Dhofar Club

Dhofar Club
نادي ظفار الرياضة و الثقافة و الاجتماعي
Full name Dhofar Club
Nickname(s) Al-Zaeem
(The Leader (s)/The Boss)
Founded (1968 (as Al-Shaab)
1972 (1972) (20 May 1972 (as Dhofar))
Ground Al-Saada Stadium
Salalah Sports Complex
Salalah, Oman
Ground Capacity 12,000
8,000
Chairman Oman Badar Ali Said Al-Rowas
Manager Romania Grigore Sichitiu
League Oman Professional League
2014–15 5th

Dhofar Club (Arabic: نادي ظفار الرياضي الثقافي الاجتماعي; also known locally as Al-Zaeem, or "The Leader(s)" because of their great success, or just plainly as Dhofar) is an Omani sports club based in Salalah, Oman.[1] The club is currently playing in the Oman Professional League, top division of Oman Football Association. Their home ground is Al-Saada Stadium, but they also recognize the older Salalah Sports Complex as their home ground. Both stadiums are government owned, but they also own their own personal stadium and sports equipment, as well as their own training facilities.

History

The idea for the foundation of a club in Salalah began in the 1960s resulting in various meetings among the town's people. The names considered for the new club were Al-Ahlia, Al-Nahda, Al-Arabi, and Al-Shoala, but the name to be chosen for the club was to be "Al-Shaab", a name literally translating to "The People",[2] and in 1968 the new club was finally founded.

Two years later the young club merged with the neighboring club Al-Shoala from the Dahariz district of Salalah and was re-founded as Dhofar in 1970 appointing Salim Al-Kathiri as the club's first president, a position which was held by him till 1975.[3] Officially, the club was founded on 20 May 1972 and was registered on 26 June 2002.

Dhofar is the most successful club in the Omani League with a total of nine championships[4] and seven Sultan Qaboos Cup titles[5] to their name. Dhofar have also reached the final of the 1995–1996 Gulf Club Champions Cup, only losing to Saudi giants, Al-Nassr. The club has never been relegated to second division. They have a long lasting rivalry with neighbours Al-Nasr S.C. Although being relatively younger in foundation than many other Arab clubs, which generally were founded in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Dhofar has been ranked as the 30th most successful club title-wise in the Arab World with a total of 19 titles.[6]

Dhofar, along with the neighbours Al-Nasr have been generally labelled as the front runners of the Omani League, but as seen in the recent seasons, both the clubs performed horribly with Dhofar losing many games, and not going far in the Sultan Qaboos Cup, along with Al-Nasr who even got relegated in the 2010–11 season.

The club in the 2009–10 season made a season comeback with their performances in the Sultan Qaboos Cup by reaching the final against a lower-leveled Saham. Saham won the match 7–6 on penalties after the match had ended 2–2 at normal time.

Dhofar also received second place in the 2009–10 Omani League losing only a few points short of first-time winners, Al-Suwaiq,[7] and in the process qualified for the 2011 AFC Cup. After the end of the second-place finish earlier in the 2009–10 season, Dhofar made major signings and re-signings in order to boost the club's performance in future competitions.[8] Then in the next season, they were placed 4th in the league table securing 30 points from 22 games. Dhofar lost all its last 5 matches in the 2010–11 season. It further went down in the 2011–12 season and was placed 12th in the league. But at the end of the same season they also won their 8th Sultan Qaboos Cup title by winning 1–0 against neighbours Al-Ittihad.[9][10] In the previous season of the Omani League, Dhofar was ranked 6th in the league. This was one of their worst performances in the top division football. In 2013, Dhofar appointed Dragan Talajić of Croatia as their manager.

Before the beginning of the 2014-15 Oman Professional League season, on 4 July 2014 the club appointed Romanian manager Petre Gigiu who had managed Al-Seeb Club and Sur SC in the 2013–14 Oman Professional League. His first triumph as a manager of the club came in the pre-season preparations of the club when he led his side to win the 2014 Baniyas SC International Tournament winning two matches, 2–1 against United Arab Emirates national under-23 football team and 1–0 against Bahraini Premier League club Hidd SCC.[11]

Other sports

Although being mainly known for their football, Dhofar S.C.S.C. like many other clubs in Oman, have not only football in their list, but also hockey, volleyball, handball, basketball, badminton and squash. They also have a youth football team competing in the Omani Youth league.

Crest and colours

A Lotto-sponsored Dhofar S.C.S.C. jersey along with a Grand Sport-sponsored cap

Like the Oman national football team, Dhofar S.C.S.C. have also long-chosen red as the color to represent them, varying themselves from neighbors Al-Ittihad (Green), Al-Nasr S.C.S.C. (Blue) and Salalah SC (Blue) kits. Historically, they usually wore a red jersey with white shorts, but after the 1990s they began to wear a full red kit.

Over the years, they have had numerous kit providers, ranging from Puma to Lotto and Grand Sport. As of now, Nike provides them with kits. Currently, Oasis Grace L.L.C. is featured on the team's shirt.

