2018–19 UAE Pro League

The 2018–19, UAE Pro League was the 45th edition with Al Ain being the defending champions after winning their 13th title. Both Baniyas and Kalba returned to the pro league after getting relegated back at 2017. After losing Al Shabab and Dubai last season the league has been reduced to 12 teams. Both the teams needed to get back to 14 teams so they held a relegation play off between bottom two teams of last year and the 3rd and 4th placed teams of the 2nd division. Sharjah set a record of the longest unbeaten run in a UAE Pro League season for 23 games before losing to Al Wasl 3–2. In 2019, Sharjah won their first title since 1996 after beating Al Wahda 3–2, this was the first time a team outside of Dubai and Abu Dhabi won the league since the 1996. On 26 May, Emirates and Dibba Al Fujairah were relegated after a fixed match between Shabab Al Ahli and Fujairah favored Fujairah and got them out of relegation. The Emirates demanded that the UAEFA investigate on the match between Shabab Al Ahli and Fujairah, questioning the legitimacy of the two penalties that was rewarded to Fujairah and the two goals that was disallowed for Shabab Al Ahli.^[1] However the UAE court later rejected their complaint and the team got relegated^[2]

UAE Pro-League

Season	2018–19
Champions	Sharjah (6th title)
Relegated	Emirates Dibba Al Fujairah
2020 AFC Champions League	Sharjah Shabab Al Ahli Al Wahda Al Ain
2020 Arab Champions League	Al Jazira Al Wasl
Matches played	168
Goals scored	605 (3.6 per match)
Average goals/game	3.6
Top goalscorer	Sebastián Tagliabué (27 goals)
Biggest home win	Al Jazira 6–0 Emirates (30 November 2018)
Biggest away win	Al Dhafra 0–5 Shabab Al Ahli (24 November 2018) Fujairah 0–5 Al Jazira (14 February 2019)
Highest scoring	Shabab Al-Ahli 4–5 Al Jazira (30 August 2018) Sharjah 6–3 Al Nasr (14 September 2018) Al Wasl 6–3 Fujairah (1 November 2018)
Longest winning run	Sharjah (9 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Sharjah (23 games)
Longest winless run	Dibba Al Fujairah (13 games)
Longest losing run	Dibba Al Fujairah (7 games)
Highest attendance	Al Ain 1–2 Sharjah (18,103)
Lowest attendance	Dibba Al Fujairah 3–1 Al Dhafra (39)
Average attendance	464
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 26 May 2019.

Changes

To Division 1

Relegated to UAE Division 1

• Hatta

From Division 1

Promoted to UAE Pro League

• Baniyas
• Ittihad Kalba
• Fujairah

Teams

Stadia and locations

Ajman

Ain

Dhafra

Jazira

Nasr

Wahda

Wasl

Baniyas

Dibba
Fujairah

Emirates

Kalba

Shabab Al-Ahli

Sharjah

Locations of teams in the 2018–19 UAE Pro League

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.

Club	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 (Bur Dubai)	Al-Maktoum Stadium	15,058
Al Wahda	Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan)	Al Nahyan Stadium	12,201
Al Wasl	Dubai (Bur Dubai)	Zabeel Stadium	8,439
Baniyas	Abu Dhabi (Al Shamkha)	Baniyas Stadium	10,000
Dibba Al Fujairah	Fujairah*	Fujairah Club Stadium*	10,645
Emirates	Ras Al Khaimah	Emirates Club Stadium	5,200
Fujairah	Fujairah	Fujairah Club Stadium	10,645
Ittihad Kalba	Kalba	Ittihad Kalba Stadium	8,500
Shabab Al Ahli	Dubai (Deira)	Dubai Club Stadium	7,500
Sharjah	Sharjah	Sharjah Stadium	11,073

* = Dibba Al Fujairah Stadium doesn't fit UAE Pro League requirements, therefore Dibba Al Fujairah shares Fujairah Club Stadium with Fujairah club

