2019–20 UAE Pro League

The 2019–20 UAE Pro League was the 46th edition of the UAE Pro League. On 26 April 2019, Khor Fakkan won the first division title over Al Taawon 3–0; this is their inaugural appearance on the pro league as Khor Fakkan Club as they were previously known as Al Khaleej, having been absent from the Pro League for twelve years. Hatta later returned to the pro league after a 1–0 away victory against Al Hamriyah secured them a spot on the first division after getting relegated a year ago. Sharjah are the defending champions. The League was put on hold on March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however on June, with the majority of 12 out of 14 clubs votes, the league was cancelled and the champion is yet to be decided.[1] On 18th of June, it was declared that this season will end with no champion despite Shabab Al-Ahli leading the table with 43 points and the same teams that qualified for the 2020 AFC Champions League will qualify for the 2021 AFC Champions League.[2]

UAE Pro League
Season2019–20
ChampionsNo title awarded
RelegatedNo relegation
2021 AFC Champions LeagueSharjah
Shabab Al-Ahli
Al Wahda
Al Ain
Matches played133
Goals scored385 (2.89 per match)
Top goalscorerKodjo Fo-Doh Laba
(19 goals)
Biggest home winShabab Al Ahli 5–0 Kalba
(28 December 2019)
Al Ain 5–0 Wasl
(1 February 2020)
Biggest away winFujairah 1–7 Al Ain
(25 October 2019)
Highest scoringFujairah 1–7 Al Ain
(25 October 2019)
Kalba 6–2 Ajman
(10 December 2019)
Longest winning runShabab Al Ahli
Al Wahda
(5 games)
Longest unbeaten runSharjah
(10 games)
Longest winless runKhor Fakkan
(13 games)
Longest losing runHatta
(7 games)
Highest attendance14,423
Al Ain 0–0 Al Jazira
(1 November 2019)
Lowest attendance277
Dhafra 1–1 Baniyas
(26 September 2019)
Total attendance97,291
Average attendance2,316

Team changes

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To Division 1

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Relegated to UAE Division 1

From Division 1

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Promoted to UAE Pro League

Stadia and locations

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Locations of teams in the 2019–20 UAE Pro League
Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.
Team Home city Stadium Capacity
Ajman Ajman Ajman Stadium 5,537
Al Ain Al-Ain Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium 25,965
Al Dhafra Madinat Zayed Al Dhafra Stadium 5,020
Al Jazira Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan) Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium 42,056
Al Nasr Dubai (Al Nasr) Al-Maktoum Stadium 15,058
Al Wahda Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan) Al Nahyan Stadium 12,201
Al Wasl Dubai (Zabeel) Zabeel Stadium 8,439
Baniyas Abu Dhabi (Al Shamkha) Baniyas Stadium 10,000
Fujairah Fujairah Fujairah Club Stadium 10,645
Hatta Hatta Hamdan Bin Rashid Stadium 5,000
Kalba Kalba Ittihad Kalba Stadium 8,500
Khor Fakkan Khor Fakkan Saqr bin Mohammad al Qassimi Stadium 7,500
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai (Deira) Al-Rashid Stadium 12,052
Sharjah Sharjah Sharjah Stadium 20,000

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 Captain Kit Manufacturer Shirt Sponsor
Ajman   Ayman Elramady   Rashed Malallah Hummel Ajman Bank
Al Ain   Pedro Emanuel   Ismail Ahmed Nike First Gulf Bank
Al Dhafra   Vuk Rašović   Ahmed Ali Adidas Ruwais
Al Jazira   Marcel Keizer   Ali Khasif Adidas Healthpoint
Al Nasr   Krunoslav Jurčić   Álvaro Negredo Nike Emirates NBD
Al Wahda   Manuel Jiménez   Ismail Matar Adidas Cadillac
Al Wasl   Laurențiu Reghecampf   Fábio de Lima New Balance Emaar
Baniyas   Winfried Schäfer   Fawaz Awana Adidas Secure Engineering
Fujairah   Fabio Viviani   Hilal Saeed Nike Asas
Hatta   Christos Kontis   Mahmoud Hassan Macron
Kalba   Jorge Da Silva   Mansor Abbas Erreà Unknown
Khor Fakkan   Goran Tufegdžić   Saif Mohammed Adidas Khor Fakkan Beach Resort
Shabab Al Ahli   Gerard Zaragoza   Majed Naser Nike Nakheel
Sharjah   Abdulaziz Mohamed   Shahin Abdulrahman Adidas Saif Zone

Foreign players

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All teams could register as many foreign players as they want, but could only use four on the field each game.

  • Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
  • Players in italics were out of the squad or left the club within the season, after the pre-season transfer window, or in the mid-season transfer window, and at least had one appearance.
Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Former Players
Ajman   Vander Vieira   Sébastien Siani   Bubacarr Trawally   William Owusu   Tongo Doumbia
  Godwin Mensha
Al Ain   Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba   Balázs Dzsudzsák   Tsukasa Shiotani   Bauyrzhan Islamkhan   Abderrahmane Meziane
  Caio
Al Dhafra   Yaseen Al-Bakhit   Diego Jardel   João Pedro   Issam El Adoua   Mikhail Rosheuvel
Al Jazira   Keno   Mourad Batna   Miloš Kosanović   Thulani Serero
Al Nasr   Esteban Pavez   Brandley Kuwas   Álvaro Negredo   Tozé
Al Wahda   Lee Myung-joo   Rim Chang-woo   Paul-José M'Poku   Gaspar Panadero   Sebastián Tagliabúe
  Leonardo
  Nicolás Milesi
  Carlitos
Al Wasl   Lucas Galvão   Welliton   Fernando Gaibor   Natan Felipe   Fábio Lima
Baniyas   Richard Almeida   Luiz Antônio   Zé Roberto   Saša Ivković   Ayanda Patosi
  Pedro Conde
Fujairah   Fernando Gabriel   Jefferson Assis   Jhonnattann   Ernest Asante   Martial Yao
  William Jebor
Hatta   Cleylton   Daniel Amora   Neilton   Samuel Rosa   Ricardo Valente
  Cristian López
Khor Fakkan   Bruno Lamas   Dodô   Ramon Lopes   Ricardinho   Bismark
  Pedro Júnior
  Róbson
  Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov
Kalba   Wanderson   Ricardo Gomes   Navarone Foor   Peniel Mlapa   Henrique
  Balázs Dzsudzsák
  Yaseen Al-Bakhit
Shabab Al Ahli   Federico Cartabia   Leonardo   Pedro Conde   Henrique Luvannor   Davide Mariani
Sharjah   Caio   Igor Coronado   Ryan Mendes   Otabek Shukurov   Ricardo Gomes

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Pos. Incoming manager Date of appointment
Al Ain   Juan Carlos Garrido 1 June 2019 Sacked Pre-season   Ivan Leko[3] 1 June 2019
Al Wahda   Henk ten Cate 8 June 2019 End of contract   Maurice Steijn[4] 9 June 2019
Hatta   Walid Obaid   Christos Kontis 10 June 2019
Al Jazira   Damiën Hertog   Jurgen Streppel[5] 16 June 2019
Fujairah   Abdullah Mesfer   Madjid Bougherra[6]
Baniyas   Krunoslav Jurčić   Winfried Schäfer[7] 8 July 2019
Khor Fakkan   Abdulwahab Abdulkadir 17 July 2019 Resigned   Paulo Comelli 17 July 2019
Kalba   Fabio Viviani 10 October 2019 Sacked 11th   Jorge Da Silva[8] 12 October 2019
Al Jazira   Jurgen Streppel 13 October 2019 7th   Marcel Keizer[9] 13 October 2019
Al Nasr   Caio Zanardi 14 October 2019 11th   Krunoslav Jurčić[10] 14 October 2019
Al Wahda   Maurice Steijn 17 October 2019 10th   Manuel Jiménez[11] 17 October 2019
Khor Fakkan   Paulo Comelli 30 October 2019 14th   Goran Tufegdžić 31 October 2019
Al Ain   Ivan Leko[12][13] 21 December 2019 Mutual consent 4th   Pedro Emanuel[14] 5 January 2020
Fujairah   Madjid Bougherra[15] 9 February 2020 13th   Fabio Viviani[16] 10 February 2020
Shabab Al Ahli   Rodolfo Arruabarrena[17] 8 March 2020 Sacked 1st   Gerard Zaragoza 9 March 2020

