2010–11 UAE Pro-League

UAE Football League

Season	2010–11
Champions	Al Jazira 1st title
Relegated	Al Dhafra Ittihad Kalba
Matches played	126
Goals scored	425 (3.37 per match)
Top goalscorer	André Senghor (16)
Biggest home win	Al Wahda 6–1 Al Sharjah (15 May 2011)[1] Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra (20 May 2011)[2]
Biggest away win	Sharjah 3–5 Bani Yas (13 December 2010)[3][4]
Highest scoring	Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra (20 May 2011)[2]
Highest attendance	36,241 Al Jazira – Dubai
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

The 2010–11 Pro-League season (known as Etisalat Pro-League for sponsorship reasons) was the 36th edition of top level football in the United Arab Emirates. This was the third Professional season in the history of the country. Al-Wahda were defending champions from the 2009–10 campaign. Ajman Club and Emirates Club were relegated from the previous season. Dubai Club and Al-Ittihad were promoted from the UAE Division 1 Group A. The campaign began on 26 August 2010 and ended on 9 June 2011.^[5]

After being runner-up for three times in a row Al Jazira secured their 1st Pro-League title after beating Al Wasl 4-0 on 16 May 2011.^[6] Becoming the 3rd club to achieve the Double in country history after Al Nasr in 1986 and Al Wasl in 2007.^[7]

Average attendance^[8]

Al-Jazira 15,922

Al-Wasl 3,240

Al-Ain FC 4,950

AlWahda Club 3,608

Al-Ahli 2,513

Baniyas 2,317

Al-Nasr 1,703

Al-Shabab 1,065

Sharjah 1,501

Al-Dhafra 802

Dubai CSC 900

Kalba 659

Teams

Ajman Club and Emirates Club were relegated to the second level league after finishing in the bottom two in the 2009-10 season. The two relegated teams were replaced by 2nd level champions Al-Ittihad Kalba and runners up Dubai Club.

Stadia and locations

Dubai

Abu Dhabi

Al Ain

Madinat Zayed

Sharjah

Kalba

Locations of teams in the 2010–11 UAE Pro-League

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Al Ahli	Dubai	Rashed Stadium	18,000
Al Jazira	Abu Dhabi	Al Jazira Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium	42,056
Al Ain	Al Ain	Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium	15,000
Al Wahda	Abu Dhabi	Al-Nahyan Stadium	12,000
Al Shabab	Dubai	Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium	12,000
Al Wasl	Dubai	Zabeel Stadium	12,000
Al Nasr	Dubai	Al-Maktoum Stadium	12,000
Al Dhafra	Madinat Zayed	Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium	12,000
Al Sharjah	Sharjah	Sharjah Stadium	18,000
Bani Yas	Abu Dhabi	Bani Yas Stadium	6,000
Dubai	Dubai	Police Officers Club Stadium	6,500
Ittihad Kalba	Kalba	Ittihad Kalba Club Stadium	3,000

Personnel and sponsorship

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	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Al Ahli	Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah	Abdul Hamid Al Mistaki	Fabio Cannavaro	Adidas	Toshiba
Al Jazira	Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Abel Braga	Ibrahim Diaky	Adidas	IPIC
Al Wahda	Sheikh Saeed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Josef Hickersberger	Bashir Saeed	Nike	EMAL
Al Ain	Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Alexandre Gallo	Ali Al Wehaibi	Macron	First Gulf Bank
Al Sharjah	Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani	Abdul Majid	Abdullah Suhail	N/A	Saif-Zone
Al Nasr	Maktoum bin Hasher bin Maktoum Al Maktoum	Walter Zenga	Abdallah Mousa	Erreà	Emirates NBD
Ittihad Kalba	Saeed Bin Saqr Al Qasimi	Jorvan Vieira	Gregory Dufrennes	Adidas	Gillett Group
Dubai	Sheikh Ahmed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum	Junior dos Santos	Ali Hassan	Umbro	N/A
Bani Yas	Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Mahdi Ali	Fawzi Bashir	Erreà	Secure Project Management
Al Wasl	Sheikh Ahmed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum	Khalifa Mobarak	Khalid Darwish	Nike	Saif Belhasa Group of Companies
Al Shabab	HH Sh Saeed bin Maktoum Al Maktoum	Paulo Bonamigo	Adeel Abdullah	Erreà	emaratech
Al Dhafra	Saif Bin Mohammed Bin Butti Al Hamed	Mohammed Kwid	Mohammed Salem	BURRDA SPORT	ADCO

Managerial changes

Pre-season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al Ain	Vacant	Was caretaker, taken on full time [9]	Abdulhameed al Mishtiki
Al Wasl	Alexandre Guimarães	Contract not renewed [10]	Sérgio Farias
Al-Ahli	Vacant	New arrival [11]	David O'Leary
Al-Wahda	Josef Hickersberger	Contract not renewed [12]	László Bölöni

