2019–20 UAE Pro League

UAE Pro League
Season	2019–20
Champions	No title awarded
Relegated	No relegation
2021 AFC Champions League	Sharjah; Shabab Al-Ahli; Al Wahda; Al Ain
Matches played	133
Goals scored	385 (2.89 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba; (19 goals)
Biggest home win	Shabab Al Ahli 5–0 Kalba; (28 December 2019); Al Ain 5–0 Wasl; (1 February 2020)
Biggest away win	Fujairah 1–7 Al Ain; (25 October 2019)
Highest scoring	Fujairah 1–7 Al Ain; (25 October 2019); Kalba 6–2 Ajman; (10 December 2019)
Longest winning run	Shabab Al Ahli; Al Wahda; (5 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Sharjah; (10 games)
Longest winless run	Khor Fakkan; (13 games)
Longest losing run	Hatta; (7 games)
Highest attendance	14,423; Al Ain 0–0 Al Jazira; (1 November 2019)
Lowest attendance	277; Dhafra 1–1 Baniyas; (26 September 2019)
Total attendance	97,291
Average attendance	2,316
	← 2018–19 2020–21 →

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]

Team changes

To Division 1

Relegated to UAE Division 1

From Division 1

Promoted to UAE Pro League

Stadia and locations

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

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

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

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]	16 June 2019
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	Mutual consent	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

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

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

Top goalscorers

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
3	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira	13
5	Fábio Lima	Al Wasl	12
5	João Pedro	Al Dhafra	12
7	Ryan Mendes	Sharjah	11
7	Peniel Mlapa	Kalba	11
9	Welliton	Al Wasl	9
10	Álvaro Negredo	Al Nasr	8

Hat-tricks

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

	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 ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Team ╲ Round
Shabab Al Ahli	1	1	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Al Ain	4	3	4	3	2	3	3	3	3	4	4	5	2	3	2	2	2	2	2
Al Jazira	2	5	7	4	4	4	5	4	4	3	3	4	4	2	4	3	4	3	3
Sharjah	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	3	4	3	5	3	4	4
Al Wahda	11	6	10	11	8	6	6	7	8	6	8	8	8	7	5	4	6	5	5
Al Nasr	8	9	11	9	7	5	4	5	5	5	5	3	6	5	6	7	7	7	6
Al Dhafra	13	11	8	6	5	9	11	8	9	7	6	6	5	6	7	6	5	6	7
Al Wasl	9	10	13	14	12	8	8	6	6	8	7	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8
Baniyas	7	8	6	8	9	10	10	10	7	9	10	11	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Ajman	6	4	3	5	6	7	7	11	12	11	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Kalba	10	14	14	12	13	11	12	9	10	10	11	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
Khor Fakkan	12	12	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	12	12	12
Hatta	14	13	9	10	11	13	9	12	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	13	13	13
Fujairah	5	7	5	7	10	12	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	12	12	13	14	14	14

Source: UAE Pro League

Attendances

By round

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

	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
4	Fujairah	1	Fujairah

References

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

[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.

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