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Shabab Al Ahli 19 13 4 2 42 13 +29 43 Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage
2 Al Ain 19 11 4 4 46 21 +25 37 Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round
3 Al Jazira 19 11 3 5 29 17 +12 36
4 Sharjah 19 10 5 4 38 23 +15 35 Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage
5 Al Wahda 19 11 2 6 31 29 +2 35 Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round
6 Al Nasr 19 9 4 6 24 19 +5 31
7 Al Dhafra 19 9 2 8 26 23 +3 29
8 Al Wasl 19 8 5 6 31 33 −2 29
9 Baniyas 19 6 5 8 21 26 −5 23
10 Ajman 19 4 6 9 25 39 −14 18
11 Kalba 19 5 1 13 24 39 −15 16
12 Khor Fakkan 19 3 6 10 18 32 −14 15
13 Hatta 19 3 4 12 15 32 −17 13
14 Fujairah 19 3 3 13 15 36 −21 12
Source: Arabian Gulf League
Rules for classification: [18] 1) points; 2) head-to-head goal difference; 3) head-to-head goals scored; 4) head-to-head away goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored; 7) number of away goals scored; 8) head-to-head points; 9) fair play ranking[19] 10) draw

Results

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Home \ Away AJM AIN DHA JAZ NAS WAH WAS YAS FUJ HAT KAL KHF SAD SHR
Ajman 1–4 1–2 1–1 3–1 2–4 1–0 1–4 3–1 1–1 2–5
Al Ain 1–2 0–0 2–2 5–0 2–1 2–1 3–2 1–2 1–1
Al Dhafra 1–0 0–1 2–1 1–2 1–3 1–1 3–1 1–1 0–1 3–1
Al Jazira 3–1 2–0 1–2 0–1 1–0 3–2 0–1 0–0 0–2
Al Nasr 0–1 1–2 3–0 0–0 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–3
Al Wahda 1–0 0–2 3–1 3–2 1–3 2–2 3–0 2–1 2–0 2–2
Al Wasl 1–1 1–3 2–1 0–4 0–0 5–1 3–2 3–1 2–0 1–5
Baniyas 2–2 0–0 1–0 1–2 4–3 1–0 2–1 1–1 0–1
Fujairah 1–1 1–7 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 2–1 0–0 0–3
Hatta 0–3 1–2 0–2 1–2 2–3 1–0 1–1 0–3 2–2
Kalba 6–2 1–4 1–2 1–2 2–1 1–0 0–1 3–2 1–3
Khor Fakkan 0–3 0–2 1–3 0–1 1–3 2–1 2–2 1–1 0–2 2–1
Shabab Al Ahli 3–1 1–2 2–2 4–0 1–1 2–0 5–1 1–0 5–0 3–2
Sharjah 1–1 3–2 1–2 2–1 0–0 2–1 1–1 3–1 2–0
Source: Arabian Gulf League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

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Top goalscorers

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Rank Player Club Goals[20]
1   Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba Al Ain 19
2   Sebastián Tagliabúe Al Wahda 15
3   Ahmed Khalil Shabab Al Ahli 13
  Ali Mabkhout Al Jazira
5   Fábio Lima Al Wasl 12
  João Pedro Al Dhafra
7   Ryan Mendes Sharjah 11
  Peniel Mlapa Kalba
9   Welliton Al Wasl 9
10   Álvaro Negredo Al Nasr 8

Hat-tricks

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Player For Against Result Date Round
  Pedro Conde4 Baniyas Al Wahda 4–3 (H) 4 October 2019 3
  Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba4 Al Ain Fujairah 7–1 (A) 25 October 2019 5
  Ali Mabkhout Al Jazira Al Wasl 4–0 (A) 20 December 2019 10
  Ahmed Khalil Shabab Al Ahli Kalba 5–0 (H) 28 December 2019 11
  Fábio Lima Al Wasl Baniyas 5–1 (H) 2 January 2020 12
  Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba Al Ain Khor Fakkan 3–0 (A) 23 January 2020 13
Notes

4 Player scored 4 goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Positions by round

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Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League group stage
qualification to AFC Champions League group stage
qualification to AFC Champions League Play off round
Relegation to UAE First Division League
Team ╲ Round12345678910111213141516171819
Shabab Al Ahli1122322222111111111
Al Ain4343233334452322222
Al Jazira2574445443344243433
Sharjah3211111111223435344
Al Wahda1161011866786888754655
Al Nasr89119754555536567776
Al Dhafra1311865911897665676567
Al Wasl91013141288668777888888
Baniyas786891010107910119999999
Ajman643567711121191010101010101010
Kalba101414121311129101011911111111111111
Khor Fakkan12121213141414141414141414141414121212
Hatta141391011139121113131313131312131313
Fujairah5757101213131312121212121213141414

