2022–23 UAE Pro League

UAE Pro League
Season	2022–23
Dates	2 September – 13 May
2023 AFC Champions League	Al Ain; Sharjah
Matches played	137
Goals scored	414 (3.02 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba ; (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Al Ain 7-0 Dhafra ; (10 September 2022)
Biggest away win	Bataeh 0-6 Shabab Al Ahli ; (4 November 2022)
Highest scoring	Ittihad Kalba 5-3 Al Nasr ; (29 October 2022)
	← 2021–22 2023–24 → All statistics correct as of 18 March 2023.

The 2022–23 UAE Pro League is the 48th edition of the UAE Pro League. Al Ain are the defending champions after winning their fourteenth title last season. This season will also have a mid-break due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Teams

Promoted to the Pro League

Dibba Al Fujairah would get promoted back after winning the First Division league by beating Al Arabi 2–1, they would return after being absent for three seasons. Al Bataeh would secure promotion on the last day after beating Al Hamriyah 4–2, this will be their first ever season on the top flight in the clubs history.

Relegated to the First Division

Emirates would get relegated back to the First Division after a 0–1 home defeat to Al Urooba on the 17th of May. Al Urooba would also get relegated after losing to Al Dhafra 2–1 on the final matchday.

Stadia and locations

2022–23 UAE Pro League is located in United Arab Emirates

Locations of teams in the 2021–22 UAE Pro League

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Ajman	Ajman	Ajman Stadium	5,537
Al Ain	Al-Ain	Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium	25,965
Al Bataeh	Al Bataeh	Al Bataeh Stadium	2,000
Al Dhafra	Madinat Zayed	Al Dhafra Stadium	5,020
Al Jazira	Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan)	Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium	42,056
Al Nasr	Dubai (Al Nasr)	Al-Maktoum Stadium	15,058
Al Wahda	Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan)	Al Nahyan Stadium	12,201
Al Wasl	Dubai (Zabeel)	Zabeel Stadium	8,439
Baniyas	Abu Dhabi (Al Shamkha)	Baniyas Stadium	10,000
Dibba Al Fujairah	Dibba Al-Fujairah	New Dibba Stadium	9,500
Kalba	Kalba	Ittihad Kalba Stadium	8,500
Khor Fakkan	Khor Fakkan	SBM Al Qassimi Stadium	7,500
Shabab Al Ahli	Dubai (Deira)	Al-Rashid Stadium	12,052
Sharjah	Sharjah	Sharjah Stadium	20,000

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	Captain	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
Ajman	Goran Tufegdžić	Ali Al-Hosani	Adidas	Ajman Bank
Al Ain	Serhiy Rebrov	Bandar Al-Ahbabi	Nike	First Abu Dhabi Bank
Al Bataeh	Said Chkhit	Khamis Esmaeel	Nike	N/A
Al Dhafra	Aleksandar Veselinović	Ahmed Ali	Kelme	ADNOC
Al Jazira	Marcel Keizer	Ali Khasif	Zat Outfit	Healthpoint
Al Nasr	Goran Tomić	Tareq Ahmed	N45	Emirates Islamic
Al Wahda	Vacant	Mohammed Barqesh	Adidas	N/A
Al Wasl	Juan Antonio Pizzi	Ali Salmeen	Macron	Dubai Real Estate Centre
Baniyas	Daniel Isăilă	Fawaz Awana	Macron	ADIB
Dibba Al Fujairah	Hassan Al Abdouli	Mohamed Al Rowaihy	uhlsport	Fujairah Investment
Kalba	Farhad Majidi	Mansor Abbas	Errea	Caltex
Khor Fakkan	Abdulaziz Al Yassi	Saif Mohammed	Adidas	N/A
Shabab Al Ahli	Leonardo Jardim	Majed Naser	Nike	Nissan Dubai Integrated Economic Zones
Sharjah	Cosmin Olăroiu	Shahin Abdulrahman	Adidas	SAIF Zone University Hospital Sharjah

Foreign players

Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
Players in italics were out of the squad or left the club within the season, after the pre-season transfer window, or in the mid-season transfer window, and at least had one appearance.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Former players
Ajman	Miral Samardžić	Firas Ben Larbi	Walid Azaro	Ali Madan	Prestige Mboungou
Al Ain	Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba	Soufiane Rahimi	Andriy Yarmolenko	Mehdi Moubarik	Tin Jedvaj	Danilo Arboleda
Al Bataeh	Anatole Abang	Lourency	Artur Jorge	João Novais	Kwame Bonsu	Thibang Phete
Al Dhafra	Mohamed Rayhi	Cláudio	Walid Karoui	Tiago Leonço	Georgi Milanov	Mitchell te Vrede Lucas Cândido
Al Jazira	Miloš Kosanović	Thulani Serero	Florin Tănase	Achraf Bencharki	Aymen Hussein	Filip Novák Abdoulay Diaby
Al Nasr	Tozé	Ryan Mendes	Adel Taarabt	Samir Memišević	Peniel Mlapa	Jája Silva Dembo Darboe Lucão
Al Wahda	João Pedro	Adrien Silva	Allan	Matheus Pereira		Fábio Martins Maracás Pizzi Ahmed Refaat
Al Wasl	Djamel Benlamri	Soufiane Bouftini	Gerónimo Poblete	Tomás Chancalay	Felipe Gutiérrez	Gilberto Gabrielzinho
Baniyas	Saša Ivković	Gastón Álvarez Suárez	Nicolás Giménez	Rafael Elias	Opa Nguette
Dibba Al Fujairah	Marcelo	Jája Silva	Edu	Pedro Castro	China	Joey Sleegers Aleksandar Šćekić Saliou Guindo Kabelo Seakanyeng
Kalba	Filip Kiss	Daniel Bessa	Igor Rossi	Alexandru Cicâldău	Abdoulay Diaby	Peniel Mlapa
Khor Fakkan	Dodô	Aylton Boa Morte	Lazar Rosić	Fábio Abreu	Mehdi Abeid	Ramon Lopes Panagiotis Tachtsidis
Shabab Al Ahli	Federico Cartabia	Azizjon Ganiev	Ahmad Nourollahi	Omar Khribin	Jason Denayer
Sharjah	Caio	Paco Alcácer	Miralem Pjanić	Kostas Manolas	Djaniny	Makhete Diop

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Pos.	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Al Nasr	Salem Rabie	19 May 2022	Caretaker tenure ended	Pre-season	Thorsten Fink	19 May 2022
Al Wahda	Grégory Dufrennes	19 May 2022	Caretaker tenure ended		Carlos Carvalhal	1 July 2022
Kalba	Jorge da Silva	26 May 2022	End of contract		Farhad Majidi[1]	8 June 2022
Khor Fakkan	Gabriel Calderón				Abdulaziz Al Yassi[2]	14 June 2022
Shabab Al Ahli	Mahdi Ali				Leonardo Jardim	8 June 2022
Al Dhafra	Mohammad Kwid				Nebojša Milošević	11 July 2022
Al Bataeh	Tarek Hadhiri				Caio Zanardi	27 May 2022
Al Wasl	Odair Hellmann[3]	28 June 2022	Mutual consent		Juan Antonio Pizzi	1 July 2022
Al Wahda	Carlos Carvalhal	3 October 2022	Sacked	9th	Manolo Jiménez	5 October 2022
Dibba Al Fujairah	Zoran Popović	8 October 2022		14th	Grégory Dufrennes	8 October 2022
Al Dhafra	Nebojša Milošević	30 October 2022		14th	Aleksandar Veselinović	30 October 2022
Al Bataeh	Caio Zanardi	4 November 2022		10th	Said Chkhit[4]	5 November 2022
Al Nasr	Thorsten Fink	5 November 2022		12th	Goran Tomić[5]	5 November 2022
Dibba Al Fujairah	Grégory Dufrennes	14 January 2023	Mutual consent	13th	Hassan Al Abdouli[6]	15 January 2023
Al Wahda	Manolo Jiménez[7]	12 March 2023	Sacked	4th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shabab Al Ahli	21	14	4	3	43	20	+23	46	Qualification for AFC Champions League play off round
2	Al Ain	21	12	5	4	52	25	+27	41	Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage[lower-alpha 1]
3	Al Wahda	21	12	5	4	38	21	+17	41
4	Al Wasl	21	11	7	3	39	22	+17	40
5	Sharjah	21	11	6	4	39	15	+24	39	Qualification for AFC Champions League play off round[lower-alpha 2]
6	Al Jazira	21	11	4	6	39	28	+11	37
7	Ajman	21	10	5	6	31	31	0	35
8	Kalba	21	7	5	9	27	34	−7	26
9	Al Nasr	21	6	5	10	20	33	−13	23
10	Baniyas	21	6	4	11	29	36	−7	22
11	Khor Fakkan	21	5	6	10	23	32	−9	21
12	Al Bataeh	21	4	6	11	25	45	−20	18
13	Dibba Al Fujairah	21	3	2	16	14	40	−26	11	Relegation to UAE First Division League
14	Al Dhafra	21	2	2	17	19	56	−37	8	Relegation to UAE First Division League

Updated to match(es) played on 3 April 2023. Source: UPLeague
Rules for classification: [8] 1) points; 2) head-to-head goal difference; 3) head-to-head goals scored; 4) head-to-head away goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored; 7) number of away goals scored; 8) head-to-head points; 9) fair play ranking[9] 10) draw
Notes:

since Al Ain won the 2021–22 UAE Pro League, they qualified directly to the AFC Champions League group stage meanwhile this seasons league champions will qualify for the play-off round.
since Sharjah won the UAE President's Cup, they qualified for the AFC Champions League play-off round.