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 El Ramady	Rashid Malallah	Hummel	Ajman Bank
Al Ain	Juan Carlos Garrido	Ismail Ahmed	Nike	First Gulf Bank
Al Dhafra	Vuk Rašović	Ahmed Ali	Adidas	Ruwais
Al Jazira	Damiën Hertog	Ali Khasif	Adidas	IPIC
Al Nasr	Caio Zanardi	Álvaro Negredo	Nike	Emirates NBD
Al Wahda	Henk ten Cate	Ismail Matar	Adidas	Cadillac
Al Wasl	Laurențiu Reghecampf	Caio Canedo	New Balance	Emaar Properties
Baniyas	Krunoslav Jurčić	Yousif Jaber	Adidas	Secure Engineering
Dibba Al Fujairah	Mohamed Al Khaddeim	Driss Fettouhi	Uhlsport	N/A
Emirates	Jalel Kadri	Ahmed Al-Shaji	Uhlsport	Al Naeem City Center
Fujairah	Abdullah Mesfer	Hilal Saeed	Nike	Asas
Ittihad Kalba	Fabio Viviani	Mansor Abbas	Erreà	N/A
Shabab Al Ahli	Rodolfo Arruabarrena	Majed Naser	Nike	Nakheel Properties
Sharjah	Abdulaziz Mohamed	Shahin Abdulrahman	Adidas	Saif Zone

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Pos.	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Fujairah	Diego Maradona[3]	28 April 2018	Sacked	Pre-season	Ivan Hašek	29 May 2018
Al Jazira	Henk ten Cate[4]	17 May 2018	End of contract		Marcel Keizer	2 June 2018
Al Wasl	Rodolfo Arruabarrena	30 June 2018			Gustavo Quinteros	12 May 2018
Al Dhafra	Gjoko Hadžievski	30 June 2018			Vuk Rašović	20 May 2018
Baniyas	Goran Tufegdžić	30 May 2018			Krunoslav Jurčić	28 May 2018
Shabab Al Ahli	Mahdi Ali	30 May 2018			José Luis Sierra	28 May 2018
Emirates	Nizar Mahrous	30 May 2018			Jalel Kadri	28 May 2018
Ittihad Kalba	Jorvan Vieira[5]	4 September 2018	Sacked	13th	Fabio Viviani	2 September 2018
Shabab Al Ahli	José Luis Sierra	14 October 2018		8th	Rodolfo Arruabarrena[6]	14 October 2018
Al Wasl	Gustavo Quinteros	23 October 2018		9th	Laurențiu Reghecampf[7]	26 December 2018
Dibba Al Fujairah	Paulo Comelli	26 October 2018		14th	Mohammad Kwid	26 October 2018
Al Jazira	Marcel Keizer	9 November 2018	Signed by Sporting CP	2nd	Damiën Hertog[8]	8 November 2018
Al Wahda	Laurențiu Reghecampf[9]	25 November 2018	Sacked	5th	Henk ten Cate[10]	8 December 2018
Al Nasr	Ivan Jovanović	2 December 2018		10th	Beñat San José[11]	15 December 2018
Al Ain	Zoran Mamić[12]	30 January 2019	Signed by Al-Hilal	3rd	Juan Carlos Garrido[13]	18 February 2019
Dibba Al Fujairah	Mohammad Kwid	1 March 2019	Sacked	14th	Mohamed Al Khaddeim	2 March 2019
Fujairah	Ivan Hašek			12th	Abdullah Mesfer
Al Nasr	Beñat San José	31 March 2019		11th	Caio Zanardi[14]	31 March 2019

