2016–17 UAE Pro League

The 2016–17 UAE Pro League (also known as Arabian Gulf League for sponsorship reasons) was the 42nd season of top-level football in the United Arab Emirates. Al-Ahli are the defending champions of this season's UAE pro league after securing their seventh title last season. Al-Jazira won its second title on 29 April 2017 after defeating Hatta 5-0.

UAE Pro-League
Season2016–17
ChampionsAl-Jazira (2nd title)
RelegatedBaniyas
Kalba
2018 AFC Champions LeagueAl-Jazira
Al-Wahda
Al-Wasl
Al-Ain
2017 FIFA Club World CupAl-Jazira
Matches played364
Goals scored573 (1.57 per match)
Top goalscorer(33 Goals) Ali Mabkhout
Biggest home winAl-Wasl 8–0 Dibba (8 December 2016)
Biggest away winSharjah 1–7 Al-Wahda (2 November 2016)
Highest scoringAl-Shabab 3–7 Al-Jazira (3 December 2016)
Longest winning run8 Matches Al-Jazira
Longest unbeaten run13 Matches Al-Ain
Longest winless run11 Matches Emirates
Longest losing run7 Matches Baniyas
Highest attendanceAl-Ain 1–1 Al-Ahli (22,546)
Lowest attendanceHatta 0–1 Al-Dhafra (450)

Stadia and locations

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Locations of teams in the 2016–17 UAE Pro League
Club Home city Stadium Capacity
Al-Ahli Dubai Al-Rashid Stadium 15,000
Al-Ain Al-Ain Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium 25,000
Al-Dhafra Madinat Zayed Al Dhafra Stadium 5,012
Al-Jazira Abu Dhabi Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium 42,056
Al-Nasr Dubai Al-Maktoum Stadium 10,750
Al-Shabab Dubai Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium 12,000
Sharjah Sharjah Sharjah Stadium 11,073
Al-Wahda Abu Dhabi Al Nahyan Stadium 11,456
Al-Wasl Dubai Zabeel Stadium 8,439
Baniyas Abu Dhabi Baniyas Stadium 8,954
Dibba Fujairah Fujairah Club Stadium 10,645
Emirates Ras Al-Khaimah Emirates Club Stadium 5,127
Hatta Hatta Hamdan Bin Rashid Stadium 5,000
Kalba Kalba Ittihad Kalba Stadium 8,500

Personnel and kits

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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team Head Coach Assistant Coach Captain Kit Manufacturer Shirt Sponsor
Al-Ahli   Cosmin Olăroiu   Catalin Necula[1]   Ahmed Khalil Nike Skydive Dubai
Al-Ain   Zoran Mamić   Borimir Perkovic[2] Nike First Gulf Bank
Al-Dhafra   Mohammad Kwid   Badreddine Al-Idrissi[3] Adidas
Al-Jazira   Henk ten Cate   Jan Versleijen   Ali Khasif Nike IPIC
Al-Nasr   Dan Petrescu   Emil Caras
  Valeriu Bordeanu[4]
Adidas Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority
Emirates NBD
DP World
Al-Shabab   Fred Rutten   Patrick Greveraars
  Saad Obaid[5]
Umbro Al-Naboodah
Sharjah   José Peseiro Adidas SAIF Zone
Al-Wahda   Javier Aguirre   Juan Erabrin   Ismail Matar Adidas Al-Wahda Mall
Al-Wasl   Rodolfo Arruabarrena   Saleem Abdulrahman   Waheed Ismail Macron Saif Belhasa Holding
Baniyas   José Manuel Gomes   Salem Al-Arfi   Yousif Jaber Adidas Saaed
Secure Engineering
Dibba   Paulo Sérgio   Tarek Al-Sayed uhlsport
Emirates   Theo Bücker   Klaus Dieter
  Nourredine Al-Hadi[6]
  Haidar Alo Ali uhlsport
Hatta   Waleed Obaid   Mohammad Al-Ajmani[7] Adidas
Kalba   Fabio Viviani   Salem Al-Qaddami[8] Errea

Foreign players

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The number of foreign players is restricted to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team could use four foreign players on the field during each game including at least one player from the AFC country.

  • Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
  • Players in italics were out of squad or left club within the season, after pre-season transfer window, or in the mid-season transfer window, and at least had one appearance.
Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 AFC Player Former players
Al-Ahli   Éverton Ribeiro   Asamoah Gyan   Makhete Diop   Lima
  Kwon Kyung-won
Al-Ain   Caio Lucas[9]   Danilo Asprilla   Nasser Al-Shamrani   Lee Myung-joo   Douglas
Al-Dhafra[10]   Adil Hermach   Issam El Adoua   Khalid Al-Hajri   Makhete Diop
  Omar Khribin
Al-Jazira   Aílton   Leonardo   Mbark Boussoufa[11]   Park Jong-woo   João Carlos
  Thiago Neves
  Jefferson Farfán
Al-Nasr   Wanderley   Jirès Kembo Ekoko   Abdelaziz Barrada[12]   Joan Oumari   Jonathan Pitroipa
  Mohannad Abdul-Raheem
Al-Shabab   Tomás De Vincenti   Nana Poku   Henrique Luvannor   Azizbek Haydarov   Ruud Boymans
Sharjah   Digão[13]   Adrian Mierzejewski   Gelmin Rivas[14]   Chikashi Masuda   Song Jin-hyung
Al-Wahda   Sebastián Tagliabué   Jorge Valdivia   Balázs Dzsudzsák   Rim Chang-woo
Al-Wasl   Fábio Lima   Ronaldo Mendes[15]   Serginho   Caio Canedo 1   Hélder Barbosa
Baniyas   Jean-Philippe Mendy   Harry Novillo   Ezekiel Henty   Mark Milligan   Joaquín Larrivey
  Fellipe Bastos
  Daniel Hernández
Dibba   Bruno Moraes   Derley   Driss Fettouhi   Yaseen Al-Bakhit   Danilo Cirino
  Hamed Koné
  Heo Jae-won
  Nicandro Breeveld
Emirates   Sebastián Sáez   Mourad Batna[16]   Osman Sow   Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf   Zac Anderson
  Augusto César
  Hocine Ragued
Hatta   Rafael Silva   Samuel   Adrian Ropotan   Nikolai Topor-Stanley[17]   Rafael Bastos
  Issiaka Ouédraogo
  Yaseen Al-Bakhit
  Mihai Răduț
Kalba   Ciel   Bakare Kone   Modibo Maïga[18]   Salam Shaker[19]   Mihai Costea

  Carmelo González

^1 Caio Canedo has East Timorese citizenship and was counted as Asian player.

Transfers

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Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Pos. Incoming manager Date of appointment
Al-Shabab   Caio Júnior 8 May 2016 End of contract Pre-season   Fred Rutten 11 May 2016 [20]
Sharjah   Abdulaziz Al-Anbari 13 May 2016   Georgios Donis 27 July 2016[21]
Al-Wasl   Gabriel Calderón 25 May 2016[22] Sacked   Rodolfo Arruabarrena 6 June 2016[23]
Baniyas   Abdullah Mesfer 5 June 2016 [24] Mutual consent   Pablo Repetto
Dibba   Theo Bücker 22 June 2016[25] Signed by Emirates   Paulo Sérgio 29 June 2016[26]
Emirates   Paulo Comelli 31 May 2016 [27] Mutual consent   Theo Bücker 22 June 2016
Kalba   Mourad Okbi 28 Aug 2016   Fabio Viviani 28 Aug 2016
Baniyas   Pablo Repetto 22 October 2016 Sacked 12th   José Manuel Gomes 23 October 2016
Al-Nasr   Ivan Jovanović 31 October 2016 8th   Dan Petrescu 31 October 2016
Sharjah   Georgios Donis 1 January 2017 [28] Mutual consent 10th   José Peseiro 2 January 2017 [29]