During the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al-Wahda	László Bölöni	Sacked [13]	Tite [14]
Al-Wahda	Tite	Resigned [15]	Josef Hickersberger [16]
Al-Dhafra	Michel de Castel	Sacked [17]	Alexandre Guimarães
Al-Nasr	Helio dos Anjos	Sacked [17]	Eid Baroot (caretaker role)
Dubai Club	Ayman Ramadi	Sacked [17]	Junior dos Santos
Al Ain	Abdulhameed al Mishtiki	Sacked [18]	Alexandre Gallo
Al-Nasr	Eid Baroot	Full-time coach appointed	Walter Zenga
Al-Ahli	David O'Leary	Sacked [19]	Abdulhameed al Mishtiki
Al Wasl	Sérgio Farias	Sacked [20]	Khalifa Mubarak
Bani Yas	Lotfi El Benzarti	Sacked [21]	Mahdi Ali
Al Sharjah	Manuel Cajuda	Sacked [22]	Abdul Majid

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al Jazira (C)	22	16	5	1	64	27	+37	53	2011 Club World Cup and 2012 AFC Champions League Group Stage
2	Baniyas	22	12	5	5	38	24	+14	41	2012 AFC Champions League Group Stage
3	Al Nasr	22	10	5	7	34	30	+4	35
4	Al Shabab	22	9	7	6	42	32	+10	34	2012 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off ^1
5	Al-Wahda	22	8	7	7	44	31	+13	31	2012 GCC Champions League
6	Al Wasl	22	9	4	9	31	36	−5	31
7	Al Sharjah	22	8	6	8	30	34	−4	30
8	Al-Ahli	22	7	6	9	30	42	−12	27
9	Dubai Club	22	8	2	12	33	48	−15	26
10	Al Ain	22	6	7	9	33	35	−2	25
11	Ittihad Kalba (R)	22	6	2	14	39	56	−17	20	Relegation to UAE Division 2 Group A
12	Al-Dhafra (R)	22	3	4	15	27	50	−23	13

Source: UFL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Since Al-Jazira also won the 2010–11 UAE President's Cup, the fourth-placed team of the league also qualified for the 2012 AFC Champions League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away^[1]

