United Arab Emirates national team represents UAE in the international football championships and competitions. It is supervised by the UAE Football Association founded in 1971. It affiliated to FIFA in 1972 and to AFC in 1974.
The team played their first international match against Qatar in March 1972. The same year they made their first run into the Gulf Cup of Nations but claimed the first silverware only in 2007. The UAE national team regularly competes in the AFC Asian Cup but the farthest they reached in the tournament was the second-place position in 1996. The squad was successful to taste the FIFA World Cup action making sole appearance in the 1990 edition in Italy.
The national team are often nicknamed Al-Abyad which means the Whites in English. They play their home matches at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi that can hold up to 43,000 people. As of January 2013, UAE are ranked 109th in the FIFA world ranking. The team saw their highest ever 42nd position in the list in November 1998.
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