Qatar–United Arab Emirates football rivalry

Qatar–United Arab Emirates football rivalry
Other namesBlockade Derby
Gulf Derby
LocationAFC
WAFF
Teams Qatar
 United Arab Emirates
First meetingUnited Arab Emirates 1–0 Qatar
2nd Arabian Gulf Cup
Riyadh
(17 March 1972)
Latest meetingQatar 1–3 United Arab Emirates
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
Al-Rayyan
(5 September 2024)
Next meetingUnited Arab Emirates v Qatar
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
TBD
(19 November 2024)
Statistics
Meetings total34
Most winsQatar (14)
Top scorerUnited Arab Emirates Ali Mabkhout (5)
Largest victoryQatar 5–0 United Arab Emirates
2021 FIFA Arab Cup
Al Khor
(10 December 2021)

The Qatar–United Arab Emirates football rivalry is an association football rivalry between two nations, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which involves the football teams of both nations.

The two nations' rivalry has begun since 1972, however, their rivalry had been largely friendly at first and both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had no issue facing each other. Beginning in 2017, due to the Qatar diplomatic crisis and the downturn of relations, poor political relations have managed to affect football development, causing the rivalry to gain importance.[1]

History

[edit]

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had been largely friendly football rivals when the two first met in 1972, a year after independence from Britain. The two countries first met in the 2nd Arabian Gulf Cup, where Qatar lost to the United Arab Emirates 0–1.[2] Since then, the two nations have met in other 30 occasions. However, only two games happened as friendlies, both ended with Emirati victories.[2]

The rivalry was initially insignificant until 2017 when the United Arab Emirates actively participated in the Qatar diplomatic crisis, by blockading Qatar in air, land and naval travels. Since then, the rivalry has headed into a more hostile fervor; in 2018 AFC U-19 Championship, captain of the U-19 United Arab Emirates refused to shake hand with the Qatari counterpart, Qatar lost the game 1–2 but eventually qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup while the United Arab Emirates was eliminated instead.[3]

Attempt to separate politics from football proved fruitless, when in 2019 AFC Asian Cup, despite effort to reduce tensions, the United Arab Emirates still banned Qataris from entering the country for the tournament.[4] Even Qatari officials were also prohibited from entering the country to inspect the perpetration for the competition.[5][6] Further, in the semi-finals game between two countries, Prince Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan decided to buy all the remaining tickets of the match to distribute for home fans, as a way to cheer the spirit of the United Arab Emirates, meaning that Qatar had to face an entirely hostile crowd. This had generated controversy as the United Arab Emirates were attempting to politicize the match, given the earlier crisis in the relations between two countries.[7] Despite this, Qatar emerged victoriously with a resounding 4–0 victory on its eventual conquest of the tournament, which was the biggest victory for either of them in their head-to-head history at the time.[8]