ALI

AIN

ITT

JAZ

NAS

SHA

WAH

WAS

YAS

DHA

DUB

SHR

Al-Ahli

0–4

2–2

2–2

1–1

1–3

0–2

4–1

1–0

0–0

3–1

2–1

Al Ain

1–2

1–4

4–1

1–2

1–1

2–0

0–0

1–1

1–1

4–3

1–1

Ittihad Kalba

2–2

4–3

3–4

1–2

2–1

5–3

2–3

2–1

1–3

0–1

0–3

Al Jazira

5–1

4–0

5–2

3–0

3–3

0–0

3–1

4–0

5–3

4–2

3–0

Al Nasr

4–0

0–3

2–0

1–2

3–2

1–3

1–0

1–0

1–1

1–1

1–2

Al Shabab

2–2

3–0

4–1

0–2

2–2

1–1

0–4

0–1

4–0

2–0

1–1

Al-Wahda

1–2

0–0

3–1

2–2

2–0

5–2

4–0

1–3

2–4

2–2

6–1

Al Wasl

2–0

2–2

2–1

0–4

2–3

1–3

2–0

2–1

2–1

1–0

1–2

Baniyas

2–1

3–0

4–2

1–1

1–0

2–2

2–1

0–0

2–0

2–0

1–1

Al-Dhafra

2–0

0–3

1–2

0–1

1–4

0–1

1–1

2–3

0–2

3–5

0–1

Dubai Club

2–1

1–0

3–1

1–4

1–3

0–2

0–5

2–1

1–4

6–4

1–0

Al Sharjah

2–3

2–1

3–1

1–2

1–1

0–3

0–0

1–1

3–5

1–5

1–0

Updated to games played on 2 June 2011.
Source: UFL
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goal(s) 1 André Senghor Bani Yas 18 2 Ibrahim Diaky Al Jazira 12 Marcelinho Al Sharjah 12 3 Gregory Dufrennes Ittihad Kalba 11 Baré Al Jazira 11 Boris Kabi Al Dhafra 11 Pinga Al Wahda 11 7 Francisco Yeste Al Wasl 10 Ismaël Bangoura Al Nasr 10 Julio Cesar Al Shabab 10 10 Fernando Baiano Al Wahda 9 Ricardo Oliveira Al Jazira 9 10 Michael N'dri Dubai 8 Omar Abdulrahman Al Ain 8 Source: Etisalat Pro-League - Top goalscorers Last updated:2 June 2011 Scoring First goal of the season: Abass Lawal for Al Dhafra against Al Ahli, 35 minutes and 19 seconds (27 August 2010).[23] First penalty kick of the season: 56 minutes and 44 seconds – Marcelinho (scored) for Al Sharjah against Al Jazira (2 September 2010).[24] Fastest goal in a match: 2 minutes – Hugo for Al Wahda against Al Shabab (27 October 2010).[25] Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 94 minutes and 47 seconds – Jumaa Abdullah for Al Jazira against Al Wasl (16 May 2011).[26] Widest winning margin: 6 Goals Al Wahda 6–1 Al Sharjah (15 May 2011).[1] Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra (20 May 2011).[2] Most goals in a match by one team: 6 Goals Al Wahda 6–1 Al Sharjah (15 May 2011).[1] Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra (20 May 2011).[2] Most goals scored by losing team: 4 goals Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra (20 May 2011).[2] Most goals in a match by one player: 3 goals André Senghor for Bani Yas against Ittihad Kalba (26 September 2010)[27] Boris Kabi for Al Dhafra against Al Wahda (23 December 2010)[28] Ismail Matar for Al Wahda against Ittihad Kalba (19 February 2011)[29] Hat-tricks of the season: André Senghor for Bani Yas against Ittihad Kalba (26 September 2010)[27] Boris Kabi for Al Dhafra against Al Wahda (23 December 2010)[28] Ismail Matar for Al Wahda against Ittihad Kalba (19 February 2011)[29] Discipline First yellow card of the season: Fabio Cannavaro for Al Ahli against Al Dhafra, 9 minutes (27 August 2010).[23] First red card of the season: Darwish Ahmed for Al Wasl against Al Ahli, 90 minutes (1 September 2010).[30] Card given at latest point in a game: Abdallah Ahmed (yellow) at 90+3 for Al Nasr against Al Dhafra (28 May 2011).[31] Rank Team Games 1 Al Nasr 21 56 1 Al Jazira 21 57 2 3 Ittihad Kalba 21 58 1 4 Al Ahli 21 48 5 5 Al Shabab 21 45 3 6 Al Ain 21 44 2 7 Al Dhafra 21 39 3 Al Wasl 21 39 6 9 Al Wahda 21 42 2 10 Al Sharjah 21 32 6 11 Bani Yas 21 32 1 12 Dubai 21 29 1 Totals 521 33 Source: Yellow Cards, Red Cards Last updated: 2 June 2011 See also 2010–11 UAE President's Cup 2010–11 Etisalat Emirates Cup References "Al Wahda 6–1 Al Sharjah". UFL. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011. "Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra". UFL. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2011. "Al Sharjah 3–5 Bani Yas". UFL. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2011. "Bani Yas overcome hosts Sharjah 5-3 to chase leaders Al Jazira". UFL. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2011. "match schedule for upcoming ufl season unveiled". UFL. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2011. "Al Jazira crown themselves champions with a 4-0 win over Al Wasl". UFL. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011. "Al Jazira at a distance of 3 points to achieve the Double and go down in history" (in Arabic). Dar Al Hayat. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011. http://live.proleague.ae/en/news/etisalat-pro-league-match-attendances-on-the-increase.html "Al Mishtiki stays on with Al Ain". The National. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2010. "Farias moves to UAE's Al Wasl". The AFC. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010. "O'Leary is new Al Ahli coach". The AFC. 5 July 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010. "Boloni is Wahda's new manager". The National. 23 May 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2010. "Al Wahda sack coach after win". The National. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2010. "Brazilian Tite to replace sacked coach at Wahda". The National. 3 September 2010. Retrieved 3 September 2010. "Champions Wahda rocked by Tite". The National. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010. "Hickersberger back to steady ship". The National. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010. "Coaches on the move in the Pro League". The National. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010. "Al Mishtiki out, Gallo comes in at Al Ain as coach". The National. 21 December 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010. "Al Ahli to continue importing following David O'Leary dismissal". The National. 23 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011. "Khalifa takes the reins for Al Wasl against Kalba". The National. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2011. "Bani Yas dismiss coach Al Banzarti and Mahdi takes over". UFL. 10 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011. "Sharjah become the latest club to part with their coach in Pro League merry-go-round". The National. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2011. "Al Dhafra 2-0 Al Ahli". UFL. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2011. "Al Sharjah 1-2 Al Jazira". UFL. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2011. "Al Wahda 5-2 Al Shabab". UFL. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2011. "Al Wasl 0-4 Al Jazira". UFL. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2011. "Bani Yas 4–2 Ittihad Kalba". UFL. 26 September 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2011. "Al Wahda 2–4 Al Dhafra". UFL. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2011. "Ittihad Kalba 5–3 Al Wahda". UFL. 19 February 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011. "Al Ahli 4-1 Al Wasl". UFL. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2011. "Al Dhafra 1-4 Al Nasr". UFL. 28 May 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011. External links UFL Official Website Football Association The UAE Football Association