# 2012–13 Oman Elite League

The 2012–13 Oman Elite League (known as the Omantel Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 37th edition of the top football league in Oman. It began on 4 October 2012 and was scheduled to finish on 19 May 2013, but for the second season running, the league title had to be decided by a playoff. Fanja SC were the defending champions, having won the previous 2011–12 Elite League season. Al-Suwaiq Club won the Championship Final match against Fanja 3–1 and emerged as the champions of the 2012–13 Oman Elite League.

## Teams

This season the league had increased from 12 to 14 teams. As a result, despite losing the relegation play-off to Al-Seeb Club, Salalah SC retained their place in the top division and Al-Musannah SC, whose 11th-place finish would have seen them relegated also retained their place in the top division. Ahli Sidab Club, however were relegated to the Second Division League. Saham SC and Al-Nasr S.C.S.C. were promoted to the Omani League (First Division) after finishing in the top two positions in the Second Division League in the 2011–12 season.
The winner qualified for the AFC Champions League qualifiers and the runner-up and the second runner-up qualified for the 2014 AFC Cup.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Home city | Manager | Stadium | Capacity |
| Al-Musannah | Al-Musannah | Suhail Al-Rashidi | Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Al-Nahda | Al-Buraimi | Hamad Al-Azani | Nizwa Sports Complex | 10,000 |
| Al-Nasr | Salalah | Zoheïr Djelloul | Al-Saada Stadium / Salalah Sports Complex | 12,000 / 8,000 |
| Al-Oruba | Sur | Omar Mazian | Sur Sports Complex | 8,000 |
| Al-Seeb | Seeb | | Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Al-Shabab | Barka | Mohammed Hawali (November 2012-February 2013) Driss El Mrabet (June 2013-) | Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Al-Suwaiq | Al-Suwaiq | | Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Al-Tali'aa | Sur | Hicham Jadran Ghazouani | Sur Sports Complex | 8,000 |
| Dhofar | Salalah | Mokhtar Mokhtar | Al-Saada Stadium / Salalah Sports Complex | 12,000 / 8,000 |
| Fanja | Fanja | Modhaffar Jabbar | Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Oman | Muscat | Ibrahim Somar | Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex / Royal Oman Police Stadium | 39,000 / 18,000 |
| Saham | Saham | Aristică Cioabă | Sohar Regional Sports Complex | 19,000 |
| Salalah$^*$ | Salalah | | Al-Saada Stadium / Salalah Sports Complex | 12,000 / 8,000 |
| Sur | Sur | | Sur Sports Complex | 8,000 |
$^*$Al-Hilal Salalah renamed Salalah in the close season

## Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC Player | Former Players |
| Al-Musannah | Marcinho Pitbull | | | Salem Saeed | Francis Koné |
| Al-Nahda | Paulo Júnior | Valci Júnior | Jumaa Saeed | Jamal Rashid | Zakari Morou |
| Al-Nasr | Khaled Saad | Kepha Aswani | | Mohamed Asaad | Séidou Barazé Jaouad Zairi |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Suwaiq (C) | 26 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 33 | 21 | +12 | 50 | 2014 AFC Cup group stage |
| 2 | Fanja | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 33 | 24 | +9 | 50 | 2014 AFC Cup group stage |
| 3 | Saham | 26 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 40 | 19 | +21 | 48 | 2014 GCC Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Al-Nahda | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 41 | 30 | +11 | 43 | 2014 GCC Champions League group stage |
| 5 | Al-Nasr | 26 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 39 | 29 | +10 | 40 | |
| 6 | Dhofar | 26 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 34 | 28 | +6 | 40 | |
| 7 | Al-Oruba | 26 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 26 | 22 | +4 | 35 | |
| 8 | Al-Shabab | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 33 | |
| 9 | Al-Musannah | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 26 | 32 | −6 | 31 | |
| 10 | Sur | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 26 | 30 | −4 | 30 | |
| 11 | Al-Seeb | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 22 | 33 | −11 | 29 | |
| 12 | Al-Tali'aa (R) | 26 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 26 | 38 | −12 | 27 | Relegation Playoff |
| 13 | Oman (R) | 26 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 25 | 38 | −13 | 24 | Relegation to 2013–14 Oman First Division League |
| 14 | Salalah (R) | 26 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 50 | −27 | 15 | Relegation to 2013–14 Oman First Division League |
* ↑ Al-Suwaiq played in the 2014 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off and failed to advance to the AFC Champions League group stage, hence entered the AFC Cup group stage.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ALM | ALNH | ALN | ALO | ALS | ALSH | ALSU | ALT | DHO | FAN | OMA | SAH | SAL | SUR |
| Al-Musannah | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Al-Nahda | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 |
| Al-Nasr | 2–0 | 3–1 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Al-Oruba | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Al-Seeb | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–0 | | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Al-Shabab | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Al-Suwaiq | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Al-Tali'aa | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Dhofar | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 5–1 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 0–0 |
| Fanja | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Oman | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 5–0 | | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Saham | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 4–1 | | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| Salalah | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 0–6 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | | 1–2 |
| Sur | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–5 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | |

## Promotion/relegation play-off
### 1st leg
### 2nd leg

Sohar secured promotion after winning on the away goals rule

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 19 May 2013
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Ely Cissé | Fanja | 14 |
| 2 | Luomar | Al-Shabab | 12 |
| 3 | Qasim Said | Al-Nasr | 10 |
| 3 | Mehdi Abdul Jabbar | Al-Tali'aa | 10 |
| 5 | Mohammed Said Al-Shamsi | Al-Nasr | 9 |
| 5 | Juma Saeed | Al-Nahda | 9 |
| 5 | Steve Paul | Sur | 9 |
| 8 | Yaqoob Abdul-Karim | Saham | 8 |
| 8 | Mohammed Al Mashaikhi | Al-Nahda | 8 |
| 8 | Hashim Saleh | Al-Shabab | 8 |
| 8 | Francis Koné | Al-Musannah | 8 |

## Media coverage

Omantel Elite League Media Coverage :
| Country | Television Channel | Matches |
| Oman | Oman TV2 | 3 Matches per round |