Dhofar S.C.S.C.

Dhofar S.C.S.C.
نادي ظفار

Full name	Dhofar Sports, Cultural, and Social Club
Nickname(s)	"Al-Zaeem" (The Leader(s)/The Boss)
Founded	1968 (as Al-Shaab) July 24, 1970 (as Dhofar)
Ground	Al-Saada Stadium Salalah, Oman (Capacity: 12,000)
Chairman	Sheikh Badr Ali Said Al-Rawas
Manager	Aiman Al-Ramadi
League	Omani League
2009/10	Omani League, 2nd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours
[season]

Dhofar Sports, Cultural, and Social 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. Their home stadium is Al-Saada Stadium, but also recognize the older Salalah Sports Complex as their home ground. Both stadiums are government owned, but Dhofar also own their own personal stadium and sports equipment, as well as their own training facilities in the heart of Salalah on Al-Salaam Street.^[1]

Dhofar is the most successful club in the Omani League, with a total of nine championships,^[2] and seven Sultan Qaboos Cups^[3] to its name, as well as reaching the final 12 times. Dhofar has 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, along with counterparts Al-Nasr S.C., whom which they have a long lasting rivalry with. Although being relatively younger in foundation than many other Arab clubs, which generally were founded in the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's, Dhofar have been ranked as the 30th most successful club title-wise in the Arab World with a total of 19 titles.^[4]

History

The idea for the founding of a club in Salalah began in the 1960s resulting in various meetings from the townspeople. The names considered for the new club were Al-Ahlia, Al-Nahda, Al-Arabi, and Al-Shaala, but the name to be chosen for the club was to be "Al-Shaab", a name literally translating to "The People",^[5] and in 1968 the new club was finally founded.

2 years later the young club merged with neighboring club, Al-Shaala, from the Dahariz district of Salalah, and re-founded as Dhofar in 1970 appointing Salim Al-Kathiri as the club's first president, a position which was held by him until 1975.^[6]

Dhofar, along with neighbors Al-Nasr have been generally labeled as the front runners of the Omani League, but as seen in the '08, '09 season, the clubs both performed horribly with Dhofar losing many games, and not going far in the Sultan Qaboos Cup, along with Al-Nasr even fighting a relegation battle.

The club is currently making a season comeback with their performance in the Sultan Qaboos Cup by reaching the final against a lower-leveled Saham tying in a thrilling 2-2 match then losing 6-7 in a penalty shootout after playing 30 minutes of extra time only to lose against the opposing team.

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 qualifying for the 2011 AFC Cup.

After the end of the second-place finishes earlier in the 09-10 season, Dhofar made major signings and re-signings in order to boost the club's performance in future competitions.^[8]

Colors, kit providers, and sponsorships

A Lotto-provided Dhofar Shirt, along with a Grand Sport-provided Dhofar cap.

Like the national team, Dhofar have also long-chosen red as the color to represent them. Historically, Dhofar usually wore a red jersey with white shorts, but during the 90's, and the new millennium Dhofar began to wear a full-red kit.

Over the years Dhofar have had numerous kit providers, ranging from Puma, to Lotto, and Grand Sport. As of now, Grand Sport provides Dhofar with kits.

Dhofar have also had many different sponsorships 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, and Al Makan Cafe have all been featured on Dhofar's kit at one point in their history. Al Makan Cafe have most recently been used as Dhofar's shirt sponsor during the 2009/2010 Sultan Qaboos Cup Final, and in the friendly match against Swiss club, FC Zurich.

Achievements

Dhofar has won the most Oman League titles with a total of 9.

• Omani League: 9

  1982-83, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05

• Sultan Qaboos Cup: 7

  1977, 1980, 1981, 1990, 1999, 2004, 2006

• Omani Super Cup: 2

  1999, 2000

Performance in AFC competitions

• Asian Club Championship: 2 appearances

1987: Qualifying Stage

1997: First Round

• AFC Cup: 2 appearances

2004: Group Stage

2007: Group Stage

• Asian Cup Winners Cup: 2 appearance

1991/92: Second Round

Performance in UAFA competitions

• Gulf Club Champions Cup: Qualified 10 times, participated 9 times.^[9]

Year	Host Country	Place
1982	U.A.E.	6th place
1986	Saudi Arabia	3rd place
1991	Oman	4th place
1993	Kuwait	4th place
1994	U.A.E.	6th place
1995	Bahrain	2nd place
2001	Oman	3rd place
2002	Bahrain	5th place
2005	Kuwait	Qualified but did not participate
2008	?	6th place

• U-17 Gulf Club Champions Cup:

1994: Winners

Current squad

Dhofari captain, Hani Al-Dhabit has been on Dhofar for over a decade.