Results

Home \ Away	AJM	AIN	BTH	DHA	JAZ	NAS	WAH	WAS	YAS	DAF	KAL	KHF	SAD	SHR
Ajman		1–1	2–1	13 May	1–1	4–1	21 May	9 Apr	2–0	3–2	1–0	0–0	1–3	2–3
Al Ain	5–1		26 May	7–0	3–2	0–1	2–3	1–1	2–2	3–0	3–0	2–1	1–1	19 Apr
Al Bataeh	1–1	2–3		1–1	2–4	21 May	0–4	1–2	3–3	18 Apr	2–2	2–2	0–6	0–1
Al Dhafra	0–1	1–4	1–2		21 May	1–1	1–3	0–2	2–4	2–1	0–2	18 Apr	3–2	0–1
Al Jazira	0–1	2–1	13 May	3–2		7 Apr	0–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	26 May	1–1	2–3	3–3
Al Nasr	2–0	1–3	2–2	1–0	0–2		0–1	1–2	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	18 Apr	26 May
Al Wahda	0–1	0–3	2–1	4–2	18 Apr	4–0		3–3	26 May	3–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–0
Al Wasl	2–1	21 May	3–1	4–0	1–2	2–0	2–2		19 Apr	1–1	2–2	3–0	1–2	1–1
Baniyas	2–3	13 May	0–1	5–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–3		0–2	7 Apr	1–0	21 May	0–4
Dibba Al Fujairah	1–3	0–2	0–1	26 May	0–1	13 May	13 Apr	0–1	1–4		2–2	1–0	1–2	0–2
Kalba	19 Apr	2–3	0–2	2–0	2–1	5–3	0–2	1–1	2–1	2–0		21 May	1–2	0–4
Khor Fakkan	2–2	9 Apr	3–0	4–3	2–4	0–0	13 May	26 May	1–2	1–0	2–1		0–1	1–0
Shabab Al Ahli	26 May	2–1	8 Apr	2–0	2–1	3–0	2–1	13 May	1–2	5–1	0–0	3–1		0–2
Sharjah	4–0	2–2	3–0	9 Apr	2–3	1–1	0–1	0–1	3–0	21 May	13 May	3–0	0–0

Updated to match(es) played on 1 April 2023. Source: UPLeague
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Number of teams by Emirates

	Emirate	Number of teams	Teams
1	Abu Dhabi	5	Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Wahda, Baniyas and Al Dhafra
2	Sharjah	4	Sharjah, Kalba, Khor Fakkan and Al Bataeh
3	Dubai	3	Shabab Al Ahli, Al Nasr and Al Wasl
4	Ajman	1	Ajman
	Fujairah		Dibba Al Fujairah

Seasonal statistics

Positions by round

	Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League Play off round
	qualification to AFC Champions League
	Relegation to UAE First Division League

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Team ╲ Round
Shabab Al Ahli	14	7	5	7	7	6	5	3	3	1	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Al Ain	7	3	8	4	4	4	3	8	7	8	7	7	7	7	5	4	3	3	2	2	2
Al Wahda	5	10	10	10	5	5	4	2	2	2	2	4	3	3	3	5	5	4	4	4	3
Al Wasl	6	5	7	3	3	1	2	4	4	3	4	6	4	4	4	3	2	2	3	3	4
Sharjah	3	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	4	3	1	2	2	2	1	4	5	5	5	5
Al Jazira	2	2	2	2	2	3	7	6	5	6	6	5	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	7	6
Ajman	8	11	11	11	6	9	6	5	8	5	5	3	5	6	7	7	7	7	7	6	7
Kalba	13	9	4	6	8	7	8	7	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Al Nasr	9	4	6	8	10	10	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	10	9
Baniyas	4	8	9	9	12	12	10	9	9	10	10	9	9	10	9	9	9	10	10	11	10
Khor Fakkan	11	13	13	14	11	11	12	11	11	11	9	10	10	9	10	10	10	9	9	9	11
Al Bataeh	1	6	3	5	9	8	9	10	10	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	12
Dibba Al Fujairah	12	14	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13
Al Dhafra	10	12	14	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	14	14	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	14

