ADNOC Pro League

Organising body	Pro League Committee
Founded	1973; 51 years ago (1973)
Country	United Arab Emirates
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	14
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	First Division League
Domestic cup(s)	UAE President's Cup UAE Super Cup
League cup(s)	UAE League Cup
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League Elite AFC Champions League 2
Current champions	Shabab Al Ahli (8th title) (2022–23)
Most championships	Al Ain (14 titles)
TV partners	Abu Dhabi Sports Dubai Sports Sharjah Sports Fanseat
Website	uaeproleague.ae
Current: 2023–24 season

The UAE Pro League (Arabic: دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League,^[1] is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al Orouba (Sharjah), whilst Al Ain has the record with 14 league titles to their name. Fourteen clubs compete in the League that operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the First Division League.

The League was founded in 1973 as the UAE Football League. The first 1973–74 season was a "trial" championship but was declared official by the UAE FA in 2001.^[2] In February 2007, the Pro League Committee was formed, and became the organising body of the League.

Name change

Starting from the 2006–07 season the name was changed from UAE League to Etisalat League. And since the 2013–14 season, the name was changed from Etisalat Pro League to Arabian Gulf League, which was named after the Arabian Gulf as per the chairman of Pro League Committee.^[3] However, the name change has been viewed as a revival of the Persian Gulf naming dispute^[4] with Iran accusing the United Arab Emirates of bigotry,^[5] and the Iranian Football Federation barring the transfer of Javad Nekounam to a UAE club.^[6] After about four months of the name change a 70 million AED one-year renewable partnership deal was announced with Arabian Gulf Development to be named Official Title Partner.^[7][8][9] On the 8th of August, the Pro League signed a new partnership deal with ADNOC worth 80 million AED, from the start of the 2021–22 season, the league was renamed to the UAE's ADNOC Pro League.^[1]

Ranking

Ranking

As of 7 December 2021^[10]

Ranking			Member Association	Club Points					Points
2021	2020	Mvmt		2018	2019	2020	2021	Total
6	10	+4	Uzbekistan	9.400	9.000	0.000	18.671	37.071	64.696
7	1	-6	China	16.200	17.350		0.800	34.350	59.948
8		–	United Arab Emirates	8.100	7.633		14.400	30.133	52.588
9	7	-2	Thailand	16.200	5.050		8.500	29.750	51.920
10	12	+2	Jordan	7.633	7.967		10.833	26.433	46.131

Clubs

Member clubs (2023–24)

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.

Prior to UAE League's transition to the professional era in 2008, many clubs have competed in the country's top tier division from 1973–74 to 2007–08. The below list is clubs that have competed in the UAE top tier league since the Pro League era starting in 2008–09.

Seasons in Pro League

Notes:

• Italtics indicates that the club no longer exists
• Bold indicates that the club is still competing in the UAE Pro League as of 2023–24

Managers

Nat.	Name	Club	Appointed	Time in charge
	Cosmin Olăroiu	Sharjah	10 November 2021	894 days
	Marko Nikolić	Shabab Al-Ahli	2 June 2023	325 days
	Miloš Milojević	Al Wasl
	Darko Milanič	Baniyas	8 June 2023	319 day
	Fabio Viviani	Hatta	5 September 2023	230 days
	Daniel Isăilă	Ajman	3 October 2023	202 days
	Nebojša Jovović	Khor Fakkan	28 October 2023	177 days
	Hernán Crespo	Al Ain	14 November 2023	160 days
	Alfred Schreuder	Al Nasr	27 November 2023	147 days
	Goran Tufegdžić	Al Wahda	3 January 2024	110 days
	Mirel Rădoi	Al Jazira	5 January 2024	108 days
	Walter Zenga	Emirates
	Goran Tomić	Al Bataeh	7 January 2024	106 days
	Ghazi Fahad	Ittihad Kalba	2 March 2024	51 days

List of champions

Source:^[11]

_{Notes
1.^ Competition cancelled due to Gulf war
2.^ Competition cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates^[12]}

Champions

Performance by club

As of 2023 following clubs are officially allowed to wear stars while playing in the League, Each country's usage is unique and in UAE the practice is to award one star for each five titles won. The number in parentheses is for League titles won.^[13]

Club	Won	Runners-up	Winning seasons
Al Ain	14	9	1976–77, 1980–81, 1983–84, 1992–93, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2021–22
Shabab Al Ahli	8	4	1974–75, 1975–76, 1979–80, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2022–23
Al Wasl	7	8	1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1991–92, 1996–97, 2006–07
Sharjah	6	7	1973–74, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2018–19
Al Wahda	4	5	1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2009–10
Al Jazira	3	5	2010–11, 2016–17, 2020–21
Al Nasr		4	1977–78, 1978–79, 1985–86
Al Shababc	3	1	1989–90, 1994–95, 2007–08
Al Shaabd	0	2	—
Baniyas	0	2	—