Foreign players

All teams could register as many foreign players as they want, but could only use four professionals 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 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	Player 4	Former players
Ajman	Vander Vieira	Adil Hermach	Stanley Ohawuchi	Mame Thiam
Al Ain	Caio Lucas	Tsukasa Shiotani	Rúben Ribeiro	Marcus Berg	Hussein El Shahat
Al Dhafra	Diego Rigonato	Rômulo	Amine Atouchi	Nicolás Milesi	Hélder Guedes
Al Jazira	Leonardo Pereira	Sébastien Siani	Ernest Asante	Nacer Barazite
Al Nasr	Junior Dutra	Ronnie Fernández	Joan Oumari	Álvaro Negredo	Iury Marquinhos Gabriel Samuel Yohan Cabaye
Al Wahda	Sebastián Tagliabué	Leonardo Souza	Mourad Batna	Rim Chang-woo
Al Wasl	Caio Canedo	Fábio Lima	Ronaldo Mendes	Vinícius Lima	Oh Ban-suk
Baniyas	Róbson	Michael Ortega	Leroy George	Pedro Conde
Dibba Al Fujairah	Diogo Acosta	Yaseen Al-Bakhit	Yousef Al-Rawashdeh	Driss Fettouhi	Guilherme Schettine Masoud Juma Yahya Jabrane
Emirates	Kaio	Marcão	Cheick Diabaté	Saber Khalifa	Bernie Ibini-Isei Bakare Kone Aboubacar Sylla
Fujairah	Mohamed Benyettou	Fernando Gabriel	Samuel	Omar Kossoko	Jou Silva Ronaldo Mendes Lee Seung-hee
Ittihad Kalba	Myke	Tommy Tobar	Balázs Dzsudzsák	Giovanni Sio	Raheem Lawal Florentin Matei
Shabab Al Ahli	Emiliano Vecchio	Mauro Díaz	Jaime Ayoví	Henrique Luvannor
Sharjah	Igor Coronado	Welliton	Ryan Mendes	Otabek Shukurov

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sharjah (C)	26	17	8	1	57	30	+27	59	Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage[lower-alpha 1]
2	Shabab Al Ahli	26	17	2	7	57	36	+21	53
3	Al Wahda	26	14	4	8	63	40	+23	46
4	Al Ain	26	14	4	8	45	35	+10	46	Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round
5	Al Jazira	26	13	6	7	66	41	+25	45	Qualification for Arab Champions League
6	Baniyas	26	11	7	8	50	40	+10	40
7	Ajman	26	10	7	9	41	40	+1	37
8	Al Nasr	26	10	6	10	42	41	+1	36
9	Al Wasl	26	10	4	12	45	54	−9	34	Qualification for Arab Champions League
10	Al Dhafra	26	8	5	13	37	49	−12	29
11	Kalba	26	5	10	11	41	51	−10	25
12	Fujairah	26	5	6	15	36	63	−27	21
13	Emirates (R)	26	4	6	16	30	62	−32	18	Relegation to UAE Division 1
14	Dibba Al Fujairah (R)	26	4	5	17	34	62	−28	17

Source: AGLeague
Rules for classification: ^[15] 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored; 5) number of away goals scored; 6) fair play ranking^[16] 7) draw
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since league runners-up, Shabab Al Ahli, were also UAE President's Cup winners, the league 3rd place qualified for the AFC Champions League group stage.