Updated to match(es) played on 4 April 2023. Source: UPLeague

Top scorers

As of 2 April 2023[10]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	22
2	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira	19
3	Fábio Lima	Al Wasl	15
4	João Pedro	Al Wahda	12
5	Lourency	Al Bataeh	10
	Soufiane Rahimi	Al Ain
	Firas Ben Larbi	Ajman
8	Federico Cartabia	Shabab Al Ahli Club	9
8	Caio Lucas	Sharjah	9
10	Andriy Yarmolenko	Al Ain	8
	Ahmed Al-Naqbi	Kalba
	Walid Azaro	Ajman
13	Tomás Chancalay	Al Wasl	7
	Paco Alcácer	Sharjah
	Aylton Boa Morte	Khor Fakkan
	Omar Khribin	Shabab Al Ahli Club

Top assists

As of 6 April 2023[10]

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Soufiane Rahimi	Al Ain	10
2	Firas Ben Larbi	Ajman	9
3	Fábio Lima	Al Wasl	7
3	Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	7
5	Ali Saleh	Al Wasl	6
5	Paco Alcácer	Sharjah	6
7	Ismail Matar	Al Wahda	5
	Rashed Mohammed	Al Nasr
	Sebastián Tagliabúe	Al Wahda
	Oumar Traoré (Malian footballer)	Al Jazira Club
	Ousmane Camara	Sharjah
	Bandar Al-Ahbabi	Al Ain

Clean sheets

As of 18 February 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Darwish Bin Habib	Sharjah	6
	Mohammed Al-Shamsi	Al Wahda
	Ali Al-Hosani	Ajman
4	Eisa Al-Hooti	Kalba	5
	Ahmed Al-Hosani	Khor Fakkan
	Khaled Al-Senani	Al Wasl
	Ali Khasif	Al Jazira
8	Hassan Hamza	Shabab Al Ahli	4
	Adel Al-Hosani	Sharjah
	Ahmed Shambih	Al Nasr

Hat tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round
Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira	Khor Fakkan	4–2 (A)	9 September 2022	2
Kodjo Laba⁴	Al Ain	Al Dhafra	7–0 (H)	10 September 2022	2
Fábio Lima	Al Wasl	Al Dhafra	4–0 (H)	8 October 2022	5
Rafael Elias	Baniyas	Dibba Al Fujarah	4–1 (A)	22 October 2022	7

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

References

"فرهاد مجيدي يشعل «إنستغرام» كلباء". Al Bayan. 8 June 2022.
"عبدالعزيز العنبري مدربا لفريق خورفكان". wam. 14 June 2022.
"الوصل ينفصل عن هيلمان.. وبيتزي البديل". Emaratalyoum. 28 June 2022.
"المغربي شخيت يقود البطائح خلفاً للبرازيلي كايو" (in Arabic). Al Bayan. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
"رسميا..غوران توميتش مدربا للنصر" (in Arabic). Al Bayan. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
"دبا يتطلع لانطلاقة جديدة" (in Arabic). Al Khaleej. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
"خسارة الكلاسيكو تطيح بخيمينيز من الوحدة" (in Arabic). Retrieved 12 March 2023.
"Article (15) P.50 of Arabian Gulf League Regulations" (PDF) (in Arabic). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
"Fairplay - Arabian Gulf League". uae.agleague.ae. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
"UAE Pro League 2022/23 – Top Scorers & Top Assists". Soccerway.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[table_note_res_CLGS0.30795290195753-8] since Al Ain won the 2021–22 UAE Pro League, they qualified directly to the AFC Champions League group stage meanwhile this seasons league champions will qualify for the play-off round.

[table_note_res_CLCW0.30795290195753-9] since Sharjah won the UAE President's Cup, they qualified for the AFC Champions League play-off round.

[1] "فرهاد مجيدي يشعل «إنستغرام» كلباء". Al Bayan. 8 June 2022.

[2] "عبدالعزيز العنبري مدربا لفريق خورفكان". wam. 14 June 2022.

[3] "الوصل ينفصل عن هيلمان.. وبيتزي البديل". Emaratalyoum. 28 June 2022.

[4] "المغربي شخيت يقود البطائح خلفاً للبرازيلي كايو" (in Arabic). Al Bayan. Retrieved 5 November 2022.

[5] "رسميا..غوران توميتش مدربا للنصر" (in Arabic). Al Bayan. Retrieved 5 November 2022.

[6] "دبا يتطلع لانطلاقة جديدة" (in Arabic). Al Khaleej. Retrieved 22 January 2023.

[7] "خسارة الكلاسيكو تطيح بخيمينيز من الوحدة" (in Arabic). Retrieved 12 March 2023.

[10] "Article (15) P.50 of Arabian Gulf League Regulations" (PDF) (in Arabic). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.

[11] "Fairplay - Arabian Gulf League". uae.agleague.ae. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.

[SW-12] "UAE Pro League 2022/23 – Top Scorers & Top Assists". Soccerway.

UAE Top Division seasons
UAE Football League	1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
UAE Pro League	2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 ~~2019–20~~ 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23

2022–23 in Asian football (AFC)
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