2012–13 UAE Pro League

The 2011–12 UAE Pro League (known as Etisalat Pro League for sponsorship reasons) was the 38th top-level football season in the UAE and the fifth Professional season. The season was contested by 14 teams due to an expansion in the league system.^[1]

UAE Pro League

Season	2012–13
Champions	Al Ain
Relegated	Dibba Al Fujairah Ittihad Kalba
Champions League	Al Ain Al Ahli Al Jazira Baniyas
Gulf Champions League	Al Shabab Al Nasr
Matches played	90
Goals scored	330 (3.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Asamoah Gyan (31 goals)
Highest attendance	19,756 (Al-Jazira vs. Al-Ain)
Lowest attendance	103 (Ittihad Kalba vs. Dibba Al Fujairah)
Average attendance	2,468
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

Al Ain were the defending champions, having won the previous 2011–12 Pro League season.

On Thursday, 18 April 2013, Al Ain won their match against Dubai Club which guaranteed them as winners of the 2012–13 Pro League and retained their Pro League trophy. They received their trophy on their last match against Al Nasr on Saturday, 25 May 2013.

Promotion

In June 2012, the UAE FA announced that the league would be expanded into 14 clubs. The two teams that came in the bottom two of the previous campaign – Sharjah and Emirates Club – would enter a promotion/relegation series with the teams that came third and fourth in the second level – Al Dhafra and Al Shaab.^[2]These playoff winners would join Ittihad Kalba and Dibba Al Fujairah who came in the top two in the second division.

Promotion/relegation play-offs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Al Shaab	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6	Promotion to the 2012–13 UAE Pro-League
2	Al Dhafra	3	2	0	1	8	4	+4	6
3	Sharjah	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6	Relegation to the 2012–13 UAE Second Division
4	Emirates	3	0	0	3	3	9	−6	0

Source: Full Standings
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Dubai

Ajman

Abu Dhabi

Al Ain

Sharjah

Ras al-Khaimah

Madinat Zayed

Kalba

Fujairah

Locations of teams in the 2012–13 UAE Pro-League

Team	Home city	Manager	Stadium	Capacity
Ajman	Ajman	Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader	Ajman Stadium	10,000
Al Ahli	Dubai	Quique Sánchez Flores	Rashed Stadium	18,000
Al Ain	Al Ain	Cosmin Olăroiu	Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium	15,000
Al Dhafra	Madinat Zayed	Laurent Banide	Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium	12,000
Al Jazira	Abu Dhabi	Luis Milla	Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium	42,056
Al Nasr	Dubai	Walter Zenga	Al-Maktoum Stadium	12,000
Al Shaab	Sharjah	Marius Șumudică	Khalid Bin Mohammed Stadium	10,000
Al Shabab	Dubai	Marcos Paqueta	Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium	12,000
Al Wahda	Abu Dhabi	Josef Hickersberger	Al-Nahyan Stadium	12,000
Al Wasl	Dubai	Eid Baroot	Zabeel Stadium	12,000
Baniyas	Abu Dhabi	Salem Al Orafi	Bani Yas Stadium	9,570
Dibba Al Fujairah	Fujairah	Abdullah Mesfer	Fujairah Club Stadium	3,500
Dubai	Dubai	René Marsiglia	Police Officers Club Stadium	6,500
Ittihad Kalba	Kalba	Zé Mário	Ittihad Kalba Club Stadium	3,000

Managerial changes

Managerial changes during the 2012–13 campaign.

Pre-season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al Wasl	Diego Maradona	Sacked[3]	Bruno Metsu[4]
Al Wahda	Josef Hickersberger	Resigned[5]	Branko Ivanković[6]
Al Dhafra			Džemal Hadžiabdić[7]
Al Sharjah	Valeriu Tiţa		Faouzi Benzarti[8]
Dubai	Ayman El Ramady		René Marsiglia[9]
Baniyas	Gabriel Calderón[10]	Contract not renewed	Jozef Chovanec[11]
Al Jazira	Caio Júnior[12]	Contract not renewed	Paulo Bonamigo[13]
Al Shabab	Paulo Bonamigo[13]	Resigned	Marcos Paqueta

