2020–21 UAE Pro League

The 2020–21 UAE Pro League was the 46th edition of the UAE Pro League following the cancellation of the previous season, no team changes occurred due to the previous season declared as void in UAE football.[1] Despite starting the season with rough results, Al Jazira went on to win their third league title while Baniyas finished second, coincidentally, both teams finished in the same positions ten years ago in the 2010–11 season.

UAE Pro League
Season2020–21
Dates16 October 2020 – 15 May 2021
ChampionsAl Jazira (3rd title)
RelegatedFujairah
Hatta
2022 AFC Champions LeagueAl Jazira
Baniyas
Shabab Al Ahli
Sharjah
FIFA Club World CupAl Jazira
Matches played169
Goals scored566 (3.35 per match)
Top goalscorerAli Mabkhout
(25 goals)
Biggest home winAl Wahda 6–0 Hatta
(16 October 2020)
Biggest away winKalba 0–6 Al Jazira
(14 February 2021)
Highest scoringShabab Al Ahli 3–5 Al Jazira
(21 November 2020)
Longest winning runSharjah
Al Jazira
(6 games)
Longest unbeaten runShabab Al Ahli
(13 games)
Longest winless runHatta
(15 games)
Longest losing runHatta
(8 games)
All statistics correct as of 15 May 2021.

Stadia and locations

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Locations of teams in the 2020–21 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 SBM 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 Abu Dhabi Bank
Al Dhafra   Mohammad Kwid   Ahmed Ali Adidas Ruwais
Al Jazira   Marcel Keizer   Ali Khasif Adidas Healthpoint
Al Nasr   Ramón Díaz   Tareq Ahmed N45 Emirates Islamic
Al Wahda   Henk ten Cate   Ismail Matar Adidas No sponsor
Al Wasl   Odair Hellmann   Lima New Balance Emaar
Baniyas   Daniel Isăilă   Fawaz Awana Joma No sponsor
Fujairah   Nassif Al Bayawi   Hilal Saeed Nike Asas
Hatta   Vladimir Vermezović   Mahmoud Hassan uhlsport No sponsor
Kalba   Jorge Da Silva   Mansor Abbas Erreà Caltex
Khor Fakkan   Caio Zanardi   Saif Mohammed Adidas No sponsor
Shabab Al Ahli   Mahdi Ali   Majed Naser Nike Nissan
Sharjah   Abdulaziz Al Yassi   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   Luiz Antônio   Bubacarr Trawally   Modibo Maïga   Iliass Bel Hassani   Diego Jardel
  Gustavo Vagenin
  William Owusu
  Diogo Amado
Al Ain   Wilson Eduardo   Tsukasa Shiotani   Shoya Nakajima   Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba   Bauyrzhan Islamkhan
Al Dhafra   Issam El Adoua   Mikhail Rosheuvel   Makhete Diop   Pedro Conde   Denílson
  Yaseen al-Bakhit
Al Jazira   Brandley Kuwas   Imoh Ezekiel   Miloš Kosanović   Thulani Serero
Al Nasr   Mehdi Abeid   Ryan Mendes   Dia Saba   Tozé   Brandley Kuwas
  Dostonbek Khamdamov
Al Wahda   Paul-José M'Poku   Lee Myung-joo   Tim Matavž   Omar Kharbin   Henrique Luvannor
Al Wasl   Nicolás Oroz   João Figueiredo   Neris   Ronaldo Mendes
Baniyas   Gastón Suárez   Nicolás Giménez   João Pedro   Saša Ivković
Fujairah   Rachid Aït-Atmane   Douglas Coutinho   Samuel Armenteros   Firas Ben Larbi   Farley Rosa
  Roly Bonevacia
Hatta   Jonathas   Dostonbek Khamdamov   Miral Samardžić   Nahir Besara   Willian Farias
  Kevin Londoño
  Vladimir Koman
  Mwape Musonda
Khor Fakkan   Bruno Lamas   Dodô   Paulinho   Ramon Lopes   Orlando Berrío
  Ricardinho
Kalba   Rômulo   Wanderson   Davide Mariani   Peniel Mlapa   Matías Pisano
  Júnior Fernándes
Shabab Al Ahli   Federico Cartabia   Carlos Eduardo   Jaloliddin Masharipov   Odiljon Hamrobekov   Héldon Ramos
  Azizjon Ganiev
Sharjah   Caio   Igor Coronado   Welliton   Otabek Shukurov

