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The game of football was introduced to the emirates from commercial ships plying the sea and also by the British army in the beginning of the last century. In addition, some football influence came from India where football was flourishing at that time.
When some members of the British forces came to the Gulf to play football, it helped popularise the game here further but an official governing body was still non-existent.
It was not until 1971 that the UAE FA was founded and became the first sporting body to exist in UAE. In the next year, they joined FIFA and went on to become a full AFC member in 1974.
In the 1980s began the football achievements of this small but rich Gulf nation. The years of 1986 and 1988 saw the national team become Gulf Cup runner up.
The culmination of their success was making the 1990 Italy World Cup despite the odds and also, the fact that UAE was still new compared to many other FIFA members who were trying to qualify.
In fact, four years before that, they nearly made it to the 1986 Mexico World Cup, losing in the final qualifying match to Iraq which saw Iraq advance.
In terms of organising tournaments, they are fantastic organisers. Notable tournaments that have been organised in UAE are the 1996 Asian Cup and the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.
In the present set up, the FA’s main target is to achieve positive results in the qualifiers for the 2007 Asian Cup, 2008 Olympic qualifiers and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.
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