th | Preliminary Round | First Round |
| 2011–12 | 1 | 12 | 12th | Semi-Finals | First Round |
| 2012–13 | 2 | 14 | 2nd | Quarter-Finals | — |
| 2013–14 | 1 | 14 | 7th | Round of 16 | Semi-Finals |
| 2014–15 | 1 | 14 | 12th | Round of 16 | Runner-ups |
| 2015–16 | 1 | 14 | 11th | Quarter-Finals | First Round |
| 2016–17 | 1 | 14 | 9th | Semi-Finals | First Round |
| 2017–18 | 1 | 12 | 6th | Quarter-Finals | First Round |
| 2018–19 | 1 | 14 | 1st | Semi-Finals | First Round |
| 2019–20 | 1 | 14 | 4th | Semi-Finals | Quarter-Finals |
| 2020–21 | 1 | 14 | 4th | Semi-Finals | Quarter-Finals |
| 2021–22 | 1 | 14 | 2nd | Champions | First Round |
| 2022–23 | 1 | 14 | 7th | Champions | Champions |
| 2023–24 | 1 | 14 | 4th | Quarter-Finals | Quarter-Finals |
$_{Notes^2019–20UAEfootballseasonwascancelledduetotheCOVID-19pandemicintheUnitedArabEmirates.}$

## Club officials

| Position | Staff |
| Head Coach | Cosmin Olăroiu |
| Assistant Coach | Cătălin Necula Gabriel Caramarin |
| Goalkeeper Coach | Eugen Nae |
| Technical Staff | Abdulrahman Al-Haddad |
| Fitness Trainer | Ferdinando Hippoliti |
| Rehab Trainer | Leandro Aiub |
| Analyst | Rareș Ene |

## Players
### Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | UAE | Khaled Tawhid $^{U23}$ |
| 2 | DF | UAE | Hamad Fahad $^{U23}$ |
| 3 | DF | UAE | Al Hassan Saleh |
| 4 | DF | UAE | Shahin Abdulrahman |
| 5 | DF | CRO | Maro Katinić $^{U23}$ |
| 6 | MF | UAE | Dhari Fahad $^{U23}$ |
| 7 | MF | UAE | Caio |
| 8 | MF | UAE | Mohammed Abdulbasit |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Paco Alcácer |
| 10 | MF | TUN | Firas Ben Larbi |
| 11 | MF | UAE | Luanzinho |
| 13 | DF | UAE | Salem Sultan |
| 14 | MF | UAE | Khaled Ba Wazir |
| 16 | MF | CRO | Darko Nejašmić |
| 17 | GK | UAE | Mayed Mohsen |
| 18 | DF | UAE | Abdullah Ghanem |
| 19 | DF | UAE | Khaled Ibrahim |
| 20 | DF | KOR | Cho Yu-min |
| 21 | FW | UAE | Mayed Al-Kass $^{U23}$ |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 22 | MF | UAE | Marcus Meloni |
| 23 | FW | SUR | Tyrone Conraad |
| 24 | MF | UAE | Majid Rashid |
| 27 | MF | BRA | Guilherme Biro $^{U23}$ (on loan from Corinthians) |
| 28 | FW | BRA | Alison Matheus $^{U21}$ |
| 29 | DF | BRA | David Gondim $^{U21}$ |
| 30 | FW | UAE | Ousmane Camara |
| 34 | DF | UAE | Ali Al-Hadidi $^{U23}$ |
| 40 | GK | UAE | Adel Al-Hosani |
| 43 | MF | UAE | Matar Zaal $^{U23}$ |
| 44 | DF | SRB | David Petrović $^{U23}$ |
| 53 | GK | UAE | Abdulla Zaal $^{U23}$ |
| 70 | FW | UAE | Badr Al-Sowaidi $^{U23}$ |
| 71 | DF | UAE | Ali Taher $^{U23}$ |
| 77 | MF | UAE | Khalifa Sembaij $^{U23}$ |
| 88 | MF | UAE | Majed Hassan |
| 90 | FW | GER | Leon Dajaku |
| 92 | MF | UAE | Abdelrahman Murad $^{U23}$ |

### Unregistered players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 25 | MF | UAE | Saeed Al-Kaabi |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 32 | DF | UAE | Abdullah Al-Hammadi |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 26 | GK | UAE | Darwish Bin Habib (on loan to Al-Bataeh) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | UAE | Majed Suroor (on loan to Al-Wasl) |

## Performance in AFC competitions

* AFC Champions League: 6 appearances
       2004: Quarter Finals
       2009: Withdrew
       2020: Group Stage
       2021: Round of 16
       2022: Group Stage
       2023–24: Group Stage

