Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait)


Al-Arabi Sporting Club is a Kuwaiti professional club based in Mansuriya, Kuwait City, that sponsors a number of teams, the most notable of which is the football team in the VIVA Premier League.
Al-Arabi SC was named Al-ʿUrūba at the beginning of 1953, and changed to Al-Arabi SC in 1960. As winners of the Kuwait Emir Cup in 2008, Al-Arabi SC was the first Kuwaiti team to compete in the AFC Cup. Al-Arabi SC has 57 official trophies next to its name, the most of any Kuwaiti football team. Al-Arabi SC's stadium is Sabah Al-Salem Stadium in Mansūriya, a suburb of the capital of the country, Kuwait City. It is the second largest stadium in Kuwait. Al-Arabi has never won any league title since the 2001–02 season. It had the same points as Kuwait SC in 2014–15 season, but the title went to Kuwait by the principle of the results of the matches between the two teams.
Al-Arabi SC is the only team in Kuwait that has never lost in the Kuwait Super Cup. Holding both records to be in the final of the Kuwait Crown Prince Cup 4 consecutive times tied with Kuwait SC and in Kuwait Emir Cup going to the final 11 consecutive times since 1962 to 1973, more than any Kuwaiti team.

History

The Beginning

The club was founded as Al-Uruba in mid-1953 as one of the first Kuwaiti teams in Kuwait football. Some of the most notable players were Abdulwahab Al-Awadie, Abdulaziz Al-Khatieb, Musad Al-Musad, Mohammed Al-Dawlee, Abdulmajied Mohammed, Mohammed Al-Somale, Dasman Bakhiet, Ahmad Bodha, Monaier Al-Dagag, Fuad Al-Ashgar, Ahmad Hussain, Abbas Al-Shemaly, Mossa Al-Somale, Nayef Dalool and Mohhamed Salah Al-Roomy.
At first in 1960 after being officially affiliated to sports and football Al-Arabi SC was structured on playing football, basketball, volleyball and weightlifting.
At the start Al-Arabi SC made many achievements, thanks to their players and their loyal and submitted boards. Al-Arabi has many sports with separate facilities. Abdulaziz Al-Khatib multi-purpose hall is used for basketball, handball, volleyball and can accommodate about 2,000 spectators and also six squash courts, fully equipped. The swimming pool has a capacity of 1,500 spectators, and in addition to the 4 tennis courts with the ground covered in tartan, and two handball courts, one covered with tartan. The gymnastics hall is fully equipped, and 4 other teams are judo, table tennis teams and boxing teams.

1960–1980 (starting of Il-Za'īm)

Through the years Al-Arabi SC has won many achievements and made Kuwait proud by domestic wins or international by winning the Kuwaiti Premier League/ VIVA Premier League 7 times. They have also won 3 Joint Leagues, 6 Emir Cup's and 1 Federation Cup as they were the first ever Kuwaiti team to play outside Kuwait in football by competing in friendly matches against many teams through the Arabian Peninsula showing competitive playing from Kuwaiti clubs in friendly tournaments.
On 3 December 1974 Al-Arabi SC Faced Lazio from Italy and beat them 1–0 in a friendly match.

1980–2009

In 1982 Al-Arabi SC was the first ever team to win Gulf Club Champions Cup, and then won it again in 2003. During that time they were called the best team in the GCC.
Al-Arabi SC had changed their logo in 1991 to a better looking logo. From 1990-2005 they won 26 titles. Between them the GCC Champions League in 2003 and their last Kuwaiti Premier League/ VIVA Premier League Trophy in 2001–02, but through the years between 2005–10 they were rough years for Al-Arabi SC by going down the league table to 4th–6th, but competed in the AFC Cup. However, they only made it to the quarter-final of the cup. After that Al-Arabi SC never competed in an Asian tournament, but hopes for the team were raised by their fans for the upcoming future.

2010–2012

Through these times Al-Arabi SC had retained their confidence through football and trying their best to win titles. Through these 2 seasons they won 2 titles: the Kuwait Super Cup and Kuwait Crown Prince Cup. On 27 December 2011, they were crowned champions of the Crown Prince Cup after 3 trophy-less seasons.
But eventually the club didn't win the league and was out of the race to win the league after the first 10 weeks in which Al-Arabi lost 6 games.

