Kalba FC

Kalba
نادي كلباء

Full name	Kalba Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Tigers
Founded	1972; 53 years ago (1972)
Ground	Ittihad Kalba Stadium
Capacity	7,701
Owner	Zayed sulaiman alsharari alzaabi
Chairman	Zayed sulaiman alsharari alzaabi
Head coach	Vuk Rašović
League	UAE Pro League
2024–25	UAE Pro-League, 9th
Website	www.ittihadkalbafc.ae
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Kalba Football Club (Arabic: نادي كلباء الرياضي الثقافي), more colloquially abbreviated as Al-Ittihad, is a professional football club founded in 1972 and based in the city of Kalba, in the Emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The team competes in the UAE Pro League, the top tier of Emirati football.

History

Kalba Football Club was established in 1972 through the merger of three clubs: Al Shabab, Al Rooba and Al Riyadiya.

Kalba has won a record breaking 7 Division 1 titles with their last one being in the 2013–14 season.

From 2009 to 2018 the team spent these years jumping up and down between divisions; since the 2018–19 season they have managed to consistently compete in the top tier, and in the 2020–21 season they reached the UAE League Cup semi-finals, where they were eliminated by Al-Nasr Dubai on penalties after a draw on aggregate.

League record

Season	Position	Number of teams	Tier	President's Cup	League Cup
2008–09	5th	16	2	Round of 16	—
2009–10	1st	8	2
2010–11	11th	12	1	Preliminary Round	First Round
2011–12	1st	8	2	Quarter-Finals	—
2012–13	14th	14	1	Round of 16	First Round
2013–14	1st	13	2	Preliminary Round	—
2014–15	14th	14	1	Round of 16	First Round
2015–16	2nd	9	2		—
2016–17	13th	14	1		First Round
2017–18	2nd	12	2		—
2018–19	11th	14	1		First Round
2019–20^a				Quarter-Finals
2020–21	8th			Round of 16	Semi-Finals
2021–22	11th			Quarter-Finals	First Round
2022–23	8th			Round of 16
2023–24	11th
2024–25	th

_{Notes^ 2019–20 UAE football season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates.}

Current squad

As of UAE Pro-League:

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 2 DF  UAE Abdulla Al-Shaibani ^U23 3 DF  UAE Mohammed Sabeel 4 DF  IRN Amirhossein Samdaliri ^U23 (on loan from Nassaji Mazandaran) 5 MF  UAE Ali Salmeen 6 MF  ALB Rejan Alivoda 7 MF  IRN Saman Ghoddos 8 MF  BRA Caio Eduardo 9 MF  IRN Mehdi Mohebi 10 MF  IRN Ahmad Nourollahi 11 FW  FRA Sekou Lega ^U23 12 DF  UAE Salem Rashid 13 DF  UAE Farid Abdulla ^U23 14 MF  UAE Sékou Gassama (on loan from Al Ain) 15 DF  UAE Abdulaziz Al-Hamhami 16 DF  SVN Miha Blažič 17 GK  UAE Saif Al-Zaabi 18 DF  VEN Renné Rivas (on loan from Al-Taawoun)

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW  UAE Ahmed Al-Naqbi 20 MF  BRA Saile Souza 23 DF  UAE Waleed Rashid ^U23 24 MF  UAE Khalid Al-Darmaki 25 DF  UAE Abdusalam Mohammed 27 FW  UAE Yaser Al-Blooshi 31 DF  JOR Obada Al Hamaida ^U23 33 GK  UAE Sultan Al-Mantheri 37 DF  CIV Kouadjo Koffi 42 MF  UAE Ahmed Abunamous 55 GK  UAE Hamad Al-Mansoori 70 FW  IRN Shahriyar Moghanlou 72 DF  UAE Ahmed Malallah ^U23 77 MF  UAE Leandro Spadacio 80 FW  SRB Nemanja Jović 90 FW  UAE Eisa Khalfan ^U23 (on loan from Al Ain)

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 1 GK  UAE Eisa Hooti (on loan to Dibba)

Honors

• UAE Division One
  • Champions (7): 1979–80, 1988–89, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14

Club staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Vuk Rašović
Assistant coaches	Gabriele Pin
	Saeed Fawaz
	Musa Abdulbassit
Youth coach	Ervin Boban
Fitness coach	Vladan Popović
Physiotherapist	Sultan Basheer

See also

• List of football clubs in the United Arab Emirates

References