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Pos. Incoming manager Date of appointment
Baniyas   Winfried Schäfer 1 June 2020 End of contract Pre-season   Daniel Isăilă[2] 27 June 2020
Fujairah   Fabio Viviani   Goran Tufegdžić[3] 12 July 2020
Khor Fakkan   Goran Tufegdžić 12 July 2020 Signed by Fujairah   Caio Zanardi[4] 2 October 2020
Al Wahda   Manuel Jiménez 18 July 2020 End of contract   Mark Wotte[5] 20 July 2020
  Mark Wotte[6] 7 September 2020 Sacked   Vuk Rašović[7] 7 September 2020
Al Dhafra   Vuk Rašović Signed by Al Wahda   Aleksandar Veselinović[8] 25 September 2020
Al Wasl   Laurențiu Reghecampf[9] 18 October 2020 Sacked 12th   Salem Rabie[10] 20 October 2020
Hatta   Christos Kontis[11] 22 November 2020 14th   Vladimir Vermezović[12] 22 November 2020
Al Wasl   Salem Rabie 7 December 2020 Mutual consent 9th   Odair Hellmann[13] 8 December 2020
Shabab Al Ahli   Gerard Zaragoza 15 December 2020 Sacked 7th   Mahdi Ali[14] 15 December 2020
Al Dhafra   Aleksandar Veselinović 5 January 2021 10th   Mohammad Kwid[15] 5 January 2021
Al Nasr   Krunoslav Jurčić 4 February 2021 4th   Ramón Díaz[16] 4 February 2021
Fujairah   Goran Tufegdžić[17] 16 February 2021 Resigned 12th   Nassif Al Bayawi 17 February 2021
Al Wahda   Vuk Rašović[18] 12 March 2021 Sacked 8th   Henk ten Cate[19] 13 March 2021

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Al Jazira (C) 26 17 6 3 65 29 +36 57 Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage and FIFA Club World Cup first round
2 Baniyas 26 16 6 4 50 22 +28 54 Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round
3 Shabab Al Ahli 26 13 11 2 52 30 +22 50 Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage[a]
4 Sharjah 26 14 6 6 48 29 +19 48 Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round
5 Al Nasr 26 14 4 8 47 33 +14 46
6 Al Ain 26 11 8 7 39 33 +6 41
7 Al Wahda 26 10 10 6 48 33 +15 40
8 Kalba 26 11 6 9 29 39 −10 39
9 Al Wasl 26 10 7 9 49 47 +2 37
10 Khor Fakkan 26 7 4 15 35 50 −15 25
11 Al Dhafra 26 5 6 15 31 58 −27 21
12 Ajman 26 4 6 16 24 57 −33 18
13 Fujairah (R) 26 4 3 19 31 57 −26 15 Relegation to UAE Division 1
14 Hatta (R) 26 3 3 20 19 50 −31 12
Source: Arabian Gulf League
Rules for classification: [20] 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 10) draw
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Since Shabab Al Ahli won the UAE President's Cup, they qualified directly to the AFC Champions League group stage meanwhile the league runner-ups Baniyas qualified for the play-off round instead.


Results

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Home \ Away AJM AIN DHA JAZ NAS WAH WAS YAS FUJ HAT KAL KHF SAD SHR
Ajman 0–2 2–1 3–3 0–3 3–3 2–3 0–0 2–1 0–0 0–1 1–2 1–1 0–3
Al Ain 0–0 4–1 2–2 1–3 1–0 1–1 1–2 3–1 1–0 1–1 2–0 1–4 1–2
Al Dhafra 4–1 2–1 1–5 0–2 0–3 1–1 0–5 3–1 1–0 1–2 2–0 1–2 1–1
Al Jazira 3–0 2–0 1–1 3–0 2–0 3–2 3–3 4–2 3–0[a] 2–0 3–1 1–1 0–1
Al Nasr 3–0 1–2 3–2 1–1 2–2 0–1 1–0 3–2 2–0 2–1 2–1 2–3 2–1
Al Wahda 3–0 0–4 1–1 2–0 2–2 3–2 0–2 2–1 6–0 0–1 3–0 1–1 1–1
Al Wasl 4–2 1–2 2–1 2–3 0–3 2–2 1–4 3–0 2–1 4–4 1–2 2–2 3–3
Baniyas 2–0 4–1 3–1 1–3 3–2 1–1 0–2 2–1 1–0 0–2 5–0 0–0 1–0
Fujairah 1–2 1–1 4–2 0–3 2–0 1–4 1–1 1–3 1–0 0–3 1–2 3–2 2–4
Hatta 3–0 0–1 2–2 0–1 0–3 1–4 2–4 0–3 1–0 4–0 2–3 1–2 2–3
Kalba 2–1 1–1 2–1 0–6 3–3 0–0 0–3 0–2 1–0 0–0 2–1 0–3 1–0
Khor Fakkan 2–3 2–2 5–1 3–0 0–1 1–2 0–1 1–2 0–0 1–0 1–2 2–2 1–1
Shabab Al Ahli 5–1 1–1 0–0 3–5 1–0 2–2 3–0 0–0 3–2 3–0 2–0 4–3 1–0
Sharjah 2–0 1–2 5–0 0–3 2–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 3–2 3–0 1–0 5–1 1–1
Source: AGLeague
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.
  1. ^ The Emirates FA announced on 1 December 2020 that Hatta were found guilty for failing to fulfill match protocols by only conducting corona tests on 19 instead of 20 players in their match against Al Jazira in Round 7. They decided to award the match to Al Jazira as a 3–0 forfeit win; the match originally finished 2–0 to Al Jazira.[21]

