The coach of the first national football team, the Portuguese Paulo Bento, is facing an important challenge when he leads “Al-Abyad” in the 26th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup “Gulf 26”, which begins in Kuwait this month, where he has a historic opportunity to write his name among the list of the best coaches in the history of the national team. The UAE.
The 55-year-old coach is participating in the Gulf Championship for the first time, and he has the opportunity to achieve an unprecedented achievement for any coach with Al-Abyad, which is winning a Gulf title in addition to the team’s existing chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Paulo Bento led the UAE national team in 21 matches since his appointment as coach of the team in July 2023, winning 13 matches, drawing three matches, and losing five.
The UAE national team’s chances are strong in the “Gulf 26”, as the tournament draw placed it in the first group, with the teams of Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, where the “White” team was experiencing its best condition last November, after it was able to win over its guests Kyrgyzstan (3-0). And Qatar (5-0), in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
The national team won the title in two editions, the first in the “Gulf 18” in 2007 in Abu Dhabi, and the second in the “Gulf 21” in 2013 in Bahrain, while the team’s best results other than the two titles were coming in second place, four times in the 1986, 1988, 1994 and 2017 editions. And third place, five times in the 1972, 1974 and 1982 editions And 1998 and 2014. On the other hand, “Al-Abyad” was absent from the first Gulf version only.
Coach Paulo Bento is competing with six coaches who are considered the most prominent in the history of Emirates football, through the most prominent achievements of the team throughout its history. The list is topped by Brazilian coach Mario Zagallo, who inaugurated the achievements of the “Whites” by leading them to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and his compatriot Carlos Alberto Pereira completed the achievement, He led the national team in the World Cup against Colombia, West Germany and Yugoslavia.
For his part, Croatian coach Tomislav Ivic registered his name on the list by leading the national team to win the Asian Cup silver for the first time in its history after losing the final of the 1996 edition to Saudi Arabia in the Emirates.
The late French coach Bruno Metsu entered the history of Emirates football, after he led the team to achieve the first external title in its history by winning the “Gulf 18” title in 2007.
As for the national coach, Mahdi Ali, he maintains two historical achievements with the national team, namely winning the “Gulf 21” title in 2013 in Bahrain as the first national coach to achieve this achievement, before winning a historic medal, which is the bronze medal in the 2015 Asian Nations Cup in Australia.
Finally, Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who led the national team to the semi-finals of the 2019 Asian Nations Cup in the UAE, joins the list.
Emirates Today conducted a poll with a number of Emirates football fans, during which they confirmed the difficulty of choosing the best coach in the history of the national team, while they unanimously agreed that preference goes to the Brazilian coach Mario Zagallo and the citizen coach Mehdi Ali, followed by the French coach Bruno Metsu.
They said that qualifying for the 1990 World Cup is the most prominent in the history of UAE football, indicating that it is the most important event that all teams dream of every four years, while Mahdi Ali deserves to have his name recorded in the list of the most prominent coaches, especially since he is the most successful national coach with the youth and Olympic teams, all the way to To the first team, in addition to the fact that these teams presented wonderful football coupled with positive results.
Finally, the late coach Bruno Metsu won the praise of the public, as he led Al-Abyad to achieve the first foreign title in its history, after he had led Al-Ain Club to achieve the 2003 AFC Champions League title for the first time in the history of UAE clubs.
The result of the Emirates Today poll saw Mehdi Ali prevail by obtaining 666 votes, Bruno Mezzo came second by obtaining 153 votes, then Mario Zagallo 70 votes, Carlos Alberto Pereira 56 votes, Alberto Zaccheroni 46 votes, and Tomislav Ivic 45 votes.
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