### AFC Champions League history

| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 2004 | Group C | Al-Shorta | 2–0 | 3–2 | 1st |
| 2004 | Group C | Al-Hilal | 5–2 | 0–0 | 1st |
| 2004 | Group C | Al-Ahli | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1st |
| 2004 | Quarter-finals | Seongnam | 2–5 | 0–6 | 2–11 |
| 2020 | Group C | Al Taawoun | 0–1 | 6–0 | 4th |
| 2020 | Group C | Persepolis | 2–2 | 0–4 | 4th |
| 2020 | Group C | Al-Duhail | 4–2 | 1–2 | 4th |
| 2021 | Group B | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1st |
| 2021 | Group B | Tractor | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1st |
| 2021 | Group B | Pakhtakor | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1st |
| 2021 | Round of 16 | Al Wahda | 1–1 (p) (4–5) | 1–1 (p) (4–5) | 1–1 (p) (4–5) |
| 2022 | Playoffs | Al-Zawraa | 1–1 (p) (6–5) | 1–1 (p) (6–5) | 1–1 (p) (6–5) |
| 2022 | Group A | Al-Hilal | 2–2 | 1–2 | 3rd |
| 2022 | Group A | Al-Rayyan | 1–1 | 1–3 | 3rd |
| 2022 | Group A | Istiklol | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3rd |
| 2023–24 | Preliminary round | Bashundhara Kings | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| 2023–24 | Play-off | Tractor | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| 2023–24 | Group B | Al-Sadd | 0–2 | 0–0 | 3rd |
| 2023–24 | Group B | Al-Faisaly | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3rd |
| 2023–24 | Group B | Nasaf | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3rd |
* Asian Club Championship: 2 appearances
       1989: Group Stage
       1994: First Round

### Asian Club Championship history

| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 1989 | Group 2 | Al-Ettifaq | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3rd |
| 1989 | Group 2 | West Riffa | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 3rd |
| 1989 | Group 2 | Kazma | 0–3 | 0–3 | | 3rd |
| 1989 | Group 2 | Fanja | 4–1 | 4–1 | | 3rd |
| 1994 | First Round | Al-Muharraq | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 |

### Record by Country

| Country | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win% |
| Bahrain | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 060.00 |
| Bangladesh | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 100.00 |
| Iran | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 020.00 |
| Iraq | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 080.00 |
| Jordan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 050.00 |
| Kuwait | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 000.00 |
| Oman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 100.00 |
| Qatar | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 016.67 |
| Saudi Arabia | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 028.57 |
| South Korea | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 000.00 |
| Tajikistan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 050.00 |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 000.00 |
| Uzbekistan | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 050.00 |

## Managerial history

| Name | From | To |
| Faouzi Benzarti | January 2001 | 2001 |
| Dragan Gugleta | December 2001 | 2002 |
| Pavle Dolezar | July 2002 | October 2002 |
| Pedro Rosello | October 2002 | November 2002 |
| Juma Rabea | November 2002 | June 2004 |
| Youssef Zouaoui | June 2004 | 2005 |
| Henri Stambouli | 2005 | January 2006 |
| Wajdi Essid | January 2006 | February 2006 |
| Rainer Zobel | February 2006 | 2006 |
| Srećko Juričić | June 2006 | October 2006 |
| Renê Weber | October 2006 | May 2007 |
| Juma Rabea | May 2007 | May 2007 |
| Gerard van der Lem | July 2007 | March 2008 |
| Wajdi Essid | March 2008 | 2008 |
| Youssef Zouaoui | June 2008 | February 2009 |
| Manuel Cajuda | July 2009 | May 2011 |
| Abdulmajeed Al Nimr | May 2011 | 2011 |
| Carlos Azenha | June 2011 | September 2011 |
| Valeriu Tița | September 2011 | December 2011 |
| Jorvan Vieira | December 2011 | February 2012 |
| Valeriu Tița | February 2012 | April 2012 |
| Abdulmajeed Al Nimr | April 2012 | June 2012 |
| Faouzi Benzarti | June 2012 | November 2012 |
| Ayman El Ramadi | November 2012 | 2013 |
| Paulo Bonamigo | June 2013 | November 2015 |
| Abdulaziz Al Anbari | November 2015 | 2016 |
| Georgios Donis | July 2016 | January 2017 |
| José Peseiro | January 2017 | October 2017 |
| Abdulaziz Al Anbari | October 2017 | November 2021 |
| Cosmin Olăroiu | November 2021 | Present |