Mahdi Ali

Mahdi Ali Hassan Redha (born 20 April 1965 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates) is a retired Emirati footballer and a sports manager.

Mahdi Ali
Mahdi Ali in 2015
Personal information
Full name Mahdi Ali Hassan Redha
Date of birth (1965-04-20) 20 April 1965
Place of birth Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1973–1983 Al Ahli
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1998 Al Ahli 194 (12)
National team
1985–1990 United Arab Emirates 8 (0)
Teams managed
2003 United Arab Emirates U16 (assistant)
2008 United Arab Emirates U19
2009–2010 Al Ahli
2009 United Arab Emirates U20
2010–2012 United Arab Emirates U23
2012–2017 United Arab Emirates
2017–2018 Shabab Al-Ahli
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

From 2010 until 2012, he led the United Arab Emirates Olympic team in qualifying for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. It was the nation's very first appearance.[1] On 15 August 2012, he was appointed to the UAE's senior national team. He led the country to their second title in 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations. He also led UAE to the third-place finish in 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Playing career

Ali took up football with Al Ahli's youth sides at age six, and he progressed steadily through their system. He made his first-team debut at the age of 16 in 1983. Ali won two UAE President's Cup medallions and played a crucial role in the 1988 final against Al Shabab.

Coaching career

Early years

Ali returned to football after that and has previously coached several United Arab Emirates national football teams at various age-levels.[2] He has also managed some top-level clubs in his native country. A former midfield player of note, Ali's coaching career began in 1998 with the U10s at the Al Ahli in Dubai.

He spent a year in London with his family in 2000 and earnt a coaching certificate, and later the football association sent him to Germany for his A level certificate. The UAE FA called him in 2008, while he was on leave from his government job in Dubai, asking him if he would coach the U19 national team.

Youth levels

Ali has had unprecedented success in leading what has been dubbed the "golden generation" of Emirati players, beginning with the AFC U-19 Championship in 2008 and continuing with a final-eight performance in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2009 and a U23 Gulf Cup championship and a silver medal in the Asian Games.

On 7 April 2011, Baniyas appointed Ali as caretaker coach after the club parted company with Lutfi al Benzarti, who led them to promotion in 2009 and fourth in the Pro League in 2010. Baniyas were second in the league when Ali took charge and he maintained that position behind Al Jazira.

UAE national team

On 15 August 2012, he was appointed as new manager of the United Arab Emirates' senior team national team.[3] He became the fourth non-foreign manager of the national team after replacing Abdullah Masfar. Under his management, the UAE played so well as they finished first in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification and gained the second Gulf Cup of Nations title in 2013, after the first one of Bruno Metsu.

He led United Arab Emirates to 2015 AFC Asian Cup where they defeated Qatar and Bahrain and lost to Iran and faced Japan in quarter-final and won the match in penalties and reached to semi-finals. However, UAE lost to Australia in semi-finals and failed to progress to the final. His side defeated Iraq 3–2 in third/fourth place play-off and ended their campaign in third-place. He is also the first Emirati coach of national team in a AFC Asian Cup tournament. On 27 February 2015, he extended his contract with UAE until 2018. He resigned from his position after UAE loss to Australia 2–0 On the World Cup qualifications match on 28 March 2017.[4]

Managerial statistics
As of 30 April 2018
Team From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Al Ahli 2 November 2009 4 February 2010 12 6 1 5 24 17 +7 050.00
United Arab Emirates U-23 1 January 2010 12 August 2012 27 17 6 4 53 19 +34 062.96
United Arab Emirates 12 August 2012 28 March 2017 60 35 12 13 121 59 +62 058.33
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai 2 December 2017 30 May 2018 19 8 5 6 23 21 +2 042.11
Total 116 66 24 26 220 116 +104 056.90

Honours

Player

Al Ahli

Manager

United Arab Emirates U-19

United Arab Emirates U-23

United Arab Emirates

Personal life

Mahdi was born in Dubai in 1965. He has a partly Persian ancestry, from his ancestor who came from Moftabad. He is one of the few people with Persian ancestry who coached the UAE national team, the other being Heshmat Mohajerani.

After his playing days, Ali attended the HCT – Dubai Men's College where he graduated as an electrical engineer and later assisted in the design of the Dubai Metro.[5] While working for Dubai Municipality, he helped set up the Road Transit Authority (RTA), and masterminded Dubai's parking project and the ticketing system for the Dubai Metro.

References
  1. "Japan and UAE reach London". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. fifa.com. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  2. "Vision of Mahdi Ali drives Olympic movement of UAE". The National. thenational.ae. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  3. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/sport/inside_sport.asp?xfile=/data/nationsports/2012/August/nationsports_August78.xml&section=nationsports
  4. http://www.thenational.ae/sport/football/uae-coach-mahdi-ali-in-for-the-2018-world-cup-qualification-long-haul-with-new-deal
  5. "Mahdi Ali: Player, bureaucrat, engineer, now coach". The National. thenational.ae. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
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