_{Notes
1.^ Al Shabab along with Dubai CSC merged into Al-Ahli form Shabab Al Ahli in 2017
2.^ Al Shaab dissolved in 2017}

Performance by city

Performance by emirates

Players

All-time top scorers

Source:^[14]

Rank	Nat	Name	Club	Years	Goals	Apps
1		Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira	2009–	217	292
2		Sebastián Tagliabúe	Al Wahda Al Nasr Sharjah	2013–	184	236
3		Fahad Khamees	Al Wasl	1980–1997	175	—
4		Fábio Lima	Al Wasl	2014–	161	210
5		Adnan Al Talyani	Al Shaab	1980–1999	133	—
6		Mohammad Omar	Al Wasl Al Ain Al Jazira Al Dhafra Al Nasr Ajman	1992–2011	132	—
7		Abdulaziz Mohamed	Sharjah	1980–2003	127	—
8		Ahmed Abdullah	Al Ain	1978–1995	122	—
9		Atiq Hassan	Al Ahli	1988–2002	119	—
10		Faisal Khalil	Al Ahli Al Wasl Al Shaab	1999–2013	114	302
11		Makhete Diop	Al Dhafra Shabab Al Ahli Sharjah	2011–2018, 2021–2023	108	180
12		Asamoah Gyan	Al-Ain Al Ahli	2011–2017	101	97
13		Ismail Matar	Al Wahda	2001–	101	410
14		Anderson Barbosa	Sharjah Al Wasl	2003–2009	99	128
15		Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba	Al-Ain	2019–	98	105
16		Ali Thani	Sharjah	—	93	—
17		Ahmed Khalil	Al Ain Shabab Al Ahli Al Bataeh	2007–		242

Top scorers by season

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1974–75[15]	Suhail Salim	Al Ahli	14
1975–76[16]	Ali Nawaz Baloch	Al Wahda	13
1976–77[16]	Alfadel Santo	Al Nasr	11
1977–78[16]	Mohieddine Habita	Al Ain	20
1978–79[16]	Mostafa Mahrous	Al Ahli	16
1979–80[16]	Alo Ali Mohamed	Emirates	14
1980–81[17]	Karim Abdul Razak
1981–82[16]	Ahmed Abdullah	Al Ain	13
1982–83[18]	Luiz Carlos[16]	Al Nasr	12
1983–84[19]	Ahmed Abdullah Fahad Khamees	Al Ain Al Wasl	20
1984–85[20]	Fahad Khamees Adnan Al Talyani	Al Wasl Al Shaab	14
1985–86[17][20]	Mohammed Salem	Al Wahda	16
1986–87[17][20]	Adnan Al Talyani Khalil Ghanim	Al Shaab Khor Fakkan	13
1987–88[16]	Zuhair Bakheet	Al Wasl	24
1988–89[16]	Fahad Khamees		13
1989–90[20]	Hussain Yaslam	Baniyas	16
1990–91	Cancelleda
1991–92[21]	Youssouf Atiq	Al Ahli	25
1992–93[16]	Saif Sultan	Al Ain	21
1993–94[17][22]	Abdulaziz Mohamed	Sharjah	18
1994–95[17][16]	Bader Jassim	Al Wahda	10
1995–96[16][23]	Jassim Al Dokhi	Al Shaab
1996–97[17][16]	Bader Jassim	Al Wahda	11
1997–98[16]	Ali Thani	Sharjah	19
1998–99[24]	Alboury Lah	Al Wahda	29
1999–00[16][25]			18
2000–01[26][27]	Mohammed Al Enazi		22
2001–02[26][28]
2002–03[29]	Cristián Montecinos	Dubai	19
2003–04[30]	Ali Karimi	Al Ahli	14
2004–05[18][31]	Valdir Anderson Barbosa	Al Nasr Sharjah	23
2005–06[32]	Anderson Barbosa	Sharjah	20
2006–07[16]	Anderson Barbosa Ali Samereh	Al Wasl Al Shaab	18
2007–08[33]	Faisal Khalil Anderson Barbosa	Al Ahli Sharjah	16
2008–09[16]	Fernando Baiano	Al Jazira	24
2009–10[34]	José Sand	Al Ain
2010–11[35]	André Senghor	Baniyas	18
2011–12[36]	Asamoah Gyan	Al Ain	22
2012–13[37]			31
2013–14[38]			29
2014–15[39]	Mirko Vučinić	Al Jazira	25
2015–16[40]	Sebastián Tagliabúe	Al Wahda
2016–17[41]	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira	33
2017–18[42]	Marcus Berg	Al Ain	25
2018–19[43]	Sebastián Tagliabúe	Al Wahda	27
2019–20[44]	Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	19
2020–21[45]	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira	25
2021–22	Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	26
2022–23			28

Top scorers by country

Country	Players	Seasons
United Arab Emirates	17	22
Brazil	4	6
Ghana	2	4
Argentina		3
Senegal
Iran		1
Togo	1	3
Pakistan		1
Sudan
Tunisia
Chile
Montenegro
Sweden