2012–13 [UAFA Cup]

Al-Arabi had qualified in 2013 for the final match of the UAFA CUP. They were faced against Al-Fateh SC of Saudi Arabia. In the first leg they won 3–2 in Kuwait City and in the away leg played in Saudi Arabia they tied 2-2, but they qualified to the next round on global score. In the quarter finals, they were matched up against Al-Nassr, again of Saudi Arabia. They lost 3-2 in the first leg played away in Saudi Arabia, however they won 2-0 at home, thus qualifying to the semi finals on aggregate. In the semi-finals, they were matched up against Raja Casablanca. They tied at home 1-1 and in the away leg 2-2. However, they moved on to the final because of the Away goals rule.
In the final, they played against USM Alger from Algeria. They tied 0-0 in Kuwait and lost they away leg 3-2. Al Arabi were 0–2 down in the first half due to a mistake by the referee denying a goal for Al-Arabi and then giving USM Alger an offside goal in the 13th minute which after that they scored their second goal in the 37th minute. After the second half started Al-Arabi scored their first goal from a header from Kader Fall at the 58th minute which gave the team motivation to score the second goal from a long shot at the 61st minute from Hussain Al-Moussawi. After that the team was playing much better and at the 75th minute of the game the ref gave USM Alger a penalty kick for a weird reason for trying to keep the ball in his possession so the USM Alger player jumped on him and fell. The penalty was scored in the 76th minute which gave them the championship by a win of 3–2 on aggregate. It was a controversial game as many people felt that Al Arabi would have been winners if it wasn't due to bad referees.

2013–14

In the 2013–14 season Al-Arabi SC qualified for the final match of the Kuwait Crown Cup for the third time in a row vs Al-Qadsia SC and lost 2–1 with one of the worst referred matches in Kuwait where the referee canceled a goal for the Greens where there was nothing wrong and it was a clean goal. He then gave Al-Qadsia a penalty in the 70th minute of the match and due to the bad referee Al-Arabi wanted to forfeit but continued for the Prince's honor and Al-Qadsia scored the penalty in the 75th minute. On the 83rd minute Al-Qadsia scored the second goal leading 2–0 and at the 90th minute the referee gave 15 minutes of extra time due to the match stopping several times which Al-Arabi SC scored on the 93rd minute by Mahmoud Maowas.
By the rest of the extra time Al-Arabi SC raised their offense and attacked to try and tie the game but couldn't by the referee who wouldn't let them score and giving many offsides and gave 2 red cards for Al-Arabi SC for no reason saying that the 2 players are exaggerating and offending me, but the referee pushed them and said leave which ended 2–1 which crowned Al-Qadsia Champions, but the Prince was not satisfied with the outcome of the match and left disappointed.
In the same season Al-Arabi SC finished 5th in the league and got knocked out of the Kuwait Emir Cup by Al-Qadsia 2–0 on penalties after tied 0–0 on aggregate but ended their season with winning the Kuwait Federation Cup after the match ended 2–2 with Al-Salmiya SC went on penalties and won 4–2 which crowned them champions for the 6th time in the history of the Cup.