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Al Jazira (C) 26 22 2 2 72 15 +57 68 Qualification to the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup and 2018 AFC Champions League group stage
2 Al Wasl 26 17 6 3 55 26 +29 57 Qualification to the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage
3 Al Ahli 26 16 8 2 50 18 +32 56
4 Al Ain 26 17 4 5 58 37 +21 55 Qualification to the 2018 AFC Champions League play-off round[30]
5 Al Wahda 26 10 9 7 54 40 +14 39 Qualification to the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage
6 Al Nasr 26 11 3 12 42 32 +10 36
7 Al Dhafra 26 10 5 11 40 46 −6 35
8 Al Shabab 26 7 9 10 24 44 −20 30
9 Sharjah 26 6 8 12 31 47 −16 26
10 Hatta 26 6 7 13 24 47 −23 25
11 Emirates 26 5 5 16 33 51 −18 20
12 Dibba 26 3 11 12 25 54 −29 20
13 Kalba (R) 26 4 7 15 30 44 −14 19 Relegation to the UAE Division One
14 Baniyas (R) 26 3 6 17 33 70 −37 15
Source: uae.agleague.ae
Rules for classification: [31] 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) head-to-head away goals scored; 6) goal difference; 7) number of goals scored; 8) number of away goals scored; 9) fair play ranking[32] 10) draw
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

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Home \ Away ALI AIN DHA JAZ NAS SHA WAH WAS YAS EMI DAF HAT KAL SHR
Al-Ahli 1–2 3–3 2–1 2–1 4–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 4–0 4–1 6–0 0–0 2–2
Al Ain 1–1 5–2 1–3 3–0 2–1 3–2 2–1 1–0 5–2 1–2 2–0 2–1 3–0
Al Dhafra 0–2 1–2 0–4 2–4 3–0 0–3 1–1 0–1 2–1 5–0 4–3 2–1 0–0
Al Jazira 2–0 2–0 4–0 1–0 3–0 5–1 3–1 5–0 5–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 3–0
Al Nasr 0–1 1–2 2–2 2–0 0–1 3–0 1–2 2–2 1–0 4–0 1–2 2–1 1–0
Al Shabab 0–0 1–3 1–0 3–7 0–4 1–1 0–0 2–0 0–4 0–0 1–1 0–4 2–1
Al Wahda 1–2 1–1 0–0 1–1 5–1 1–1 1–2 6–2 0–0 2–2 3–2 1–1 5–1
Al Wasl 0–0 4–3 4–1 2–3 2–1 2–1 2–1 4–0 1–1 8–0 4–1 1–1 2–0
Baniyas 0–2 1–1 0–2 1–3 0–3 2–4 2–3 3–4 4–4 1–1 2–3 3–1 2–2
Emirates 0–3 3–2 0–3 1–1 1–0 0–1 1–2 1–2 6–0 0–2 0–2 3–2 2–3
Dibba Al-Fujairah 0–2 2–2 2–3 0–3 0–0 1–1 1–2 0–2 4–3 0–0 0–0 0–1 2–2
Hatta 0–3 2–3 0–1 0–5 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 2–1 2–2 2–1 0–0
Kalba 1–1 1–2 1–2 0–3 1–5 1–2 3–4 0–1 1–1 2–1 3–2 1–1 0–0
Sharjah 0–1 2–4 2–1 0–1 1–3 0–0 1–7 1–2 4–1 2–1 1–1 4–0 2–1
Updated to match(es) played on 21 March 2017. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

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Top scorers

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As of matches played 13 May 2017
Rank Player Club Goals
1   Ali Mabkhout Al-Jazira 33
2   Fábio Lima Al-Wasl 25
3   Makhete Diop Al-Ahli 21
4   Sebastián Tagliabué Al-Wahda 19
5   Caio Canedo Al-Wasl 14
6   Sebastián Sáez Emirates 13
7   Ahmed Khalil Al-Ahli 12

Source: agleague.ae

References

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