Matches

[edit]
Source:[9][10]
# Date Competition Venue Home team Score Away team
1 17 March 1972 2nd Arabian Gulf Cup Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, Riyadh United Arab Emirates 1–0 Qatar
2 29 March 1974 3rd Arabian Gulf Cup Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kaifan United Arab Emirates 1–1 Qatar
3 29 March 1976 4th Arabian Gulf Cup Khalifa International Stadium, Doha Qatar 3–1 United Arab Emirates
4 29 March 1979 5th Arabian Gulf Cup Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad Qatar 1–0 United Arab Emirates
5 17 September 1980 1980 AFC Asian Cup Sabah Al Salem Stadium, Kuwait City Qatar 2–1 United Arab Emirates
6 19 March 1982 6th Arabian Gulf Cup Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 1–0 Qatar
7 12 March 1984 7th Arabian Gulf Cup Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat United Arab Emirates 1–0 Qatar
8 7 April 1984 8th Arabian Gulf Cup Bahrain National Stadium, Manama Qatar 3–2 United Arab Emirates
9 7 April 1988 9th Arabian Gulf Cup King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh Qatar 2–1 United Arab Emirates
10 7 April 1988 1988 AFC Asian Cup Suheim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha Qatar 2–1 United Arab Emirates
11 24 October 1989 1990 FIFA World Cup Qualification National Stadium, Singapore Qatar 1–1 United Arab Emirates
12 27 February 1990 10th Arabian Gulf Cup Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City Qatar 0–0 United Arab Emirates
13 14 May 1992 Friendly Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 1–0 Qatar
14 6 December 1992 11th Arabian Gulf Cup Khalifa International Stadium, Doha Qatar 1–0 United Arab Emirates
15 9 October 1994 1994 Asian Games Bingo Stadium, Onomichi United Arab Emirates 2–2 Qatar
16 3 November 1994 12th Arabian Gulf Cup Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 2–0 Qatar
17 16 October 1996 13th Arabian Gulf Cup Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat United Arab Emirates 0–1 Qatar
18 29 September 1998 1998 Arab Nations Cup Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha Qatar 2–1 United Arab Emirates
19 5 November 1998 14th Arabian Gulf Cup Bahrain National Stadium, Manama Qatar 0–0 United Arab Emirates
20 31 August 2001 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 0–2 Qatar
21 4 October 2001 Khalifa International Stadium, Doha Qatar 1–2 United Arab Emirates
22 20 January 2002 15th Arabian Gulf Cup King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh Qatar 2–0 United Arab Emirates
23 3 January 2004 16th Arabian Gulf Cup Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City Qatar 0–0 United Arab Emirates
24 10 December 2004 17th Arabian Gulf Cup Khalifa International Stadium, Doha Qatar 2–2 United Arab Emirates
25 16 July 2007 2007 AFC Asian Cup Quân khu 7 Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City Qatar 1–2 United Arab Emirates
26 8 January 2009 19th Arabian Gulf Cup Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat Qatar 0–0 United Arab Emirates
27 25 August 2011 Friendly Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium, Al Ain United Arab Emirates 3–1 Qatar
28 25 August 2013 21st Arabian Gulf Cup Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Isa Town United Arab Emirates 3–1 Qatar
29 11 January 2015 2015 AFC Asian Cup Canberra Stadium, Canberra United Arab Emirates 4–1 Qatar
30 29 January 2019 2019 AFC Asian Cup Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 0–4 Qatar
31 2 December 2019 24th Arabian Gulf Cup Khalifa International Stadium, Doha Qatar 4–2 United Arab Emirates
32 10 December 2021 2021 FIFA Arab Cup Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor Qatar 5–0 United Arab Emirates
33 13 January 2023 25th Arabian Gulf Cup Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra Qatar 1–1 United Arab Emirates
34 5 September 2024 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan Qatar 1–3 United Arab Emirates

Overall summary

[edit]
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Best win
 United Arab Emirates 34 11 9 14 39 47 –8 4–1
 Qatar 34 14 9 11 47 39 +8 5–0
Matches held in United Arab Emirates 6
Matches held in neutral venue 19
Matches held in Qatar 9
Total matches 34

Top scorers

[edit]

The bold indicates that the player is still active

Rank Player Goals
1 United Arab Emirates Ali Mabkhout 5
2 United Arab Emirates Ahmed Khalil 4
3 United Arab Emirates Adnan Al Talyani 3
Qatar Mohammed Salem Al-Enazi
Qatar Almoez Ali
Qatar Boualem Khoukhi
4 Qatar Mansour Muftah 2
Qatar Hassan Al-Haydos
United Arab Emirates Zuhair Bakheet
5 various players 1

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Why Does the United Arab Emirates have a Rivalry with Qatar?". February 7, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "United Arab Emirates national football team: record v Qatar". www.11v11.com.
  3. ^ "Political tension spills on the pitch between UAE and Qatar in AFC U19". foxnews. 18 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Qataris can re-enter UAE with prior permission: Ministry". Khaleej Times. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  5. ^ "Qatari organiser, media delegation denied entry for attending Asian Cup in UAE: Report". www.thepeninsulaqatar.com. 4 January 2019.
  6. ^ Tariq Panja (3 January 2019). "Top Qatari Soccer Official Barred From Tournament in U.A.E." The New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  7. ^ Arab, The New (27 January 2019). "#AsianCup2019: UAE buys up tickets for politically-charged Qatar match 'to block Doha fans from attending'". alaraby.
  8. ^ Turak, Natasha (January 30, 2019). "Qatar thrashes UAE 4-0 in politically charged Asia Cup semi-final". CNBC.
  9. ^ "World Football Elo Ratings". www.eloratings.net.
  10. ^ "World Football Elo Ratings". www.eloratings.net.