They have also had many different sponsors over the years, but rarely featured a shirt sponsor (only during notable matches such as the Sultan Qaboos Cup final). Omani newspaper, Al-Watan, Dhofar Insurance, Al Makan Cafe and Bank Muscat have all been featured on their kit at one point in their history.

Honours and achievements

National titles

  • Winners 1977, 1980, 1981, 1990, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2011
  • Runners-up 1984, 1993, 2009
  • Winners 1999
  • Runners-up 2000, 2005, 2012

International titles

  • Winners 1994
  • Winners 2014

Club performance-International Competitions

AFC competitions

UAFA competitions

  • 1982 : 6th Position
  • 1986 : 3rd Position
  • 1991 : 4th Position
  • 1994 : 6th Position
  • 1995 : Runners-up
  • 1995 : Runners-up
  • 2001 : 3rd Position
  • 2002 : 5th Position
  • 2008 : Group stage
  • 2011 : Quarter-Finals

Players

First team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
12 Oman GK Mohsin Al-Hajri
40 Oman GK Hani Al-Sabti

2 Oman DF Mohammed Rabea
3 Oman DF Amer Said Al-Shatri
4 Oman DF Nadhir Awadh Bashir
8 Oman DF Ali Salim Al-Nahar
23 Oman DF Nabil Ashoor
24 Oman DF Nashmi Saleh
25 Oman DF Mo'ayyad Awadh Salim
26 Oman DF Mohammed Saleh Abdraboh
28 Oman DF Nashid Abdul Qadir
35 Oman DF Tariq Mukhallaf
36 Oman DF Suhail Ali Hassan
Oman DF Omar Ba Omar

10 Oman MF Abdul Al-Shamas
No. Position Player
11 Oman MF Hamid Al-Noufali
14 Oman MF Hani Al-Dhabit (Captain)
15 Oman MF Naif Khamis Nasib
17 Oman MF Basim Al-Rajaibi
19 Oman MF Abdullah Fawaz
20 Oman MF Hussain Al-Hadhri
21 Oman MF Majdi Al-Soori
27 Oman MF Muheeb Al-Noobi
Oman MF Ahmed Abdul Khair
Oman MF Moataz Salah
Oman MF Abdullah Hamid
Oman MF Esam Abdul Majeed

33 Oman FW Shabeeb Saleh
Oman FW Abdullah Khamis

Personnel

Technical staff

Position Name
Head Coach Romania Grigore Sichitiu
Assistant Coach Romania Alexandru Iliuciuc
Oman Saleh Abdraboh Juman
Goalkeeping Coach Romania Cristian Patru
Team Manager Oman Faisal Al-Rowas
Oman Ahmed Sufrar
Oman Ahmed Awadh Bashir
Oman Said Faraj Al-Saleem
Club Doctor Egypt Hisham Mohammed

Management

Position Staff
Chairman Sheikh Badar Ali Said Al-Rowas
Vice-President Sheikh Ali Farah Al-Hadhri
General Secretary Abdullah Mukaddam
Board member Ahmed Awadh Al-Rowas
Board member Hafidh Salim Al-Rowas
Board member Said Ghalib Al-Rowas

Presidential history

Below is the official presidential history of Dhofar S.C.S.C., from when Salim A'nnou Al-Kathiri took over at the club in 1970, until the present day.[12]

Name From To
Salim A'nnou Al-Kathiri 1970 1975
Ali Said Badr Al-Rowas 1975 1976
Saif Hafidh Abdullah Al-Rowas 1976 1986
Ahmed Salim Amer Al-Rowas 1986 1997
Ghazi Said Abdullah Al-Rowas 1997 2000
Hamid Ahmed Al-Aajayli 2000 2004
Naif Omar Awadh Al-Rowas 2004 2006
Badr Ali Said Al-Rowas 2006 present

References

  1. "Dhofar SCSC Salala". national-football-teams.com.
  2. https://translate.google.com/#ar|en|%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A8 – Google translation from Arabic to English of Al-Shaab
  3. [http://dhofarclub.com/about-us.asp – Dhofar S.C. history]
  4. [http://dhofarclub.com/acheivements.asp#t2 – Dhofar League titles]
  5. [http://dhofarclub.com/acheivements.asp#t1 – Dhofar S.Q.C. titles]
  6. [http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=20977536 – Dhofar ranked as 30th most successful club in West Asia and North Africa (ARCHIVE, must have log-in to view page)]
  7. [http://goalzz.com/main.aspx?c=4971 – 09-10 league table]
  8. [http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=23451568 – (Arabic) Kooora announces signings and re-signings of the 2010 offseason]
  9. "Dhofar Club to celebrate HM's Cup victory". Oman Tribune.
  10. "DHUFAR VS. AL ITTEHAD 1 – 0". soccerway.com.
  11. "ظفار يتوج ببطولة بني ياس الودية". kooora.com.
  12. History of Dhofar's presidents (bottom of page)

External links

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