The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has unveiled its roster for the upcoming matches against Nepal and Bahrain in the second round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
The squad of 28 players, led by head coach Paulo Bento, has been officially announced by the UAE Football Association. Paulo Bento, a Portuguese coach who took the helm in July, will kick off the competitive journey with a match against Nepal.
Prior to his tenure with the UAE, Bento had served as the head coach of South Korea. However, he left the team following the conclusion of the Qatar World Cup in December 2022.
In the second round of Asia qualifiers, Group H features Nepal, UAE, Bahrain, and Yemen. Nepal will commence their qualifying campaign with a game against the UAE on November 16 and will face Yemen at home on November 21. UAE’s second match in this round will be against Bahrain on November 21.
Nepal secured their place in the second round by defeating Laos 2-1 in the initial two-leg match. Their head coach, Vincenzo Alberto Enes, is currently overseeing the training of 26 players in preparation for the qualifying matches.
In contrast, the UAE and Bahrain secured direct qualification for the second round based on their rankings.
Here is the preliminary squad for the UAE for the second round of qualifications:
UAE SQUAD (Preliminary Qualifications – Round 2):
- Khalid Eissa
- Ali Khasif
- Mohamed Al Shamsi (GK)
- Hassan Hamza
- Khalid Al Hashmi
- Khalifa Al Hammadi
- Mohamed Al Attas
- Omar Hussain Haikal
- Ahmed Jamil
- Khaled Al Dhanhani
- Zayed Sultan
- Abdul Rahman Saleh
- Abdulla Idrees
- Ali Salmin
- Yahia Nader
- Mohamed Abbas
- Hazim Mohamed
- Majid Rashid
- Abdulla Ramadan
- Tahnoon Alzaabi
- Yahya Al-ghassani
- Harib Abdalla
- Fabio De Lima
- Ali Saleh
- Ali Mabkhout
- Sultan Adel
- Eissa Khalfan
- Caio Canedo
Head Coach: Paulo Bento
