the united arab emirates national rugby union team competes in the annual asia rugby competitions. they were once part of the arabian gulf team which consisted of players from the gulf cooperation countries on the arabian peninsula. in 2011 they were granted membership into the asian rugby football union and following a successful bid, were granted full membership with world rugby. they are the newest and 100th member to do so. the current coach of the uae national team is apollo perelini who has been in this role since 2015.