# 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 second title on 29 April 2017 after defeating Hatta 5-0.

## Stadia and locations

| 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 | 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 Olăroiu | Catalin Necula | Ahmed Khalil | Nike | Skydive Dubai |
| Al-Ain | Zoran Mamić | Borimir Perkovic | | Nike | First Gulf Bank |
| Al-Dhafra | Mohammad Kwid | Badreddine Al-Idrissi | | Adidas | |
| Al-Jazira | Henk ten Cate | Jan Versleijen | Ali Khasif | Nike | IPIC |
| Al-Nasr | Dan Petrescu | Emil Caras Valeriu Bordeanu | | Adidas | Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority Emirates NBD DP World |
| Al-Shabab | Fred Rutten | Patrick Greveraars Saad Obaid | | Umbro | Al-Naboodah |
| Sharjah | José Peseiro | | | 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 Sérgio | Tarek Al-Sayed | | uhlsport | |
| Emirates | Theo Bücker | Klaus Dieter Nourredine Al-Hadi | Haidar Alo Ali | uhlsport | |
| Hatta | Waleed Obaid | Mohammad Al-Ajmani | | Adidas | |
| Kalba | Fabio Viviani | Salem Al-Qaddami | | 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.
* 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 | AFC Player | Former players |
| Al-Ahli | Éverton Ribeiro | Asamoah Gyan | Makhete Diop | | Lima Kwon Kyung-won |
| Al-Ain | Caio Lucas | Danilo Asprilla | Nasser Al-Shamrani | Lee Myung-joo | Douglas |
| Al-Dhafra | Adil Hermach | Issam El Adoua | | Khalid Al-Hajri | Makhete Diop Omar Khribin |
| Al-Jazira | Aílton | Leonardo | Mbark Boussoufa | Park Jong-woo | João Carlos Thiago Neves Jefferson Farfán |
| Al-Nasr | Wanderley | Jirès Kembo Ekoko | Abdelaziz Barrada | Joan Oumari | Jonathan Pitroipa Mohannad Abdul-Raheem |
| Al-Shabab | Tomás De Vincenti | Nana Poku | Henrique Luvannor | Azizbek Haydarov | Ruud Boymans |
| Sharjah | Digão | Adrian Mierzejewski | Gelmin Rivas | Chikashi Masuda | Song Jin-hyung |
| Al-Wahda | Sebastián Tagliabué | Jorge Valdivia | Balázs Dzsudzsák | Rim Chang-woo | |
| Al-Wasl | Fábio Lima | Ronaldo Mendes | Serginho | Caio Canedo | Hélder Barbosa |
| Baniyas | Jean-Philippe Mendy | Harry Novillo | Ezekiel Henty | Mark Milligan | Joaquín Larrivey Fellipe Bastos Daniel Hernández |
| Dibba | Bruno Moraes | Derley | Driss Fettouhi | Yaseen Al-Bakhit | Danilo Cirino Hamed Koné Heo Jae-won Nicandro Breeveld |
| Emirates | Sebastián Sáez | Mourad Batna | Osman Sow | Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf | Zac Anderson Augusto César Hocine Ragued |
| Hatta | Rafael Silva | Samuel | Adrian Ropotan | Nikolai Topor-Stanley | Rafael Bastos Issiaka Ouédraogo Yaseen Al-Bakhit Mihai Răduț |
| Kalba | Ciel | Bakare Kone | Modibo Maïga | Salam Shaker | Mihai Costea Carmelo González |
^1 Caio Canedo has East Timorese citizenship and was counted as Asian player.

## Transfers
### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Manner of departure | Pos. | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Al-Shabab | Caio Júnior | 8 May 2016 | End of contract | Pre-season | Fred Rutten | 11 May 2016 |
| Sharjah | Abdulaziz Al-Anbari | 13 May 2016 | End of contract | Pre-season | Georgios Donis | 27 July 2016 |
| Al-Wasl | Gabriel Calderón | 25 May 2016 | Sacked | Pre-season | Rodolfo Arruabarrena | 6 June 2016 |
| Baniyas | Abdullah Mesfer | 5 June 2016 | Mutual consent | Pre-season | Pablo Repetto | |
| Dibba | Theo Bücker | 22 June 2016 | Signed by Emirates | Pre-season | Paulo Sérgio | 29 June 2016 |
| Emirates | Paulo Comelli | 31 May 2016 | Mutual consent | Pre-season | Theo Bücker | 22 June 2016 |
| Kalba | Mourad Okbi | 28 Aug 2016 | Mutual consent | Pre-season | 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 | Georgios Donis | 1 January 2017 | Mutual consent | 10th | José Peseiro | 2 January 2017 |

## 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 |
| 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 | 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 | Relegation to the UAE Division One |

## 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 | |

## 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 | Al-Wasl | 14 |
| 6 | Sebastián Sáez | Emirates | 13 |
| 7 | Ahmed Khalil | Al-Ahli | 12 |
Source: agleague.ae