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 2nd title on the 29th of 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
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 Al-Fujairah 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

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 Olaroiu 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 Saad Obaid
Patrick Greveraars[5]		 Umbro Al-Naboodah
Sharjah Giorgos Donis 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 Sergio Tarek Al-Sayed uhlsport
Emirates Theo Bucker Klaus Dieter
Nourredine bin 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

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.

Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 AFC Player
Al-Ahli Everton Ribeiro Asamoah Gyan Makhete Diop
Al-Ain Caio[9] Danilo Asprilla Nasser Al-Shamrani Lee Myung-Joo
Al-Dhafra[10] Issam El Adoua Adil Hermach Khalid Al-Hajri
Al-Jazira Aílton Leonardo Mbark Boussoufa[11] Park Jong-woo
Al-Nasr Wanderley Jires Kembo Ekoko Abdel Barrada[12] Joan Oumari
Al-Shabab Tomas De Vincenti Luvannor Nana Poku Azizbek Haydarov
Sharjah Digão[13] Adrian Mierzejewski Gelmin Rivas[14] Chikashi Masuda
Al-Wahda Sebastian Tagliabue Jorge Valdivia Balázs Dzsudzsák Rim Chang-Woo
Al-Wasl Fábio Lima Ronaldo Mendes[15] Serginho Caio
Baniyas Harry Novillo Jean-Philippe Mendy Ezekiel Henty Mark Milligan
Dibba Bruno Moraes Derley Driss Fettouhi Yaseen Al-Bakhit
Emirates Mourad Batna[16] Osman Sow Hocine Ragued Ahmad Ibrahim
Hatta Samuel Rafael Silva Adrian Ropotan Nikolai Topor-Stanley[17]
Kalba Bakare Kone Ciel Modibo Maïga[18] Salam Shaker[19]

Transfers
See also: List of Emirati football transfers summer 2016

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Pos. Incoming manager Date of appointment
Al-Shabab Caio Junior 8 May 2016 End of Contract Pre-season Fred Rutten 11 May 2016 [20]
Sharjah Abdulaziz Al-Anbari 13 May 2016 End of Contract Giorgos Donis 27 July 2016[21]
Al-Wasl Gabriel Calderon 25 May 2016[22] Sacked Rodolfo Arruabarrena 6 June 2016[23]
Baniyas Abdullah Mesfer 5 June 2016 [24] Mutual Consent Pablo Repetto
Dibba Theo Bucker 22 June 2016[25] Left to Emirates Paulo Sergio 29 June 2016[26]
Emirates Paulo Comelli 31 May 2016 [27] Mutual Consent Theo Bucker 22 June 2016
Al-Sharjah Paulo Bonamigo 27 July 2016 Sacked Giorgos Donis 27 July 2016
Kalba Mourad Okbi 28 Aug 2016 Mutual Consent 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 Sacked 8th Dan Petrescu 31 October 2016
Sharjah Giorgos Donis 1 January 2017 [28] Mutual Consent 10th José Peseiro 2 January 2017 [29]

League table
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 Al-Fujairah 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) Champion; (R) Relegated.

Results
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

Top scorers
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 Corrêa Al-Wasl 14
6 Sebastián Sáez Emirates 13
7 Ahmed Khalil Al-Ahli 12

Source: agleague.ae

References
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