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Badr Juma 2 DF Muhammad Rabia 4 DF Ashraf Eid 6 DF Sita Milandou 9 FW Hashim Saleh 11 MF Yousuf Shaaban 12 FW Ahmed Manaa 14 FW Hani Al-Dhabit (captain) 17 DF Ahmed Awadh 19 MF Suhail Ali

No. Position Player 20 MF Hussain Al-Hadhri 22 GK Riyadh Sibayt 23 DF Fahd Naseeb 24 FW Mitham Al-Ghazi 28 FW Usama Subait 30 DF Imtiyaz Abdul-Mutee 40 GK Hani Najm -- DF Mohammed Rabia (vice-captain) -- DF Nabil Ashoor -- MF Jamal Rashid

Season transfers

In

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

No. Position Player 2 DF Muhammed Rabia (from Al-Nasr) 4 DF Ashraf Eid (from Al-Nasr) 16 FW Adil Lotfi (from FAR Rabat) 20 MF Hussain Al-Hadhri (from Ajman) 22 GK Riyadh Sibayt (from Al-Oruba)

No. Position Player 24 FW Mitham Al-Ghazi (from Al-Ittihad) 28 FW Usama Subait (from Al-Talia) -- DF Mohammed Rabia (from Al-Ahli) -- DF Nabil Ashoor (from Al Jahra) -- MF Yassine Amlil (from Moghreb Tetouan)

Out

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

No. Position Player 8 MF Etienne Bito'o (to Al-Nasr) 10 MF Mohammed Taqi (to Al-Suwaiq) 16 MF Cédric Moubamba (to ?) 15 FW Marzouq Zaki (to Al Arabi)

No. Position Player 27 MF Hamad Aman (to Al-Qadsiya) -- MF Hassan Al-Abrak (to Salalah) -- MF Yassine Amlil (to ?) -- FW Adil Lotfi (to Al-Oruba SC)

Notable players^[10]

Many of Oman's greats once played on Dhofar.

Congo Sita Milandou Egypt Ahmed Farooq Shawki Gharib Mohammed Mashaqi Gabon Etienne Bito'o Cédric Moubamba Iraq Habib Jaafar Sabah Jaeer Kenya Beant Bob De Glas Francis Joseph Michel Edgar Ochieng

Kuwait Hamad Aman Ali Marwi Marzouq Zaki Mexico Alejandro Zurita Morocco Hisham Al-Alawi Abdel-Hakim Bahoul Taufiq Blagha Kafavo Simouni Nigeria Gabriel Joseph

Oman Hani Al-Dhabit Hussain Al-Hadhri Younis Amaan Fahad Ba-Masilah Badr Juma Mohammed Rabia Hashim Saleh Yousuf Shabaan Mohammed Taqi Senegal Cisse Mousa Kamara Abdul-Rahman See Somalia Hassan Aslah Sudan Hussein Abdel-Hafid

Syria Aamar Al-Aznaoota Mohammed Swaidani U.A.E. Mohammed Omar Uruguay Fabián Trujillo

History of club presidents^[11]

No	Name	From	To
1	Salim bin A'nnou Al-Kathiri	1970	1975
2	Ali bin Said Badr Al-Rawas	1975	1976
3	Saif bin Hafidh Abdullah Al-Rawas	1976	1986
4	Ahmed bin Salim Ahmed Al-Rawas	1986	1997
5	Ghazi bin Said Abdullah Al-Rawas	1997	2000
6	Hamid bin Ahmed Al-Aajayli	2000	2004
7	Naif bin Aamir Awadh Al-Rawas	2004	2006
8	Badr bin Ali Said Al-Rawas	2006

References

1. ^ http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Dhofar+Football+Club&sll=17.014139,54.098034&sspn=0.001318,0.002406&ie=UTF8&hq=Dhofar+Football+Club&hnear=&t=h&z=19
2. ^ - Dhofar League titles
3. ^ - Dhofar S.Q.C. titles
4. ^ - Dhofar ranked as 30th most successful club in West Asia and North Africa (ARCHIVE, must have log-in to view page)
5. ^ http://translate.google.com/#ar%7Cen%7C%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A8 - Google translation from Arabic to English of Al-Shaab
6. ^ - Dhofar S.C. history
7. ^ - 09-10 league table
8. ^ - (Arabic) Kooora announces signings and re-signings of the 2010 offseason
9. ^ - Dhofar's history in the Gulf Club Championship Cup as of 2005. (does not include 2008 competition)
10. ^ - Dhofar's website lists former players with foreign heritage
11. ^ History of Dhofar's presidents (bottom of page)

External links

• (Arabic) Official Site
• (Arabic) Info About the Club on SportsOman
• Historic final between Dhofar and Al-Nasr in 2002