# 2014–15 UAE Pro League

The 2014–15 UAE Pro League, known as the Arabian Gulf League for sponsorship reasons, was the 40th top-level football season in the United Arab Emirates. Fourteen teams participated with Al Ahli as the defending champions after securing the championship last season for the first time since the 2008–09 campaign.
The league was started on 15 September 2014 and was concluded on 15 May 2015.

## Teams

Al Shaab and Dubai Club were relegated to the second tier being replaced by Ittihad Kalba and Fujairah who were both relegated in the 2012–13 campaign.

### Stadia and locations

| Team | Home city | Emirate | Manager | Stadium | Capacity |
| Ajman | Ajman | Ajman | Manuel Cajuda | Ajman Stadium | 5,537 |
| Al Ahli | Dubai | Dubai | Cosmin Olăroiu | Rashed Stadium | 9,415 |
| Al Ain | Al Ain | Abu Dhabi | Zlatko Dalić | Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium | 25,000 |
| Al Dhafra | Madinat Zayed | Abu Dhabi | Laurent Banide | Al Dhafra Stadium | 5,020 |
| Al Jazira | Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi | Eric Gerets | Al Jazira Stadium | 42,056 |
| Al Nasr | Dubai | Dubai | Ivan Jovanović | Al-Maktoum Stadium | 10,954 |
| Al Shabab | Dubai | Dubai | Caio Júnior | Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium | 8,011 |
| Al Wahda | Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi | Sami Al-Jaber | Al-Nahyan Stadium | 11,538 |
| Al Wasl | Dubai | Dubai | Gabriel Calderon | Zabeel Stadium | 8,411 |
| Baniyas | Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi | Luis García Plaza | Baniyas Stadium | 9,047 |
| Emirates | Ras al-Khaimah | Ras al-Khaimah | Paulo Comelli | Emirates Club Stadium | 5,020 |
| Fujairah | Fujairah | Fujairah | Ivan Hašek | Fujairah Club Stadium | 5,020 |
| Ittihad Kalba | Kalba | Sharjah | Walid Obaid Al-Balooshi | Ittihad Kalba Stadium | 3,000 |
| Sharjah | Sharjah | Sharjah | Paulo Bonamigo | Sharjah Stadium | 10,082 |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Al Jazira | Walter Zenga | Sacked | Pre-season | 14 May 2014 | Eric Gerets | 20 May 2014 |
| Al Shabab | Marcos Paquetá | Mutual consent | Pre-season | 23 May 2014 | Caio Júnior | 23 May 2014 |
| Baniyas | Adnan Hamad | Mutual consent | Pre-season | 1 July 2014 | Luis García Plaza | 10 July 2014 |
| Al Wasl | Jorginho | Mutual consent | 13th | 1 October 2014 | Gabriel Calderón | 1 October 2014 |
| Ajman | Fathi Al-Jabal | Sacked | 13th | 25 January 2015 | Manuel Cajuda | 27 January 2015 |
| Al Wahda | José Peseiro | Sacked | 4th | 10 February 2015 | Sami Al Jaber | 16 February 2015 |

### Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Former players |
| Ajman | Rafael Crivellaro | Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf | Boris Kabi | Driss Fettouhi | Karim Ziani Bakari Koné |
| Al Ahli | Éverton Ribeiro | Luis Jiménez | Oussama Assaidi | Kwon Kyung-won | Ciel Grafite Carlos Muñoz Hugo Viana Mirel Rădoi |
| Al Ain | Jirès Kembo Ekoko | Asamoah Gyan | Miroslav Stoch | Lee Myung-joo | |
| Al Dhafra | Humam Tariq | Bilal El Najjarine | Youssef Kaddioui | Makhete Diop | Matías Defederico Diego Felipe Paulinho Guerreiro |
| Al Jazira | Manuel Lanzini | Jucilei | Jonathan Pitroipa | Mirko Vučinić | |
| Al Nasr | Brett Holman | Renan Garcia | Ibrahima Touré | Pablo Hernández | Ivan Trichkovski |
| Al Shabab | Edgar | Carlos Villanueva | Henrique Luvannor | Azizbek Haydarov | |
| Al Wahda | Damián Díaz | Sebastián Tagliabúe | Hussain Fadhel | Adil Hermach | |
| Al Wasl | Caio Canedo | Éderson | Fábio Lima | Hugo Viana | Neto Berola |
| Baniyas | Denis Stracqualursi | Ángel Dealbert | Joan Verdú | | Carlos Muñoz Kim Jung-woo |
| Emirates | Alexandro | Luiz Henrique | Issam Erraki | Sin Jin-ho | Germán Herrera Rodrigo Silva |
| Fujairah | Karim Ziani | Madjid Bougherra | Boubacar Sanogo | Hassan Maatouk | Hassan Yebda |
| Ittihad Kalba | Danilo Bueno | Paulo Martins | Said Fettah | Papa Waigo | Rafael Luís Leal Wael Ayan |
| Sharjah | Marion | Maurício Ramos | Rodriguinho | Wanderley | Léo Lima Luan |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Ain (C) | 26 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 62 | 19 | +43 | 60 | Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage |
| 2 | Al-Jazira | 26 | 16 | 3 | 7 | 66 | 46 | +20 | 51 | Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off |
| 3 | Al-Shabab | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 49 | 35 | +14 | 49 | Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Second Qualifying Round |
| 4 | Al-Wahda | 26 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 44 | 32 | +12 | 47 | |
| 5 | Al-Nasr | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 43 | 32 | +11 | 39 | Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage |
| 6 | Al-Wasl | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 53 | 45 | +8 | 39 | Qualification to the 2016 GCC Champions League |
| 7 | Al-Ahli | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 35 | 27 | +8 | 38 | |
| 8 | Baniyas | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 42 | 37 | +5 | 35 | Qualification to the 2016 GCC Champions League |
| 9 | Fujairah | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 23 | 45 | −22 | 32 | |
| 10 | Emirates | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 34 | 45 | −11 | 30 | |
| 11 | Al-Dhafra | 26 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 31 | 33 | −2 | 27 | |
| 12 | Sharjah | 26 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 36 | 43 | −7 | 26 | |
| 13 | Ajman (R) | 26 | 2 | 9 | 15 | 27 | 60 | −33 | 15 | Relegation to the 2015–16 UAE Division 1 Group A |
| 14 | Ittihad Kalba (R) | 26 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 17 | 63 | −46 | 10 | Relegation to the 2015–16 UAE Division 1 Group A |
* ↑ Al-Nasr qualifies for 2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage as winners of 2014–15 UAE President's Cup.

## Results

| Home \ Away | AJM | AHL | AIN | JAZ | NAS | SHB | WAS | BAN | DHA | EMI | FUJ | KAL | SHR | WAH |
| Ajman | | 0–0 | 0–4 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 3–3 |
| Al-Ahli | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Al Ain | 7–1 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 4–0 |
| Al Jazira | 3–1 | 2–0 | 4–3 | | 3–2 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Al Nasr | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–4 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 |
| Al Shabab | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–4 | 2–1 | | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 1–2 |
| Al Wasl | 3–3 | 1–5 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| Baniyas | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–5 | 1–2 |
| Dhafra | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–3 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Emirates | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Fujairah | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–4 | 0–7 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Kalba | 2–3 | 0–3 | 1–4 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–6 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–3 | | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| Sharjah | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 4–2 | | 4–1 |
| Wahda | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 | |

## Season statistics
### Goalscorers

    As of matches played 15 May 2015
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Mirko Vučinić | Al Jazira | 25 |
| 2 | Ibrahima Touré | Al Nasr | 18 |
| 3 | Wanderley | Sharjah | 17 |
| 4 | Ali Mabkhout | Al Jazira | 16 |
| 4 | Caio | Al Wasl | 16 |
| 4 | Fábio Lima | Al Wasl | 16 |
| 5 | Sebastián Tagliabué | Wahda | 15 |
| 6 | Éderson | Al Wasl | 14 |
| 7 | Asamoah Gyan | Al Ain | 13 |
| 8 | Makhete Diop | Dhafra | 12 |
| 9 | Henrique Luvannor | Al Shabab | 11 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Mirko Vučinić | Al Jazira | Emirates | 3–0 | 25 September 2014 |
| Ahmed Khalil | Al Ahli | Al Jazira | 4–2 | 18 October 2014 |
| Ali Mabkhout | Al Jazira | Ajman | 3–1 | 4 February 2015 |
| Asamoah Gyan | Al Ain | Fujairah | 3–0 | 28 February 2015 |