# 2016–17 Oman Professional League

The 2016–17 Oman Professional League (known as the Omantel Professional League for sponsorship reasons) is the 41st edition of the top football league in Oman. The season will begin on 17 September 2016 and is set to conclude on 12 May 2017. Fanja SC are the defending champions, having won their record ninth title in the previous 2015–16 Oman Professional League season.

## Teams

This season the league has 14 teams. Sur SC and Salalah SC were relegated to the Oman First Division League after finishing in the relegation zone in the 2015–16 Oman Professional League season. Al-Musannah SC too failed to secure their spot in the Oman Professional League as they were defeated 3-2 on aggregate in the Relegation/Promotion playoff by Ja'lan SC who had finished third in the 2015–16 Oman First Division League. The three relegated teams were therefore replaced by Oman First Division League winners Al-Rustaq SC, the runners-up of Oman Club and third position holders Ja'lan SC.

### Stadiums and locations

    Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.
| Club | Home city | Stadium | Capacity |
| Al-Khabourah SC | Al-Khaburah | Nizwa Sports Complex | 10,000 |
| Al-Nahda | Al-Buraimi | Al-Buraimi Sports Complex | 10,000 |
| Al-Nasr S.C.S.C. | Salalah | Al-Saada Stadium | 12,000 |
| Al-Oruba SC | Sur | Sur Sports Complex | 8,000 |
| Al-Rustaq SC | Al-Rustaq | Al-Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Al-Shabab Club | Barka | Al-Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Al-Suwaiq Club | Al-Suwaiq | Al-Seeb Stadium | 14,000 |
| Dhofar S.C.S.C. | Salalah | Al-Saada Stadium | 12,000 |
| Fanja SC | Fanja | Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex | 39,000 |
| Ja'lan SC | Jalan Bani Bu Hassan | Sur Sports Complex | 8,000 |
| Muscat Club | Muscat | Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex | 39,000 |
| Oman Club | Muscat | Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex | 39,000 |
| Saham Club | Saham | Sohar Regional Sports Complex | 19,000 |
| Sohar SC | Sohar | Sohar Regional Sports Complex | 19,000 |

### 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-Khabourah | Sherif El-Khashab | Khalid Al-Alawi | Ismail Al-Ajmi | Uhlsport | |
| Al-Nahda | Khalifa Al-Muzahami | | Mansoor Al-Nuaimi | Uhlsport | |
| Al-Nasr | Abdul Naser Mkayes | | Faiz Al-Rushaidi Ahmed Salim Bait Said Fahad Nasib Bamasila | Nike | Jeep |
| Al-Oruba | Ahmed Al-Alawi | Faruq Abdullah | | Uhlsport | |
| Al-Rustaq | Al-Mustafa Suwaib | Ibrahim Al-Salami | | Erreà | |
| Al-Shabab | Salim Sultan | Hassan Al-Balushi | | Uhlsport | |
| Al-Suwaiq | Hakeem Shaker | Abdel Halim Bouardi | Mohammed Al-Balushi Anwar Al-Alawi Mohammed Al-Musalami | Joma | Fatik Oman & UAE Exchange |
| Dhofar | Manuel José Alves Ramos | Alexandru Iliuciuc | Nadhir Awadh Bashir | Adidas | |
| Fanja | Al-Taj Mahboob | Leanardo Joel Silva Viera | Mohammed Al-Mashari | Select Sport | |
| Ja'lan | Talal Al-Mashaikhi | | | Tatweg | |
| Muscat | Mohsin Darwish Al-Balushi | Sultan Al-Touqi | Qasim Al-Balushi | Uhlsport | |
| Oman | Andrés García Tébar | Juan Bautista | Mohammed Al-Busaidi | Adidas | |
| Saham | Zoran Popović | Yaqoob Ismail | Nasser Al-Ali | Uhlsport | |
| Sohar | Emad Dahbour | | | Erreà | |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing Manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming Manager | Date of appointment |
| Al-Khaboura | Ammar Al-Shamali | Sacked | 27 October 2016 | 11th | Sherif El-Khashab | 28 October 2016 |
| Al-Nasr | Emmanuel Calleja Renedo | Mutual Consent | 20 September 2016 | 6th | Akram Habreish | 20 September 2016 |
| Al-Nasr | Akram Habreish | Caretaker role finished | 24 September 2016 | 2nd | Abdul Naser Mkayes | 24 September 2016 |
| Al-Oruba | Fabio Lopez | Sacked | 23 September 2016 | 3rd | Ahmed Al-Alawi | 23 September 2016 |
| Al-Shabab | Waleed Al-Saadi | Mutual consent | 29 December 2016 | 1st | Salim Sultan | 29 December 2016 |
| Al-Suwaiq | Abderrazak Khairi | Sacked | 23 September 2016 | 14th | Ali Al-Khanbashi | 23 September 2016 |
| Al-Suwaiq | Ali Al-Khanbashi | Sacked | 24 October 2016 | 9th | Hakeem Shaker | 27 October 2016 |
| Dhofar | Hamza El-Gamal | Mutual consent | 6 December 2016 | 2nd | Alexandru Iliuciuc | 6 December 2016 |
| Dhofar | Alexandru Iliuciuc | Caretaker role finished | 1 January 2017 | 2nd | Manuel José Alves Ramos | 1 January 2017 |
| Fanja | Manuel José Alves Ramos | Sacked | 1 November 2016 | 10th | Leanardo Joel Silva Viera | 1 November 2016 |
| Fanja | Leanardo Joel Silva Viera | Caretaker role finished | 3 January 2017 | 8th | Al-Taj Mahboob | 3 January 2017 |
| Ja'lan | Mohammed Al-Azari | Sacked | 16 October 2016 | 14th | Talal Al-Mashaikhi | 16 October 2016 |
| Muscat | Sherif El-Khashab | Sacked | 24 October 2016 | 14th | Sultan Al-Touqi | 24 October 2016 |
| Muscat | Sultan Al-Touqi | Caretaker role finished | 3 December 2016 | 13th | Mohsin Darwish Al-Balushi | 3 December 2016 |
| Saham | Abdul Naser Mkayes | Mutual Consent | 1 September 2016 | Pre-Season | Musabah Al-Saadi | 1 September 2016 |
| Saham | Musabah Al-Saadi | Sacked | 19 October 2016 | 7th | Abdel Halim Bouardi | 19 October 2016 |
| Saham | Abdel Halim Bouardi | Sacked | 6 November 2016 | 7th | Zoran Popović | 10 November 2016 |
| Sohar | Abdul-Ameer Ahmad | Sacked | 8 September 2016 | Pre-Season | Mourad Moulay Hassan | 8 September 2016 |
| Sohar | Mourad Moulay Hassan | Sacked | 25 December 2016 | 4th | Emad Dahbour | 19 January 2017 |

### Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly 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.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC Player | GCC Player | Former Players |
| Al-Khabourah | Noah Sadaoui | Mame Balla Diop | Paulo Vitor Hinvaitt Matos | | | |
| Al-Nahda | Ronir de Souza Gonçalves | Ibrahim Basit | Jean-Francois Feupa Mkamwa | | | Kipré Tchetche Luís Cláudio Carvalho da Silva Mohammed Boqshan |
| Al-Nasr | Samba Tounkara | Fallou Gallas Wade | Abderrazak Ben Tairi | Mohammad-Esmail Nazari | | Ferrán Tacón |
| Al-Oruba | Zoumana Koné | | | | Abdulwasea Al-Matari | Waheed Oseni Mamadou Fofana |
| Al-Rustaq | Sonny Karlsson | Cédric Mandjeck | Cédric Ayangma | Mohammad Fouad | | |
| Al-Shabab | Lucas Gaúcho | Fernando Evangelista dos Santos | Paa Ernest | Amro Jenyat | | Mechac Koffi |
| Al-Suwaiq | Kipré Tchetche | Mamadou Diagne | Milad Zeneyedpour | Saif Salman | | Vedran Gerc Fellipe Bertoldo |
| Dhofar | Admir Malkić | Elias Maguri | Lawson Bekui | Tamer Haj Mohamad | | Abdoulaye Cissé |
| Fanja | Mrisho Ngasa | Daniel Lyanga | Nursultan Nst | | | |
| Ja'lan | | | | | | |
| Muscat | Vedran Gerc | Mignane Diouf | Abdou Kader Fall | Saad Ahmad | | Ahmed Abu Halawa |
| Oman | Arthur Felix Da Silva | Philtzgerald Mbaka | | | | John-Christophe Ayina Francisco Pizarro Anatoliy Vlasichev |
| Saham | Jildemar Dias Paixão | Abdoulaye Dieng | | Maksimilian Fomin | | Oussou Konan Anicet Abdoulaye Koffi Kim Sang-sik |
| Sohar | Alin Stoica | | | | | Admir Malkic Babakar |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Dhofar (C) | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 44 | 27 | +17 | 51 | 2018 AFC Cup group stage |
| 2 | Al-Shabab | 26 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 42 | 27 | +15 | 48 | |
| 3 | Al-Oruba | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 45 | 37 | +8 | 45 | |
| 4 | Al-Nasr | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 31 | 30 | +1 | 39 | |
| 5 | Fanja | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 42 | 40 | +2 | 37 | |
| 6 | Al-Suwaiq | 26 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 36 | Qualification to 2018 AFC Cup play-off round |
| 7 | Sohar | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 36 | 36 | 0 | 35 | |
| 8 | Al-Nahda | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 34 | |
| 9 | Saham | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 39 | 45 | −6 | 34 | |
| 10 | Muscat | 26 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 36 | 36 | 0 | 31 | |
| 11 | Oman | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 32 | 36 | −4 | 31 | |
| 12 | Al-Khabourah (R) | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 30 | Relegation Playoff |
| 13 | Ja'lan (R) | 26 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 27 | 44 | −17 | 20 | Relegation to 2017–18 Oman First Division League |
| 14 | Al-Rustaq (R) | 26 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 32 | 51 | −19 | 17 | Relegation to 2017–18 Oman First Division League |
* ↑ Al-Suwaiq, winners of the 2016–17 Sultan Qaboos Cup played in the 2018 AFC Cup group stage