Results

Home \ Away	AJM	AIN	DHA	JAZ	NAS	WAH	WAS	YAS	DAF	EMI	FUJ	KAL	SAD	SHR
Ajman		0–3	0–0	1–5	2–2	1–2	1–2	2–1	2–1	4–1	3–0	0–0	1–3	0–0
Al Ain	0–4		2–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	5–1	2–0	4–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–2
Al Dhafra	3–4	3–0		3–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–5	0–2	0–5	0–4
Al Jazira	3–0	5–1	1–1		3–1	1–3	2–0	2–2	2–2	6–0	3–2	1–1	0–1	1–1
Al Nasr	0–1	0–3	2–0	3–1		2–2	4–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	2–0	1–1	1–3	0–1
Al Wahda	3–1	1–0	2–4	1–2	1–2		4–1	4–1	3–1	2–0	5–0	6–2	2–2	2–3
Al Wasl	0–2	1–3	2–1	3–1	1–3	1–0		1–2	3–0	2–1	6–3	1–1	2–4	3–2
Baniyas	3–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	4–2	1–1		6–1	3–3	4–0	3–2	3–0	1–2
Dibba Al Fujairah	0–3	0–2	3–1	3–3	2–1	1–4	1–2	3–3		1–1	2–1	1–3	0–1	2–3
Emirates	1–1	1–3	3–2	0–3	3–3	1–3	1–2	2–3	3–2		3–1	1–1	1–5	1–2
Fujairah	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–5	0–3	3–3	3–3	1–1	2–1	0–1		3–3	0–1	0–1
Ittihad Kalba	2–3	1–2	0–3	2–4	3–1	2–4	3–1	0–0	1–3	2–0	2–3		1–3	1–1
Shabab Al Ahli	2–2	2–0	3–2	4–5	1–0	0–1	3–2	4–1	3–1	2–1	1–3	2–1		1–2
Sharjah	1–1	2–2	2–1	3–2	6–3	3–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	4–0	3–0	2–2	2–0

Source: AGLeague
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

As of 26 May 2019^[17]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Sebastián Tagliabué	Al Wahda	27
2	Welliton	Sharjah	20
	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira
4	Pedro Conde	Baniyas	18
5	Igor Coronado	Sharjah	17
6	Álvaro Negredo	Al Nasr	16
7	Mohamed Benyettou	Fujairah	14
8	Caio Canedo	Al Wasl	13
	Fábio Lima	Al Wasl
	Leonardo Souza	Al Wahda
11	Leonardo Pereira	Al Jazira	12
	Jaime Ayoví	Shabab Al Ahli
	Henrique Luvannor	Shabab Al Ahli

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	3	Shabab Al Ahli, Al Nasr and Al Wasl
3	Sharjah	2	Sharjah and Kalba
	Fujairah		Dibba Al Fujairah and Fujairah
4	Ajman	1	Ajman
	Ras Al Khaimah		Emirates

References

1. "نادي الإمارات يطالب باتخاذ إجراءات مناسبة في فيديو الفجيرة وشباب الأهلي". الإمارات اليوم. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
2. "لجنة الانضباط ترفض شكوى نادي الإمارات في واقعة ماجد ناصر". الرياضية. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
3. "Diego Maradona leaves Al Fujairah after failing to secure automatic promotion". 27 April 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
4. "Al Jazira wish Ten Cate well".
5. "Kalba coach Vieira sacked just one game into new season".
6. "UAE football: Joining late no excuse not to win title, says Arruabarrena".
7. "Laurenţiu Reghecampf a fost prezentat la Al Wasl! Salariu uriaş primit de antrenorul român. Foto » Fanatik.ro" (in Romanian). 6 January 2019.
8. "Damien Hertog tijdelijk hoofdtrainer Al-Jazira".
9. "Al Wahda sack manager Laurentiu Reghecampf days after Al Jazira defeat".
10. "Ten Cate returns to Abu Dhabi with Al Wahda".
11. "UAE news: Al Nasr spring surprise with deal for former Al Ittihad coach Benat San Jose - Article - Sport360".
12. "Following the Termination of Zoran's Contract Amicably.. Croatia's Šobić is the Boss' "Temporary" Head Coach | ALAINFC".
13. "Al Hajeri Hails the Efforts of the Technical Committee of Professionalism.. Spain's Juan Garrido is to Lead the "Boss" Squad Until End of Season | ALAINFC".
14. "النصر يقيل مدربه بينات". البيان (in Arabic). 31 March 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
15. "Article (15) of Arabian Gulf League Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 4 November 2018.
16. "Fairplay - Arabian Gulf League". uae.agleague.ae. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
17. "UAE League Top Scorers". uaefa. Retrieved 4 April 2019.