Seasonal statistics

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Positions by round

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Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League group stage
qualification to AFC Champions League Play off round
Relegation to UAE First Division League
Team ╲ Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526
Al Jazira710657432222222222111121111
Baniyas21133687544433333322212222
Shabab Al Ahli44545866798866566555543543
Sharjah52211111111111111233334334
Al Nasr86422323333344455444455455
Al Ain65896545655555644666666666
Al Wahda17764254876677787778878887
Kalba139101010978467789999999997778
Al Wasl128989101099109998878887789999
Khor Fakkan1011141413131211111111111111111111111111101010101010
Al Dhafra33378791010810101010101010101010111111111111
Ajman1113111211121313131313131312121313131212121312121212
Fujairah912131112111112121212121213131212121313131213131313
Hatta1414121314141414141414141414141414141414141414141414
Source: UAEproleague

Top Scorers

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As of 15 May 2021[22]

Rank Player Club Goals
1   Ali Mabkhout Al Jazira 25
2   Fabio Lima Al Wasl 22
3   João Pedro Baniyas 18
4   Igor Coronado Sharjah 17
5   Welliton Sharjah 13
  Kodjo Laba Al Ain
7   Igor Jesus Shabab Al Ahli 12
  Peniel Mlapa Kalba
  Tim Matavž Al Wahda
10   Ramon Lopes Khor Fakkan 11
  Sebastián Tagliabúe Al Nasr

Clean sheets

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As of 15 May 2021

Rank Player Club Clean sheets
1   Fahad Al-Dhanhani Baniyas 11
2   Ali Khasif Al Jazira 10
3   Majed Naser Shabab Al Ahli 8
  Jamal Al Sarrah Kalba
5   Ahmed Shambih Al Nasr 7
  Khalid Eisa Al Ain
7   Mohammed Al-Shamsi Al Wahda 5
  Adel Al-Hosani Sharjah
9   Ahmed Mahmoud Khor Fakkan 4
10   Khaled Al-Senani Al Dhafra 3
  Ali Al-Hosani Ajman
  Humaid Al-Najar Al Wasl
  Abdullah Al-Tamimi Fujairah

Hat-tricks

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Player For Against Result Date Round
  Welliton Sharjah Al Dhafra 5–0 (H) 3 November 2020 4
  Igor Jesus Shabab Al Ahli Hatta 3–0 (H) 4 November 2020
  Ali Mabkhout Al Jazira Al Dhafra 5–1 (A) 5 February 2021 15
Kalba 6–0 (A) 14 February 2021 16
  Fabio Lima4 Al Wasl Kalba 4–4 (H) 19 February 2021 17
  Ali Mabkhout Al Jazira Fujairah 4–2 (H) 15 March 2021 21
Notes

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

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. ^ "New UAE football season to kick off September 3: UAE Pro League". ENA. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Bani Yas name Isaila as new coach; Sharjah to retain Anbari". Gulf Today. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Fujairah pin hopes on Tufegdzic for new season". Gulf Today. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  4. ^ "زاناردي يدلي بأولى تصريحاته بعد توقيعه لخورفكان" (in Arabic). dubaisports. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Ex-SFA performance director Mark Wotte lands manager's job in UAE with Al Wahda". GlasgowTimes. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Trainer Mark Wotte na één oefenduel al afgeserveerd" (in Dutch). Telegraaf.nl. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  7. ^ "Al Wahda set to name Vuk Rasovic as new coach ahead of Asian Champions League resumption". thenational. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  8. ^ "رسمياً الصربي ألكسندر فيسيلينوفيتش مدرباً للظفرة" (in Arabic). alroeya. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  9. ^ "الوصل الإماراتي يُقيل مدربه الروماني ريجيكامب" (in Arabic). alghad. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  10. ^ "الوصل يدشّن مرحلة «النصراوي ربيع»" (in Arabic). albayan. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  11. ^ "كونتيس: شعرت بإقالتي مسبقاً وأتقبل قرار إدارة حتا" (in Arabic). Albayan. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  12. ^ "فلاديمير مدرباً لحتا وإقالة كونتيس" (in Arabic). Albayan. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  13. ^ "تقارير: أودير هيلمان يوافق على تدريب الوصل الإماراتي" (in Arabic). 7 December 2020.
  14. ^ "شباب الأهلي: مدة عقد المدرب مهدي علي سنة ونص" (in Arabic). emaratalyoum. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  15. ^ "الظفرة يكشف أسباب إقالة الصربي الكسندر" (in Arabic). albayan. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  16. ^ "رسميا..النصر يقيل كرونوسلاف والأرجنتيني دياز بديلا" (in Arabic). albayan. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  17. ^ "المدرب الصربي غوران يعتذر عن إكمال مشواره مع الفجيرة" (in Arabic). emaratalyoum. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  18. ^ "رسمياً.. الوحدة الإماراتي يعلن إقالة المدرب فوك رازوفيتش" (in Arabic). Sport360. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  19. ^ "HENK TEN CATE KEERT ALS TRAINER TERUG BIJ AL WAHDA" (in Dutch). elfvoetbal.
  20. ^ "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.
  21. ^ "لجنة الانضباط باتحاد الكرة تعتبر حتا خاسراً 3- 0 أمام الجزيرة" (in Arabic). albayan. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  22. ^ "Top Scorers 2020/21". soccerway.