UAE players leave lasting mark on Asian Champions League

Though clubs from UAE boast only one title, but five players from the country have left a lasting mark on the AFC Champions League with their outstanding performances.

These five stars include Khalid Eisa, Subait Khater, Mohammad Omar, Ahmed Khalil and Omar Abdulrahman.

Al Ain won the inaugural Asian Champions League in 2003 after a 2-1 aggregate win over BEC Thero Sasana of Thailand.

A key pillar of the Al Ain squad for over seven years, Eisa has racked up 63 appearances in the AFC Champions League; the most for an Emirati player in the competition.

Having joined the 2002-03 champions from Al Jazira in 2013, Eisa helped the Garden City side reach the semi-finals of the 2014 AFC Champions League where he was sent off in a 3-0 first leg defeat to Al Hilal in Riyadh and consequently miss the return fixture.

Two years later, Eisa was instrumental in Al Ain’s journey to the final, picking up five clean sheets. The UAE giants faced South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, and ended up losing 3-2 on aggregate to settle for a runners-up finish.

At the age of 30, Eisa remains an undisputed starter for club and country, and will be hoping to extend his record in the AFC Champions League as the club eyes a second title after lifting the inaugural title in 2002-03.

Like Eisa, Khater also represented both Al Ain and Al Jazira, but the former international midfielder enjoyed his best spell at Al Ain where he helped them become the UAE’s first — and to date only- continental champions.

Blessed with a powerful right foot and bags of energy, Khater was the beating heart of Al Ain’s defence, playing important roles in defence and attack.

Alongside the likes of Gharib Hareb and Iran legend Farhad Majidi, Khater’s performances in 2002-03 helped Al Ain top their group unbeaten, before going on to navigate the challenge of China’s Dalian Shide to set up a final showdown against Thailand’s BEC Tero Sasana.

Al Ain emerged 3-0 winners on aggregate and Khater wrote his name in the history of the competition and of Emirati football.

In 2005, Khater netted a brace in the AFC Champions League semi-finals against Chinese club Shenzhen Jianlibao as Al Ain ran riot 6-0 to reach the final again. Unfortunately for them, this time the final would go the way of reigning champions Al Ittihad, who became the first side to retain the title.

The UAE captain until his international retirement in 2009, Omar was vital for Al Ain in their efforts to become the first AFC Champions League winners, in 2002-03.

On the way to the final, Omar scored three goals; twice at the semi-final stage against Dalian Shide, and the second goal in the first leg of the final against BEC Tero Sasana.

Capable of playing as a striker, in the number 10 role or out wise, Omar is the half-brother of UAE legend Zuhair Bakheet. He joined Al Ain from his childhood club Al Wasl in 2002 and proved to be an inspired signing, forming a deadly partnership with Ivorian forward Boubacar Sanogo then with his successor, Majidi.

By the time Al Ain were back in the continental final in 2005, Omar had swapped Al Ain for Al Jazira where he would spend the next three years.

Khalil made his AFC Champions League debut with UAE’s Al Ahli (now Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) in the 2009 edition, and has played for only one other club in the competition, Al Ain.

Most notably for him though, he captained the side during their run to the final in 2015, contributing six goals and three assists as well as appearing in every single game.

His brace away to Al Ain in the Round of 16 saw them through on aggregate after drawing 3-3, courtesy of the away goals rule.

Despite playing for three clubs that participate regularly in the competition, the entirety of Omar’s AFC Champions League appearances came in Al Ain colours. The frizzy-haired playmaker missed last season’s title winning campaign with Al Hilal through injury and his current side, Al Jazira have not qualified to the 2020 edition.

In 2016, Omar  guided Al Ain to the final, contributing three goals and six assists. And although Al Ain were ultimately beaten in the final, the midfielder’s performances that year earned him the AFC Champions League MVP award as well as the Asian Player of the Year award.

Scoring an incredible 17 goals and providing 23 assists, his best game in the competition came in the 6-1 win against Esteghlal FC in 2017, when he scored a brace and assisted a goal to help his side power through to the quarter-finals.