During season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Ittihad Kalba	Dragan Talajić	Sacked[14]	Lotfi Benzarti
Al Wasl	Bruno Metsu	Illness[15]	Gilles Morisseau & Nasser Khamis (caretaker)
Dibba Al Fujairah	Marcelo Cabo	Sacked[16]	Abdullah Mesfer
Al Wasl	Gilles Morisseau & Nasser Khamis (caretaker)	Temporary mandate[17]	Guy Lacombe
Ittihad Kalba	Lotfi Benzarti	Sacked[18]	Zé Mário
Al Shaab	Sérgio Alexandre	Sacked[18]	Marius Șumudică
Al Dhafra	Džemal Hadžiabdić	Sacked[18]	Laurent Banide
Al Wasl	Guy Lacombe	Sacked[19]	Eid Baroot
Al Jazira	Paulo Bonamigo	Sacked	Luis Milla[20]
Al Wahda	Branko Ivanković	Sacked[21]	Josef Hickersberger
Baniyas	Jozef Chovanec	Appointed as technical director[22]	Salem Al Orafi

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC player	Former player(s)
Ajman	Boris Kabi	Founéké Sy	Driss Fettouhi	Fawzi Bashir	Karim Kerkar Karrar Jassim Abdessamad Ouhakki
Al Ahli	Grafite	Luis Jiménez	Ricardo Quaresma	Youssef Mohamad	Achille Emaná
Al Ain	Jirès Kembo Ekoko	Asamoah Gyan	Mirel Rădoi	Alex Brosque
Al Dhafra	Rodriguinho	Amara Diané	Makhete Diop	Anas Bani Yaseen	Fawzi Bashir
Al Jazira	Matías Delgado	Fernandinho	Ricardo Oliveira	Shin Hyung-min
Al Nasr	Bruno Correa	Léo Lima	Giuseppe Mascara	Takayuki Morimoto	Nashat Akram
Al Shaab	Michaël N'dri	Filipe Teixeira	Noel Kaseke	Hassan Maatouk	Careca Rodriguinho
Al Shabab	Ciel	Edgar	Luiz Henrique	Azizbek Haydarov
Al Wahda	Marcelinho	Éric Mouloungui	Papa Waigo	Dino Djulbic	Srđan Andrić Anas Bani Yaseen
Al Wasl	Jussiê	Achille Emaná	Emiliano Alfaro	Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf	Mariano Donda Lucas Neill Shikabala
Baniyas	Mohamed Aboutrika	André Senghor	Christian Wilhelmsson	Nick Carle	Mohamed Zidan Ismail Belmaalem
Dibba Al Fujairah	Alex	Luiz Fernando	Samuel Ocran	Bilal El Najjarine	Júnior Abdelrazaq Al-Hussain
Dubai	Careca	Juca	Magrão	Richard Porta 1	Alhassane Keita Simon Feindouno Juan Quero
Ittihad Kalba	Ji-Paraná	Aboubacar Camara	Edward Sadomba	Amer Deeb	Serginho 2 Ahmed Jahouh Nabil Daoudi

• ^1 Richard Porta has Australian citizenship and was counted as an Asian player.
• ^2 Serginho has Syrian citizenship and was counted as an Asian player.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al Ain (C)	26	20	2	4	74	26	+48	62	Qualification to the 2014 AFC Champions League Group Stage
2	Al Ahli	26	15	6	5	62	33	+29	51
3	Al Jazira	26	13	8	5	56	37	+19	47
4	Baniyas	26	14	5	7	50	37	+13	47	Qualification to the 2014 AFC Champions League Second Qualifying Round
5	Al Shabab	26	13	3	10	48	39	+9	42	Qualification to the 2014 GCC Champions League
6	Al Nasr	26	11	6	9	51	40	+11	39
7	Al Wahda	26	12	3	11	44	41	+3	39
8	Al Dhafra	26	9	9	8	37	46	−9	36
9	Al Wasl	26	8	8	10	41	45	−4	32
10	Ajman	26	8	6	12	48	58	−10	30
11	Dubai	26	6	9	11	32	53	−21	27
12	Al Shaab	26	7	4	15	37	49	−12	25
13	Dibba Al Fujairah (R)	26	6	3	17	30	55	−25	21	Relegation to the 2013–14 UAE Second Division
14	Ittihad Kalba (R)	26	3	2	21	24	75	−51	11

Source: Full Standings
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	AJM	ALI	AIN	DHA	ITT	JAZ	NAS	SHB	SHA	WAH	WAS	YAS	DAF	DUB
Ajman		1–2	1–4	0–3	6–1	2–4	2–1	3–1	2–2	4–2	0–2	3–3	3–3	2–1
Al Ahli	3–0		0–3	1–1	3–0	0–2	2–2	2–0	5–1	2–0	4–0	0–0	1–0	1–1
Al Ain	4–0	3–6		7–0	6–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	5–0	2–2	0–1	3–0
Al Dhafra	1–1	2–1	0–3		1–0	2–1	1–0	3–3	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–3	2–3	1–1
Ittihad Kalba	0–3	1–3	1–3	2–1		1–3	2–1	0–4	0–2	0–6	2–2	1–2	1–2	1–3
Al Jazira	2–1	2–2	2–2	4–1	3–1		1–2	2–0	2–1	2–2	2–3	3–0	3–3	1–1
Al Nasr	1–1	2–3	0–2	1–2	6–1	3–3		2–1	2–3	4–1	2–2	2–1	3–1	4–1
Al Shaab	2–1	1–3	1–0	2–2	2–1	2–3	1–1		0–3	1–2	0–0	1–3	5–3	2–3
Al Shabab	2–2	2–0	2–3	0–2	3–2	5–1	2–4	1–2		3–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	3–1
Al Wahda	3–4	2–6	2–0	3–0	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–0	1–0		1–1	2–0	2–0	1–2
Al Wasl	4–2	2–2	1–2	1–1	3–1	0–0	0–1	3–2	2–1	4–1		0–1	2–3	3–1
Baniyas	5–0	1–4	0–3	2–2	2–0	1–3	3–1	4–2	1–0	1–1	3–1		2–0	5–0
Dibba Al Fujairah	1–4	1–0	1–5	0–2	2–3	0–4	1–3	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–1	1–2		0–1
Dubai	1–0	3–6	2–5	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–3	2–2	2–3	0–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Asamoah Gyan	Al Ain	31
2	Grafite	Al Ahli	24
3	Emiliano Alfaro	Al Wasl	17
4	Giuseppe Mascara	Al Nasr	10
5	Ricardo Oliveira	Al Jazira	9
6	Bruno Correa	Al Nasr	8
	Boris Kabi	Ajman
	André Senghor	Baniyas
	Papa Waigo	Al Wahda
	Richard Porta	Dubai

References

1. "UAE FA increases the number of professional clubs to 14". ufl.ae. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
2. Amith Passela. "UAE Pro League to expand to 14 teams". The National. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
3. "Maradona sacked as coach of Al Wasl". Gulf News. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
4. "Bruno Metsu confirmed as Maradona's replacement at Al Wasl". The National. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
5. "Al Wahda waste no time recruiting new faces". The National. 7 May 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
6. "Al Wahda line up Ivankovic to replace Hickersberger". The National. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
7. "Football: Al Dhafra recruit for play-offs". The National. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
8. "Pro League round-up: Nasr stand firm on Bresciano". The National. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
9. "Dubai coach Marsiglia hails signing of former Al Wahda midfielder Magrao". The National. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
10. "Another Pro League coach bites the dust". Gulf News. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
11. "Bani Yas looking to build on last season". Gulf News. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
12. "Scocco among key figures on the way out from UAE". The National. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
13. "Bonamigo breaks Al Shabab deal to take over at Al Jazira". The National. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
14. "Kalba sack manager Dragan Talajic after losing start to new season". The National. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
15. "Al Wasl's Metsu has 'serious medical condition'". Gulf News. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
16. "Al Shabab smart to retain Marcos Paqueta". The National. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
17. "Al Wasl sign an 8 – month contract with Lacombe". Pro League Committee. 8 November 2012.
18. "Al Shaab fire coach Sergio Alexandre after run of defeats". The National. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
19. "Guy Lacombe dismissed as Al Wasl coach". The UAE National. 18 February 2013.
20. "Al Jazira 4 Al Dhafra 1". The National. 21 February 2013. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
21. "Josef Hickersberger 'eager to start again' as Al Wahda coach". The National. 28 April 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
22. "GCC Championship semi-final: Time for Baniyas loyal Salem Al Orafi to shine". The National. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2013.

External links

• Results, venues, dates and times of matches at official site
• Football Association The UAE Football Association