2014–2015

In the 2014–15 season Al-Arabi signed Firas Al-Khatib Showing how strong they went to win the VIVA Premier League for the 17th time and showing the world that they still are Al-Zaeem of Kuwait and the GCC and want to win all the competitions they compete in. They also signed Ivusa from Sahel SC, released Mushari Al-Kandri, because him wanting to continue his study in Jordan and would join the University's team or a nearby Football Team and after his return would re-join to Al-Arabi SC. Al-Arabi also put Mahmoud Al-Maowas on loan for a 1-season loan or a short loan deal but eventually released Ivusa from his contract and resigned from putting Mahmoud Al-Maowas on loan and bought the free agent Hashem Al-Ramzi. However, Bunjak told Khaled Khalaf he is not needed in Al-Arabi SC next season after only 2 days of training but eventually saw the talent that is needed and was a minor mistake between them on 22 July Al-Arabi SC left for a 2-week pre-season in Turkey through that they took Ahmad Hawas former Al-Salmiya SC player with them on a 2-week trial in Turkey and then decide if Boniyak wants to sign him. They have set seats to be sold and claimed for the hole season for a fee of $385 with a restaurant and snack bar for league matches held at the club.
As the season started Al-Arabi won their first match in the league over Kazma 2–0 with the first appearance of Firas Al-Khatib and scoring the second goal. As the 3rd week past Al-Arabi SC was at top of the league with 9 points ahead of Kuwait SC with 7 points those Al-Arabi SC has not been seen at the top of the league since 2010–11 for the first few weeks. As the first derby came along vs Al-Salmiya SC Al-Arabi SC lost 3–2 And fell to second place where Firas Al-Khatib scored his 100th league goal.
On 16 October 2014 Al-Arabi SC became the first Kuwaiti team to have an anthem first introduced vs Al-Yarmouk. On 24 November 2014 Al-Arabi's journey to Kuwait Crown Prince Cup after beating Kazma in a Penalty shootout 5–4. As the Kuwait City Derby came the match ended with a 0–0 Draw.
While making it to the final of Kuwait Crown Prince Cup for the 4th consecutive year vs Kuwait SC and played the first Classico match of the season vs Qadsia SC which ended in a draw 0–0.
After defeating Kuwait SC 4–2 in the Kuwait Crown Prince Cup final match this was Al-Arabi's 57th official title. After the 2015 AFC Asian Cup ended sports in Kuwait came back after Al-Arabi defeated Kazma in the quarter-final of Kuwait Emir Cup in the semi-final they faced Al-Salmiya SC. Al-Arabi lost the final 4–2 and was recognized as one of the worst referred matches in Kuwaiti Football history as Al-Arabi should have won the match.
As of 26 February 2015 Al-Arabi's fans were named best fans of 2014 from Al-khaleeji Sport.
After losing twice this season to Al-Salmiya SC Al-Arabi beat them in week 18 3–1.
On 5 April 2015 they made it through to the semi-finals of the Kuwait Federation Cup.
ِAl-Arabi lost the crucial Kuwait City Derby on 10 April 2015 vs Kuwait SC 1–0, reducing its points difference with Kuwait SC to only 2. The match had all the seats filled to the last seat, for the first time in the history of Kuwaiti football. lost the semi-final to Khaitan SC 5–4 on penalties after 1–1. With the final classico of the season came to a draw 0–0 they fell to 2nd place with 1 week left to win the league tied with Kuwait SC with 63 points. Ended as 2nd place in the league after defeating Al Tadamun SC 7–0.
Bunjak has requested pre-season tour to Italy which was announced. Signed with Karim Matmour on a two-year deal. Signed Akram Djahnit on a Two-year deal. Signed Tiago Queiroz Bezerra on a three-year deal, and on 17 July 2015 the club officially stated that Boris Bunjak has left the club.

Return to old ways 2015–

After being placed 2nd in the league it secured the club a place in international tournaments either the GCC Champions League, AFC Cup and UAFA Arab Champions League.
On 7 December it was announced that Luiz Felipe has left the club after immediately after the defeat to Al-Salmiya SC in the Crown Prince Cup 1–2. Boris Bunjak returned to manage the team right after.
After the loss of Emir Cup Final to Kuwait SC the club's went into war between fans and head office and the management team of the club, after that many known faces of the club promised that they would reconstruct the club back to its normal ways. After signing with Miodrag Ješić on 13 November 2016 the club became the first club in the middle east to have 7 managers across 2 seasons.

Popular culture

As one of the first teams to be established in Kuwait, it also is one of the first teams to dictate a song for the fans and teams, with lots of playlists. One of the first songs was in 2004, "Panorama Al-Arabi", dedicated to the fans and their reaction to the team from goals and celebrations. The last song was at the end of 2008–09 football season, called "Arabi to the Sky".

Hello Za'eem

As of 2012 the latest song was released, "Hello Za'eem". It was made by the song group and producers of Miami, which was first used on TV as winners of the 2011–12 Kuwait Crown Prince Cup.

Anthem

On 16 October 2014 Al-Arabi SC became the first Kuwaiti team to have an anthem first introduced vs Al-Yarmouk.

Crest and colors

Crest evolution

The Crest of Al-Arabi SC has changed only once through their entire lives as a football club. The first crest was used from 1960–80 due to the club changing from Al-Uruba to Al-Arabi SC in 1960. This lasted until 1980 where the design was drawn on paper then scanned to make it, but changed in 1991 to the present design using Photoshop and other graphic designing applications.
It is said that the current design is set to change, due to it not having an English name on it, to a new design with the founded date of 1953 or 1960 on it.