## Results

| Home \ Away | ALK | ALNH | ALN | ALO | ALR | ALSH | ALSU | DHO | FAN | JAL | MUS | OMA | SAH | SOH |
| Al-Khabourah | | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Al-Nahda | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| Al-Nasr | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Al-Oruba | 1–0 | 4–3 | 1–1 | | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–2 |
| Al-Rustaq | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–5 | 0–3 | 2–3 |
| Al-Shabab | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Al-Suwaiq | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 0–2 |
| Dhofar | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | | 3–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 |
| Fanja | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Ja'lan | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| Muscat | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–2 | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Oman | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 0–2 | 4–1 |
| Saham | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 5–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 | | 1–1 |
| Sohar | 1–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | |

## Clubs season-progress

| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Al-Khabourah | W | L | L | W | L | D | L | L | W | D | L | W | L | D | D | L | D | W | D | D | L | D | L | W | D | W |
| Al-Nahda | L | D | W | D | D | L | D | L | W | L | W | L | W | D | W | W | L | W | W | L | W | D | L | L | L | D |
| Al-Nasr | D | W | W | D | D | W | L | W | D | D | D | W | L | L | L | D | L | L | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | D |
| Al-Oruba | W | D | W | D | W | L | W | W | W | D | D | L | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | W | D | L |
| Al-Rustaq | L | D | L | D | W | L | D | L | D | D | W | D | L | W | L | L | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | D | L |
| Al-Shabab | D | W | W | D | W | W | D | L | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | D | W | L | W | D | W | L | L | D | D |
| Al-Suwaiq | L | L | L | D | W | D | D | D | L | W | D | D | D | D | L | W | W | W | D | W | D | W | W | L | D | D |
| Dhofar | W | D | W | W | D | W | W | W | D | D | L | W | L | W | W | L | L | W | W | D | W | W | L | W | W | D |
| Fanja | W | W | L | L | D | L | D | L | L | D | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | L | L | W | D | L | W | W | D | L |
| Ja'lan | L | D | L | L | L | D | D | D | D | D | L | L | W | D | L | L | W | L | L | D | D | L | D | L | D | W |
| Muscat | L | L | D | L | L | D | L | W | D | D | L | W | D | L | W | W | D | W | W | D | L | D | W | L | D | D |
| Oman | W | D | L | L | W | W | D | L | L | W | L | L | L | D | L | D | L | L | W | D | L | D | W | W | D | W |
| Saham | D | L | D | W | L | L | W | W | L | D | W | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | L | L | D | D | W | W | D | D |
| Sohar | D | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | D | L | D | L | W | L | D | W | L | W | L | L | D | D | L | W | L | D |

## Relegation playoff
### Second leg

Mirbat won 2–1 on aggregate and got promoted for the 2017–18 season.

## Season statistics

    As of 19 May 2017

### Hat-tricks

| Player | Club | Against | Result | Date |
| Abdulaziz Al-Muqbali | Fanja | Ja'lan | 3—1 | 17 September 2016 |
| Khalifa Al-Jahoori | Sohar | Al-Nahda | 4—2 | 19 October 2016 |
| Lucas Gaúcho | Al-Shabab | Al-Khabourah | 3—0 | 24 February 2017 |
| Omar Al-Malki | Al-Shabab | Fanja | 4—3 | 27 April 2017 |

## Media coverage

Oman Professional League Media Coverage :
| Country | Television Channel | Matches |
| Oman | Oman Sports TV | 4 Matches per round |
| Oman | Oman TV | 3 Matches per round |
| Qatar | Al-Kass Sports Channel | 1 Match per round |