Dalic returns to the UAE with a different job ahead

When Zlatko Dalic left Al Ain in 2017, he had already given UAE supporters a league title and an appearance in the Asian Champions League final to remember. Eighteen months later, he was leading Croatia in the World Cup final. His return to the Emirates now brings those two parts of his career together, although the job awaiting him is different from the one he left.

The UAE Football Association announced his appointment on Wednesday, August 12, with the national team looking towards another World Cup qualification cycle. Dalic succeeds Cosmin Olaroiu, who has since taken charge at Al Jazira. Reports put the new agreement through to 2030, the tournament the UAE have made their principal long term target after missing this summer’s finals.

Dalic’s work with Croatia gives the appointment considerable substance. He took the team to the 2018 World Cup final, third place in Qatar four years later and the Nations League final in 2023. Nearly nine years in the role allowed him to manage successive tournament cycles rather than build his reputation around one unusually successful month. He left after Croatia’s 2026 campaign, which ended against Portugal in the last 32.

Those achievements were made with a distinctive group of players and cannot simply be carried from one national team to another. What Dalic can bring is experience of preparing for tournaments, managing a squad through short gaps between important matches and keeping a team competitive when expectations change. The UAE are hiring the coach who did that work, with the knowledge that he will now have to adapt it to a different set of players.

His earlier time in the country should help with the introduction. At Al Ain from 2014 to 2017, he won the league and took the club to the 2016 continental final. He knows the importance of club football here and the scrutiny that accompanies a team expected to compete for trophies. That familiarity is an advantage, even though the domestic game and the available national team squad have changed during his years away.

The national role also allows less daily contact than he had at Al Ain. Training time must be fitted around club commitments, and an international coach often has to establish a small number of clear ideas quickly. Dalic will need to decide which relationships can be built within the first camp and which require a longer programme. A recognisable plan will be useful only if the selected players can carry it into a match with limited rehearsal.

He will not have to wait long for that first examination. The Gulf Cup runs from September 23 to October 6 in Saudi Arabia, giving him roughly six weeks before competitive football begins. The UAE have won the competition twice, and it will offer an immediate opportunity to assess the squad in a tournament setting. Selection, recovery and the response to a difficult result can all be examined within a short period.

The Asian Cup follows in January, also in Saudi Arabia. Two tournaments in the early months of his tenure create demands, but they also give the work a clear sequence. The Gulf Cup can identify strengths and problems before the larger continental competition arrives. Dalic will have opportunities to make changes based on matches that matter, rather than relying only on training sessions and friendly results.

The appointment of Igor Biscan to lead the UAE under 23 side gives the federation another coach with experience in Croatia’s international structure. That offers a possible route towards closer work between age groups and the senior team. The value will depend on how players are identified and prepared over time, rather than on the shared nationality of the coaches alone.

Beyond those first tournaments lies the longer effort to return to the World Cup. The UAE’s only appearance remains Italia 90, and the previous qualifying campaign ended against Iraq in November. A coach with Dalic’s record raises expectations, but reaching the next finals will require sustained improvement across the squad and the periods between international camps. The early results will be important evidence of progress without being a final judgement on that wider task.

There is good reason for the reunion to begin with optimism. Dalic knows the country, has achieved success here and has since worked through situations few international coaches experience. The useful next step is to turn that background into a team with clear responsibilities and enough confidence to compete. The familiar face helps the introduction. The work begins with the players he selects for September.