Attendances

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By round

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As of 10 November 2019
2019–20 Arabian Gulf League Attendance
Round Total GP. Avg. Per Game
Round 1 21,890[21] 7 3,127
Round 2 15,662[22] 7 2,237
Round 3 17,689[23] 7 2,527
Round 4 9,702[24] 7 1,386
Round 5 8,339[25] 7 1,191
Round 6 24,009[26] 7 3,429
Round 7 15,341[27] 7 2,191
Round 8 0 0 0
Total 112,632 49 2,299

Number of teams by Emirates

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Emirate Number of teams Teams
1   Abu Dhabi 5 Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Wahda, Baniyas and Al Dhafra
2   Dubai 4 Shabab Al Ahli, Al Nasr, Al Wasl and Hatta
3   Sharjah 3 Sharjah, Kalba and Khor Fakkan
4   Ajman 1 Ajman
  Fujairah Fujairah

References

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  1. ^ "Arabian Gulf League season cancelled, decision on champions awaited". The National. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  2. ^ "No Arabian Gulf League champion this season". Al Khaleej times. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Deal is rond: Ivan Leko wordt trainer van Al Ain". HLN. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Al Wahda go double Dutch as Maurice Steijn follows in mentor Henk ten Cate's footsteps". sport360. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Al Jazira name Streppel as new coach". Gulf today. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Émirats arabes unis : Madjid Bougherra nommé entraîneur d'Al Fujairah FC" (in French). L'ÉQUIPE. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Winfried Schäfer wird Trainer in Abu Dhabi". Neueste Nachrichten. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Jorge Da Silva comes in at Ittihad Kalba, Jurgen Streppel departs Al Jazira". Sport 360. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Marcel Keizer returns as Al Jazira head coach". gulfnews.com. 13 October 2019.
  10. ^ العوضي, منى. "رسمياً.. الكرواتي يورتشيتش مدرباً لنادي النصر الإماراتي - أخبار سبورت 360". arabic.sport360.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  11. ^ Jose, James. "Al Jazira, Al Wahda appoint new managers". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  12. ^ "Les chemins d'Ivan Leko et du club d'Al Ain se séparent". walfoot. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Al Ain and Ivan Leko part by 'mutual consent' after poor Arabian Gulf League run". Sport360. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  14. ^ "Pedro Emanuel assina pelo Al Ain dos Emirados Árabes Unidos". Noticiasaominuto. 4 January 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Algeria and Rangers legend Madjid Bougherra departs Fujairah by 'mutual consent'". Sport 360. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  16. ^ "فيفياني مدرباً لـ «الذئاب» رسمياً" (in Arabic). albayan. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Former Boca Juniors defender Rodolfo Arruabarrena sacked by AGL leaders Shabab Al Ahli". Sport 360. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Article (15) P.50 of Arabian Gulf League Regulations" (PDF) (in Arabic). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Fairplay - Arabian Gulf League". uae.agleague.ae. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  20. ^ "UAE League Top Scorers". uaefa. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  21. ^ النمر, دبي-العوضي (23 September 2019). "21.890 مشجعاً في الانطلاقة". البيان (in Arabic).
  22. ^ النمر, دبي-العوضي (30 September 2019). "15.662 زينوا مدرجات الجولة الثانية". البيان (in Arabic).
  23. ^ النمر, دبي-العوضي (7 October 2019). "17689 متفرجاً يشعلون مدرجات دورينا". البيان (in Arabic).
  24. ^ النمر, دبي-العوضي (21 October 2019). "الإحباط يبعد الجماهير عن المدرجات". البيان (in Arabic).
  25. ^ النمر, إعداد-العوضي (29 October 2019). "حيرة بعد تراجع الحضور الجماهيري". البيان (in Arabic).
  26. ^ النمر, دبي-العوضي (3 November 2019). "الكلاسيكو ينقذ «السادسة» من الفشل الجماهير". البيان (in Arabic).
  27. ^ النمر, دبي-العوضي (9 November 2019). "الحضور الجماهيري يتراجع في 4 مباريات - البيان". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Retrieved 10 November 2019.