Colors

Al-Arabi SC have changed their colors over the years. Since 1960–90 their colors were light green and white as the away kit.
From 2000–present, they changed to a darker green and the away color was still white.
By 2012 it was announced that Al-Arabi SC will be wearing dark green as their home kit, the away kit will be blue, and the third kit will be white with green.
In the 2013–14 season, Al-Arabi SC wore only the home kit and third kit.

Kits

Home
Away

Classicos and derbies

The Kuwaiti Classico

The Kuwaiti classico is between Al-Arabi SC and Al-Qadsia which is named one of the big games in the GCC from sport section which Al-Qadsia want to break the record of the number of championships Al-Arabi SC have of 57 and qadsia have 52 so they can name themselves Al-Zaeem but they underestimate Al-Arabi SC a lot, due to Al-Qadsia getting domestic championships in the twentieth century it has been better than Al-Arabi SC and has more wins in the Classico.

Kuwait City Derby

The Kuwait City derby is between Al-Arabi SC and Kuwait SC due to have a great impact from Kuwait SC since dominating in the AFC Cup by winning the title 3 times and make the derby a great match. Throughout the years Al-Arabi have dominated the Kuwaiti football throughout its championships, but in the 2009 Kuwait Emir Cup final after beating Al-Arabi 2–1 and defeating them in 2010–11 league 5–1 those made the Kuwait City Derby a derby to watch through the Kuwaiti football.

Al-Arabi SC vs [Al-Salmiya SC]

Matches between Al-Salmiya SC and Al-Arabi SC are often high-profile.
As of the 2014–15 season, Al-Salmiya SC had many new signings to the team and won their first encounter in the league.

Stadium

Al-Arabi plays in home matches in Sabah Al-Salem Stadium in Kuwait City, Al Mansouriah. Opened on 5 January 1979, the stadium holds 22,000 people and is the second-largest stadium in Kuwait. It hosted the Final of the Asian Cup, between Kuwait – Korea. Also held the First-leg final of the UAFA Cup in 2013. Also held many Finals through the years from the Kuwait Federation Cup final in 2012.
But it won't host any major Tournaments due to it not having VIP stand to crown The Champions.
It is also set to host Tournaments held and organized by Al-Arabi SC in Kuwait.
Sabah Al-Salem Stadium Hosted WWE Raw tour in Kuwait in 1996 with the WWF Kuwait Cup held there 8–12 May 1996

Future Venue

it is said that Sabah Al-Salem Stadium would be renewed into a larger, better venue instead of stadium because they will remove the running tracks and build a larger stadium up to 35,000–45,000 seats with a VIP Seats for famous people and many other place. Also the other side would be re=built to make it bigger with more seats and places e.g. shops, restaurants, toilets and praying rooms.
May take a larger area from the Clubs location into a larger space wear homes would be bought or plain areas would be replaced and Build Al-khatib's new hall and demolish the current one to expand the stadium.

Top scorers

Staff

Board of directors

Management

Al Arabi SC Managers

Al Arabi statistics

International Competitions (friendly)

Against National Teams

Al Arabi in Asia

Al Arabi in UAFA

Notes: * Round Rubin tournament

Club presidents

The Founding Committee in 1953 through 1960 involved Mohalhel Mohammed Al-Mudhaf.
YearsChairman
1960 Mohalhel Mohammed Al-Mudhaf
1960–61 Mohalhel Mohammed Al-Mudhaf
1961–62 Khalid Ahmed Al-Mudhaf
1962–63 Khalid Ahmed Al-Mudhaf
1963–64 Khalid Ahmed Al-Mudhaf
1964–65 Khalid Ahmed Al-Mudhaf
1965–66 Khalid Ahmed Al-Mudhaf
1966–67 Khalid Ahmed Al-Mudhaf
1967–68 Moussa Rashid Al-Fahad
1969–70 Mohammed Saleh Al-Mulla
1970–71 Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah
1971–72 Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah
1972–73 Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah
1973–74 Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah
1974–76 Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah
1976–78 Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah
1978–79 Ahmed Sayed Abdelsamad
1979–81 Ahmed Sayed Abdelsamad
1981–83 Sheikh Nayef Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
1983–85 Ahmed Sayed Abdelsamad
1985–87 Ahmed Sayed Abdelsamad
1987–89 Ahmed Sayed Abdelsamad
1989–92 Sheikh Ali Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah
1992–93 Fahd Abdulaziz Al-Humaiadhan
1993–94 Mohammed Saleh Al-Mulla
1994–97 Ahmed Sayed Abdelsamad
1997–00 Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Shehab
2000–03 Jamal Shaker Al-Kazemi
2003–06 Jamal Shaker Al-Kazemi
2006–10 Jamal Shaker Al-Kazemi
2010 Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah
2010–19 Jamal Shaker Al-Kazemi
2019– Aziz Ashour

Current squad

First-team Squad

Players registered as professionals

clubs are limited to 5 foreign professionals per squad while signing 2 non-nationality Kuwaitis where 5 play on the pitch and 6 Kuwaitis play on the pitch.

Former Players

Retired numbers

Records

Team records

Most appearances:

Affiliated Clubs

Celtic officially announced their affiliation with Al-Arabi SC in order to help both teams assist one another through ideas, experience and scouting. The agreement encompasses all sports mutually practiced by both clubs, but is mainly focused on cooperation in football.
Also included in the deal was an agreement for Celtic to open an academy in Kuwait under the sponsorship of Al Arabi.

FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup Players

FIFA World Cup 1982
Al-Arabi SC first trophy was in 1956–57 when Kuwait football was not yet official and Al-Arabi won the league under the name Al-Uruba before 1960.
Al-Arabi SC has 57 official Championships.
As of May 8, 2018

Domestic

Not counted with the other 57 Official Championships
Khaleeji sport KUW:
Kems Awards:

Performance in UAFA">Union of Arab Football Associations">UAFA and AFC">Asian Football Confederation">AFC competitions

UAFA">Union of Arab Football Associations">UAFA

Al-Arabi Futsal team was established in 2009 and had a strong outcome in the Kuwaiti futsal league.

Achievements

Achievements

Besides football, handball, basketball, and volleyball, the club sponsors teams in waterpolo, squash, athletics, Gymnastics, Swimming, Boxing, Judo, Weightlifting and Futsal.

Volleyball

Achievements

In the 2013–14 season Al-Arabi Volleyball club won both the League and Cup and was said that they have come back to win championships and be a competitive team in the Kuwaiti volleyball league after a season of 2 losses in the whole season and only conceding 6 runs through the hole year.

2014–2016

After 5 of the first team squad suspended for 1 year due to problems woth the KVF and the council they finished 6th in the league and 4th in the Gulf Championship and runner-up to Kuwait SC in the Kuwait Cup with most of the team are underaged.
On 12 January 2016 the club won the Division One title and bounced back to the Premier League.

Beach Volleyball

Achievements

Achievements

Handball

Achievements

#Championship
10 timesPremier League
10 timesFederation Cup
1 timeAl Khurafi Cup

Al-Arabi Handball team has won my championships and competed in many others by winning the league 10 times the last time in 2011–12 and 10 federation cups and 1 defunct Khurafi cup and has started competing in international tournaments and championships since 2015–14.

Paintball">Speedball (paintball)">Paintball

Started in 2015
In the Al-Arabi SC signed a 4-year deal with Adidas and then signed with ANTA Sports in the 2013–14 season Due to Adidas not willing to renew their contract after that in 2014–15 season Macron bought ANTA Sports contract and made a contract with Al-Arabi SC. Extended Contract with Macron, while after negotiations with the brand ended the club signed with Erreà.
PeriodKit manufacturerShirt partner
1976–82Pumanone
1982–96Adidasnone
1996–03WarriorHyundai
2003–04NikeHyundai
2004–09NikeWataniya Telecom
+ Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait
2009–12AdidasWataniya Telecom
+ Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait
2012–13AdidasAl-Ahli Bank of Kuwait
2013–14ANTAAl-Ahli Bank of Kuwait
2014–15MacronAl-Ahli Bank of Kuwait
2015–16MacronAl-Ahli Bank of Kuwait
+ *
2016–ErreàAl-Ahli Bank of Kuwait

Notes:
1:* Sponsor on arm side of Kit

Sponsors