# 2011–12 UAE Pro League

The 2011–12 UAE Pro League season (known as Etisalat Pro League for sponsorship reasons) was the 37th top-level football season in the UAE, and the fourth Professional season.
Al Jazira were the defending champions, having won their 1st Pro League title in the 2010–11 campaign after being runner-up for three times in a row. Al Dhafra and Ittihad Kalba were relegated from the previous season. Ajman Club and Emirates Club were promoted from the UAE Division 1 Group A. The campaign began on 15 October 2011 and ended on 27 May 2012.

## Teams

Ittihad Kalba and Al Dhafra were relegated to the 2011–12 UAE Division 1 Group A after finishing in the bottom two spots of the table at the end of the 2010–11 season. The two relegated teams were replaced by 2nd level champions Ajman Club and runners up Emirates Club.

### Stadia and locations

| Team | Home city | Stadium | Capacity |
| Ajman | Ajman | Ajman Stadium | 10,000 |
| Al Ahli | Dubai | Rashid Stadium | 18,000 |
| Al Ain | Al Ain | Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium | 15,000 |
| Al Jazira | Abu Dhabi | Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium | 42,056 |
| Al Nasr | Dubai | Al Maktoum Stadium | 12,000 |
| Al Shabab | Dubai | Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium | 12,000 |
| Al Wahda | Abu Dhabi | Al Nahyan Stadium | 12,000 |
| Al Wasl | Dubai | Zabeel Stadium | 12,000 |
| Baniyas | Abu Dhabi | Baniyas Stadium | 9,570 |
| Dubai | Dubai | Police Officers' Club Stadium | 6,500 |
| Emirates | Ras al-Khaimah | Emirates Club Stadium | 5,000 |
| Sharjah | Sharjah | Sharjah Cricket Stadium | 18,000 |

### Personnel

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Chairman | Head Coach | Captain |
| Ajman | Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi III | Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader | Mohamed Zahran |
| Al Ahli | Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum | Quique Sánchez Flores | Mohammed Qassim |
| Al Ain | Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan | Cosmin Olăroiu | Rami Yaslam |
| Al Jazira | Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan | Caio Júnior | Lucas Neill |
| Al Nasr | Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid | Walter Zenga | Abdallah Mousa |
| Al Shabab | Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum | Paulo Bonamigo | Hassan Al Sharif |
| Al Wahda | Saeed bin Zayed Al Nahyan | Josef Hickersberger | Fahed Masoud |
| Al Wasl | Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum | Diego Maradona | Khalid Darwish |
| Baniyas | Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan | Gabriel Calderón | Fawzi Bashir |
| Dubai | Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Maktoum | Ayman El Ramady | Jamal Abdullah |
| Emirates | Ahmed bin Saqr al-Qassimi | Ghazi Ghrairi | Karim Kerkar |
| Sharjah | Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani | Abdulmajeed Al Nimr | Nawaf Mubarak |

### Managerial changes

Managerial changes during the 2011–12 campaign.

#### Pre-season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Replaced by |
| Al Wasl | Khalifa Mubarak | Caretaker role ended | Diego Maradona |
| Al Jazira | Abel Braga | Contract finished | Franky Vercauteren |
| Al Ain | Alexandre Gallo | Contract finished | Cosmin Olăroiu |
| Baniyas | Mahdi Ali | Caretaker role ended | Jorvan Vieira |
| Al Ahli | Abdulhameed Al Mishtiki | Caretaker role ended | Ivan Hašek |
| Sharjah | Carlos Azenha | Resigned before season started | Valeriu Tiţa |

#### During the season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Replaced by |
| Dubai | Néstor Clausen | Resigned | Umberto Barberis |
| Dubai | Umberto Barberis | Caretaker role ended | Ion Marin |
| Baniyas | Jorvan Vieira | Sacked | Salem Al-Orfi |
| Al Ahli | Ivan Hašek | Sacked | Quique Sánchez Flores |
| Baniyas | Salem Al-Orfi | Sacked | Gabriel Calderón |
| Dubai | Ion Marin | Sacked | Pierre-André Schürmann |
| Dubai | Pierre-André Schürmann | Caretaker role ended | Ayman El Ramady |
| Sharjah | Valeriu Tiţa | Sacked | Jorvan Vieira |
| Sharjah | Jorvan Vieira | Sacked | Valeriu Tiţa |
| Al Jazira | Franky Vercauteren | Sacked | Caio Júnior |
| Sharjah | Valeriu Tiţa | Sacked | Abdulmajeed Al Nimr |

### Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per AGL team.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC player | Former players |
| Ajman | Karim Kerkar | Boris Kabi | Olivier Tia | Hassan Maatouk | Ibrahima Touré |
| Al-Ahli | Grafite | Achille Emaná | Luis Jiménez | Youssef Mohamad | Jajá |
| Al-Ain | Ignacio Scocco | Asamoah Gyan | Mirel Rădoi | Yasser Al-Qahtani | |
| Al-Jazira | Matías Delgado | Baré | Ricardo Oliveira | Lucas Neill | |
| Al-Nasr | Léo Lima | Luca Toni | Amara Diané | Mark Bresciano | Careca Ismaël Bangoura |
| Al-Shabab | Ciel | Kieza | Carlos Villanueva | Azizbek Haydarov | Júlio César |
| Sharjah | Edinho | Marcelinho | Lee Sang-ho | Timur Kapadze | Vandinho Iman Mobali Igor Đurić |
| Al-Wahda | Fernando Baiano | Hugo | Magrão | Mohammed Al-Balushi | |
| Al-Wasl | Mariano Donda | Juan Mercier | Juan Manuel Olivera | Mohammad Reza Khalatbari | Edson Puch Richard Porta |
| Baniyas | Ismaël Bouzid | André Senghor | Francisco Yeste | Fawzi Bashir | David Trezeguet Antonin Koutouan |
| Dubai | Nicolas Marin | Aboubacar Camara | Simon Feindouno | Abbas Ahmad Atwi | Faouzi Aaish Ulugbek Bakayev |
| Emirates | Modibo Kane Diarra | Mohsine Moutouali | Alexander Geynrikh | Jasur Hasanov | Alhassane Keita Pejman Nouri Orok Akarandut |
* ^1 Richard Porta has Australian citizenship and was counted as an Asian player.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al Ain (C) | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 52 | 16 | +36 | 55 | 2013 AFC Champions League Group stage |
| 2 | Al Nasr | 22 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 49 | 33 | +16 | 41 | 2013 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off |
| 3 | Al Shabab | 22 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 39 | 27 | +12 | 38 | 2013 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off |
| 4 | Al Jazira | 22 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 47 | 38 | +9 | 35 | 2013 AFC Champions League Group stage |
| 5 | Al Ahli | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 45 | 42 | +3 | 34 | |
| 6 | Al Wahda | 22 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 32 | 30 | +2 | 33 | |
| 7 | Ajman | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 36 | 35 | +1 | 31 | |
| 8 | Al Wasl | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 32 | 40 | −8 | 26 | |
| 9 | Baniyas | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 39 | −5 | 24 | 2012–13 GCC Champions League |
| 10 | Dubai | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 29 | 40 | −11 | 20 | |
| 11 | Emirates (R) | 22 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 28 | 56 | −28 | 17 | Promotion/relegation Stage |
| 12 | Sharjah (R) | 22 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 26 | 53 | −27 | 11 | Promotion/relegation Stage |
* ↑ Al Jazira secured qualification for the 2013 AFC Champions League through winning the 2011–12 UAE President's Cup

## Results

| Home \ Away | AJM | ALI | AIN | JAZ | NAS | SHA | WAH | WAS | YAS | DUB | EMI | SHR |
| Ajman | | 0–1 | 1–4 | 3–4 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Al Ahli | 2–0 | | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 6–4 | 5–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 |
| Al Ain | 4–0 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Al Jazira | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–3 | | 1–5 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 5–0 |
| Al Nasr | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 5–3 | 3–2 |
| Al Shabab | 4–4 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 |
| Al Wahda | 1–0 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Al Wasl | 2–4 | 2–6 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 3–0 |
| Baniyas | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–2 |
| Dubai | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 1–2 | | 2–4 | 3–0 |
| Emirates | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 1–2 |
| Sharjah | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 4–5 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | |

## Goalscorers
### 22 goals

* Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain)

### 16 goals

* Grafite (Al Ahli)
* André Senghor (Baniyas)

### 14 goals

* Ricardo Oliveira (Al Jazira)

### 13 goals

* Luis Jiménez (Al Ahli)
* Juan Manuel Olivera (Al Wasl)

### 11 goals

* Ciel (Al Shabab)

### 10 goals

* Mark Bresciano (Al Nasr)
* Baré (Al Jazira)
* Edinho (Sharjah)
* Marcelinho (Sharjah)
* Modibo Kane Diarra (Emirates)
Source: official site: