Al-Wahda Sports Club () is a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n multi-sports club based in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. The club is mostly known for its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

teams. The football team plays in Syria's top competition, the

Syrian Premier League The Syrian Premier League () is a professional association football league in Syria and the top division of the Syrian football league system. The league comprises 12 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Syrian Le ...

. Al-Wahda SC was founded in 1928 and its colours are orange and white. They play their home games at the Al-Jalaa Stadium. The club is nicknamed "The Damascene orange". The club has one of Syria's most prominent football charts, as it has won the

2 times, the

Syrian Cup The Syrian Cup () is Syria's premier knockout Cup tournament in men's association football, football. It was first contested in 1959. Al-Ittihad SC Aleppo, Al-Ittihad SC have won the competition on 10 occasions. The final was first played in the 1 ...

8 times and the Syrian Super Cup 3 times. Internationally, Al-Wahda biggest achievement is participation in the final of the

2004 AFC Cup The 2004 AFC Cup was the first edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualification The 'developing' 14 nations in the Asian Football Confederation were invited to nominate one ...

. Al-Wahda SC have competed in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

group stage as first Syrian club in history and have reached the knockout rounds of the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

four times, as well as reaching the round of 32 at the

Arab Club Champions Cup The Arab Club Champions Cup (, ) is a club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by top clubs from the Arab world. The tournament is contested by a total of 37 teams from Asia and Africa. F ...

twice.

History

Founded in 1928, Al Wahda is one of the oldest clubs in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. Previous names for the club include Al Ghouta, and Qasioun (named after

Mount Qasioun Mount Qasioun () is a mountain overlooking the city of Damascus, Syria. It has a range of restaurants, from which the whole city can be viewed. Due to its high elevation, several communications and broadcasting networks constructed relay stat ...

which overlooks the city of Damascus). The club was officially opened in 1928 and hosted a series of sports, including football and weightlifting.

The "Golden Era"

Nenad Stavrić is a Serbian coach who joined Al-Wahda club in 2001. He started with two losses against Al-Horriya and Al-Karamah followed with draw with Al-Jaish, the team had to wait until the fifth week of the season to achieve their first win with the new coach. The team finished the league in the third place. In his second year the team had a big improvement In the level of performance especially with the new formation 4–4–2 which was the first time ever a Syrian team to use it, in the beginning the results was awful with the new formation especially the big defeat against the Saudi Arabia champion Al-Ittihad Jeddah seven to nothing in the Arabian club tournament, but after that the team keep improving to win the

in 2003 against Al-Ittihad Aleppo after a dramatic match 5–3. In the next season he made the dream true and Al-Wahda is the 2003–04 Syrian League champion for the first time in the club history, also the team reached the final of

and lost against the other Syrian side Al-Jaish after losing the first game 2–3 and winning the second game 1–0. In 2004–05 the team was too close to win the title again but it lost it in the last few weeks with missing a key players along the season with major injury. The curse of injuries continued in the following season but even though the team was closer than the year before to clinch the title. The chairman of the club Khaled Hbobaty decided to replace him with Mansoor Haj Saied and the club entered the black tunnel for several years and remains so to this day.

Stadiums

Al-Jalaa Stadium

Al-Jalaa Stadium is located in Mazzeh

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

, Syria.

Abbasiyyin Stadium

Al-Wahda formerly played their home games at their own ground,

Abbasiyyin Stadium The Abbasiyyin Stadium () is a multi-use all-seater stadium in Damascus, Syria, that is currently out of use. It mostly hosted football matches and served as the home venue of the Syrian national team in the past. The stadium which was built in ...

, but maintenance deficiencies prevented the club from using the stadium. As a consequence, Al-Jalaa Stadium replaced it as the official home ground.

Supporters and rivalries

The biggest rival of the club is Al-Jaish SC, with whom they play the Damascus city derby.

Colours and kits

The club's home jersey is based on the orange color that, in addition to the Damascus sword monument located on Umayyad Square and Damascene

Jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

, the club has had in its emblem since its foundation. Away jerseys are white with orange edges.

Shirt sponsor & kit manufacturer

Honours

Domestic

: 2 **Winners: 2003–04, 2013–2014 *

: 8 **Winners: 1993, 2003,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* Syrian Super Cup: 3 **Winners: 1993, 2016, 2020 * Syrian FA Shield: 1 **Winners: 2024

Continental

: **Runners-up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Regional

: **Round of 32:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Notes: *In 2016, Al-Wahda received an extraordinary Nine Values Cup, an award of the international children's social programme Football for Friendship.

Performance in AFC competitions

: 1 appearance ::

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

: Group Stage *

: 8 appearances ::

: Finalists ::

: Qualifying Round ::

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: Group Stage ::

: Round of 16 ::

: Zonal finals ::

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: Group Stage ::

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

: Group Stage

Records

''Accurate as of 28 September 2022''

Performance in UAFA competitions

: 3 appearances :: 2002–03: Group Stage :: 2005–06: Round of 32 :: 2006–07: Round of 32

Records

''Accurate as of 28 September 2022''

Players

First-team squad

Personnel

Current technical staff

Administration

Club presidents

* Wahda presidents since 1974:

Former managers

Ayman Hakeem Ayman Hakeem (; born 24 December 1959) is a Syrian football (soccer), football coach. Coaching career Hakeem started his coaching career with Al-Wahda SC (Syria), Al-Wahda winning the Syrian Cup in 1993. During the 1990s, he took over youth team ...

(1993–1995) * Sameer Soukieh (1995–2001) * Nenad Stavrić (2001–06) * Mansour Al Haj Saied (2006) *

(2006–07) *

Costică Ştefănescu Costică is a Romanian male given name that may refer to: * Costică Acsinte * Costică Dafinoiu * Costică Olaru * Costică Toma {{disambig Romanian masculine given names Masculine given names ...

(2007) * Muhammad Jomma (2007–08) * Nizar Mahrous (2008) * Assaf Khalifa (2009) * Faruk Kolović (2009) * Nizar Mahrous (2009–11) *

(2012) * Hussam Al Sayed (2012) * Mohannad Al Fakir (2013) * Rafat Muhammad (2013–2017, 2018, 2019) * Eyad Abdulkareem (2019–2020) * Ghassan Maatouk (2020–2021) *

(2021) * Maher Bahri (2021–2022) * Siniša Dobrašinović (2022) * Ammar Shamali (2022–2023) * Mohammad Istanbuli (2024) * Nizar Mahrous (2024–present)

Notable players

Player records

League top scorer

* Al-Wahda SC players won the title of top scorer in the Syrian Premier League 7 times:

Top scorers

*List of top scorers for Al Wahda club in the league and cup historically:

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wahda 1928 establishments in Mandatory Syria Association football clubs established in 1928 Football clubs in Syria Sport in Damascus