UAE’s top 25 greatest football players ranked: Part 1

First in a three-part series.

How to assemble a list of the country’s 25 greatest footballers?

From personal observation, over the past two decades.

To evaluate those who played before the middle 1990s, a close study of archived material, including video, was a requirement. Even more important were conversations with friends, relatives and former club officials about the skill levels of players from the early years of the country.

But the main determinant in choosing these 25 was how “influential” each player was to club and country while also taking into account raw talent and individual achievements.

25 Essa Santo Ahmed

The former Al Wahda and current Al Ahli right-back made his first-team debut for Wahda in 2006 at the age of 20 and has represented the national team 12 times. Apart from being one of the most consistent and industrious players over the years in the Arabian Gulf League, Essa Santo has been more influential with his attitude towards the media. He is one of the few Emiratis who always makes himself available for interviews. Over the years, the lack of interview availabilities has been a constant and demoralising journalism challenge in the UAE. That has led to a lack of historical archives.

24 Ismail Al Hammadi

He is 27 but the best may still be ahead of the Al Ahli winger and he could rise on this list. His speed is devastating, his match-winning ability and influence is undoubted; if he understood how good he is and how he could improve, he could be one of Emirati greats. He has 59 caps and seven goals for his country, including the winner at the 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations final against Iraq.

23 Ali Kasheif

No side sustains a title pursuit with a weak goalkeeper and he was the best in the country when Al Jazira won their first league title, in 2011, as well as the President’s Cup in 2011 and 2012. He also was the national team’s first-choice keeper at the London 2012 Olympics as well as the championship side at the 2013 Gulf Cup. Kasheif, 28, is a natural leader who has captained both Jazira and the national side, and his enormous will to win can be seen in tirades at colleagues he believes are not performing to expectations. He has suffered a decline of late, but he could be remembered as one of the nation’s great goalkeepers if he recovers his form.

22 Ali Al Wehaibi

An Al Ain youth product, the slight but speedy winger broke into the senior side in 2001 at the age of 18 and made 195 appearances for the 12-time AGL champions, as well as 46 for the national side. He was one of the first classic wingers in the country, fearsomely competitive, tormenting defenders with his sharp runs towards the byline. He was one of the most important players during Al Ain’s run to the Asian Champions League title in 2003 and to a runners-up medal in 2005. He first made his mark in UAE football at the 2003 Fifa World Youth Championship, when he scored a goal for the UAE in the opening match. With Al Ain, he won six league titles, five President’s Cups and two AGL Super Cups.

21 Amer Abdulrahman

The quiet man of the current national team is sometimes overlooked, but he is to the UAE what Paul Scholes was to Manchester United: calm, composed and an orchestrator from the middle of the park. He is slowly turning into the greatest Emirati player not to win a league title. Some see tragedy in his spending so many years at Baniyas, others see his loyalty as a desire to one day inspire his boyhood team to glory. He joined Baniyas’s youth set-up when he was nine and broke into their first team in 2009. Since then, he has made 89 appearances for the club and represented the national team 44 times. He is part of the current Emirati “golden generation” and made history with the Under 23 team, who qualified for the 2012 Olympics in London. In 2014, he had a two-week trial at English club Blackburn Rovers.

20 Salem Bushnain

He was picked in the country’s first international team, in 1972, and was one of the first all-round creative Emirati midfielders. He became a regular in the national team and an integral part of the Al Nasr team that won back-to-back UAE league championships, in 1978 and 1979, the first two in the club’s history. He played in the 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1979 Gulf Cups. Not much of him is documented but he was described by teammates and the media as one of the first superstars of Emirati football. (Not pictured)

19 Fahad Khamees Mubarak

He played as a striker for the national team and Al Wasl. His goals made Al Wasl an unstoppable force in UAE football in the late 1980s. He was part of the first “golden generation” of Emirati football, who took the UAE to their only World Cup, in 1990, and proudly captained the team against Colombia and Yugoslavia. He represented the national team 82 times and scored 37 goals. He made 230 appearances for Al Wasl, notching 166 goals in a glittering career spanning 16 years.

18 Salem Jawhar

Perhaps the finest holding midfielder in the history of UAE football. He rarely ventured forward, but when he did he often had a goal in him. His sense of certainty was infectious, turning a nervy, fearful Al Ain side into serial winners. He was masterful with his positioning, his ability to sense danger in front of the defence and his ability to keep the ball. He was the undisputed leader of the Al Ain sides who won five league championships in seven years, from 1998 through 2004, and was captain of the side who won the Asian Champions League title in 2003.

17 Khalid Ismail

His masterful and authoritative displays for Al Nasr gave the domestic league a much-needed layer of gloss in an era of semi-pro competitions. Khalid Ismail will forever be known as the man who scored the country’s first goal in a World Cup finals, against eventual champions West Germany at Italy 1990. Khalid played as a left-sided midfielder for the national team and as a striker for Nasr. He played in four Asian Championships and five Gulf Cups with the national team. Like most UAE footballers of his era, he held a full-time job: he was a fireman by day and a footballer by night. He is now the deputy chief fire officer at Dubai airports.

sports@thenational.ae

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE