2009–10 UAE Pro League

The 2009–10 UAE League season was the 35th edition of top-level football in the United Arab Emirates.

UAE Football League

Season	2009–10
Champions	Al-Wahda
Relegated	Ajman Club Emirates Club
Matches played	82
Goals scored	306 (3.73 per match)
Top goalscorer	José Sand (23)
Biggest home win	Al Ain 5–1 Ahli Dubai (8 Feb 2010)
Biggest away win	Bani Yas 1–6 Al Ain (10 Jan 2010)
Highest scoring	Al Dhafra 4–6 Al-Nasr (9 Jan 2010)
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

This was the second professional season in the history of the country.

Ahli Dubai were defending champions from the 2008–09 campaign.

Al Khaleej and Al-Shaab were relegated from the previous season.

Bani Yas Club and Emirates Club were promoted from the UAE Second Division.

The winners of the league qualified for the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup as the host representative.

Members clubs

Club	Coach	City	Stadium	2008–2009 season	Notes
Al-Ahli	Ioan Andone	Dubai	Rashed Stadium	2008–09 UAE Pro-League Champions	AFC Champions League 2010 Qualifier
Al-Jazira	Abel Braga	Abu Dhabi	Al Jazira Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium	2nd in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League	AFC Champions League 2010 Qualifier
Al-Ain	Winfried Schäfer	Al Ain	Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium	3rd in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League	AFC Champions League 2010 Qualifier
Al-Wahda	Josef Hickersberger	Abu Dhabi	Al-Nahyan Stadium	4th in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League	AFC Champions League 2010 Playoff Qualifier
Al-Shabab	Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader	Dubai	Al Maktoum Stadium	5th in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League	Gulf Club Champions Cup 2009 Qualifier
Al-Wasl	Alexandre Guimarães[1]	Dubai	Zabeel Stadium	6th in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League	Gulf Club Champions Cup 2009 Qualifier
Al-Nasr	Frank Pagelsdorf	Dubai	Al-Maktoum Stadium	7th in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League
Al-Dhafra	Laurent Banide	Madinat Zayed	Al Dhafra Stadium	8th in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League
Ajman	Zé Mário	Ajman	Ajman Stadium	9th in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League
Sharjah	Manuel Cajuda	Sharjah	Sharjah Stadium	10th in 2008–09 UAE Pro-League
Baniyas	Faouzi Benzarti	Bani Yas	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium	Promoted
Emirates	Ebrahim Ghasempour	Ras al-Khaimah	Emirates Club Stadium	Promoted

Stadia and locations

Dubai

Abu Dhabi

Al Ain

Madinat Zayed

Ajman

Sharjah

Bani Yas

Ras al-Khaimah

Locations of teams in the 2009-10 UAE Premier League

Club	Location	Stadium
Al-Ahli	Dubai	Rashed Stadium
Al-Jazira	Abu Dhabi	Al Jazira Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium
Al-Ain	Al Ain	Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium
Al-Wahda	Abu Dhabi	Al-Nahyan Stadium
Al-Shabab	Dubai	Al Maktoum Stadium
Al-Wasl	Dubai	Zabeel Stadium
Al-Nasr	Dubai	Al-Maktoum Stadium
Al-Dhafra	Madinat Zayed	Al Dhafra Stadium
Ajman	Ajman	Ajman Stadium
Sharjah	Sharjah	Sharjah Stadium
Baniyas	Bani Yas	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium
Emirates	Ras al-Khaimah	Emirates Club Stadium

Managerial changes

Pre-season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Sharjah	Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader	Short-term contract	Manuel Cajuda

During the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Al-Shabab	Toninho Cerezo	Sacked	29 October 2009[2]	Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader	29 October 2009	11th
Ajman	Zé Mário	Sacked	25 October 2009	Ghazi Ghrairi	25 October 2009	12th
Al-Ahli	Ioan Andone	Sacked	2 November 2009 [3]	Mahdi Ali	2 November 2009	10th
Al-Ain	Winfried Schäfer	Sacked	2 December 2009 [4][5]	Rasheed Mahmoud (caretaker)	2 December 2009	3rd
Emirates	Ebrahim Ghasempour	Sacked		Eid Baroot
Al-Shabab	Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader	Sacked		Paulo Bonamigo
Al-Ahli	Mahdi Ali	Sacked [6]		Nour el Din
Al-Ahli	Nour el Din	Sacked [6]		Henk ten Cate
Al-Ahli	Henk ten Cate	Resigned [7]
Al-Ain	Toninho Cerezo	Sacked (poor ACL performances) [8]		Abdulhameed al Mishtiki (caretaker)

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC player	Former players
Ajman	Boris Kabi	Tarik Sektioui	Mohamed Kader	Hussain Al-Hadhri	Javad Kazemian Mohamed Amine Najmi
Al-Ahli	Baré	Clederson	Hosny Abd Rabo	Mehrzad Madanchi
Al-Ain	José Sand	Jorge Valdivia	Emerson Sheik	Lee Ho
Al-Dhafra	Mehdi Méniri	Toufik Zerara	Abass Lawal	Mohamed Salmeen	Arthuro Mohamed Kader
Al-Jazira	Márcio Rozário	Antonin Koutouan	Ibrahim Diaky	Michael Beauchamp	Ricardo Oliveira
Al-Nasr	Carlos Tenorio	Ali Boussaboun	Ionuț Rada	Mohammad Nosrati	Anouar Diba
Al-Shabab	Pedrão	Renato Abreu	Carlos Villanueva		Hussain Ali Baba
Sharjah	Éder Gaúcho	Marcelinho	Rafael Lima	Maziar Zare	Mustafa Karim
Al-Wahda	Fernando Baiano	Magrão	Pinga	Hassan Mudhafar Al-Gheilani
Al-Wasl	Alexandre Oliveira	Élton Arábia	Soufiane Alloudi	Mohammed Al-Balushi	Douglas Valdomiro Blas Pérez
Baniyas	Modibo Kane Diarra	André Senghor
Emirates	Karim Kerkar	Hassan Taïr	Nabil Daoudi	Javad Kazemian	Maziar Zare

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Wahda (C)	22	19	1	2	42	15	+27	58	2010 FIFA Club World Cup play-off stage and 2011 AFC Champions League group stage[a]
2	Al-Jazira	22	15	6	1	48	26	+22	51	2011 AFC Champions League group stage[b]
3	Al-Ain	22	14	3	5	57	29	+28	45	2011 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
4	Baniyas	22	10	6	6	44	37	+7	36
5	Al-Wasl	22	8	5	9	41	40	+1	29
6	Sharjah	22	7	7	8	37	36	+1	28
7	Al-Shabab	22	8	4	10	35	44	−9	28	2011 Gulf Club Champions Cup
8	Al-Ahli	22	7	5	10	42	43	−1	26
9	Al-Dhafra	22	7	5	10	47	55	−8	26
10	Al-Nasr	22	7	2	13	37	49	−12	23
11	Emirates (R)	22	4	2	16	37	57	−20	14	Relegation
12	Ajman (R)	22	2	2	18	29	68	−39	8

Source: goalzz.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. League champions Al-Wahda also qualified for the 2011 AFC Champions League group stage.
2. Emirates Club, which played in the UAE Division 1 Group A, also secured 2011 AFC Champions League group stage qualification by winning the 2009–10 UAE President's Cup.

UAE League 2009–10 winners
Al-Wahda 4th title

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	ALI	AIN	AJM	JAZ	NAS	SHA	WAH	WAS	YAS	DHA	EMI	SHR
Al-Ahli		1–5	8–0	2–4	4–2	1–0	1–3	1–1	2–2	4–4	2–1	1–1
Al-Ain	5–1		3–2	0–1	2–0	4–0	0–1	1–3	3–1	1–1	5–3	2–1
Ajman	0–3	4–5		1–1	0–3	0–2	2–5	5–4	2–4	4–1	1–3	1–4
Al-Jazira	1–0	2–2	2–1		2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	5–3	2–2	3–2	1–1
Al-Nasr	1–2	0–2	2–0	1–5		3–2	0–1	3–1	1–2	3–3	4–1	1–4
Al-Shabab	3–1	2–5	3–0	1–2	3–2		1–1	4–3	1–1	1–2	3–2	1–1
Al-Wahda	2–1	1–0	3–2	2–1	3–0	4–1		2–0	1–0	2–0	3–1	1–0
Al-Wasl	0–0	1–3	2–1	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–0		3–3	2–0	5–0	0–2
Baniyas	1–0	1–6	1–1	1–1	2–3	4–0	1–2	2–1		4–1	4–0	3–3
Al-Dhafra	5–4	2–1	4–2	0–2	4–6	2–3	1–2	2–3	0–1		4–3	1–1
Emirates	1–3	0–1	2–0	1–2	4–1	1–1	1–2	4–5	1–2	2–3		3–2
Sharjah	1–0	1–1	4–1	2–4	2–1	1–2	0–3	4–2	0–1	1–5	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 7 May 2010. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

24 goals

• José Sand (Al-Ain)

18 goals

• Fernando Baiano (Al-Wahda)
• Carlos Tenorio (Al-Nasr)

15 goals

• Marcelinho (Sharjah)

14 goals

• Abass Lawal (Al-Dhafra)

13 goals

• André Senghor (Baniyas)

12 goals

• Modibo Kane Diarra (Baniyas)
• Antonin Koutouan (Al-Jazira)
• Mohammed Salem Saleh (Al-Dhafra)
• Pinga (Al-Wahda)
• Pedrão (Al-Shabab)

11 goals

• Baré (Al-Ahli)

10 goals

• Nabil Daoudi (Emirates)
• Ahmed Khalil (Al-Ahli)

Season statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Jassim Ali Mohamed for Ajman against Al-Dhafra, 8 minutes (25 September 2009).^[9]
• Fastest goal in a match: 2 minutes – Marcelinho for Al Sharjah against Ajman (6 November 2009).
• Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 93 minutes – Ali Boussaboun for Al-Nasr against Al-Jazira (5 December 2009).^[10]
• Widest winning margin: 6 Goals
  • Bani Yas 1–6 Al Ain (10 Jan 2010).^[11]
  • Al Dhafra 4–6 Al-Nasr (9 Jan 2010).^[12]
• Most goals in a match: 10 Goals
  • Bani Yas 1–6 Al Ain (10 Jan 2010).^[11]
  • Al Dhafra 4–6 Al-Nasr (9 Jan 2010).^[12]
• Most goals in a match by one team: 6 Goals
  • Al Dhafra 4–6 Al-Nasr (9 Jan 2010).^[12]
  • Bani Yas 1–6 Al Ain (10 Jan 2010).^[11]
• Most goals scored by losing team: 4 goals
  • Al Dhafra 4–6 Al-Nasr (9 Jan 2010).^[12]
• Most goals in a match by one player: 5 goals
  • Tenorio for Al-Nasr against Al Dhafra (9 Jan 2010).^[12]
• First own goal of the season: Abdullah Darwish (Al-Shabab) for Al Wasl, 22 minutes (4 October 2009).
• First hat-trick of the season: José Sand for Al Ain against Al-Ahli (2 October 2009).

Discipline

• First red card of the season: Ahmed Ali Abdullah for Ajman against Al-Dhafra, 41 minute (25 September 2009).^[9]

Red Card Stats

• Total red cards: 21 Card

Player	Nationality	Club
Ahmed Ali	United Arab Emirates	Ajman
Kadem Ali	United Arab Emirates	Al-Nasr
Yousef Mousa	United Arab Emirates	Emirates
Yaser Salem	United Arab Emirates	Al-Wasl
Majed Naser	United Arab Emirates	Al-Wasl
Carlos Villanueva	Chile	Al-Shabbab
	United Arab Emirates	Al-Sharjah
Abdallah Darwish	United Arab Emirates	Al-Shabbab
Knith Akojbado	Nigeria	Al Dhafra
Esam Dahi	United Arab Emirates	Al-Shabbab
Redha Abdulhadi	United Arab Emirates	Ajman
Hassan Zahran	United Arab Emirates	Bani Yas
	United Arab Emirates	Emirates
Kadem Ali	United Arab Emirates	Al-Nasr
Hassan Ali	United Arab Emirates	Al-Ahli
Mahboob Juma	United Arab Emirates	Ajman
Musallam Ahmed	United Arab Emirates	Emirates
Mohamed Amine Najmi	Morocco	Ajman
Hassan Zahran	United Arab Emirates	Bani Yas
Ali Mohamed	United Arab Emirates	Emirates
Mohammed Al Balushi	Oman	Al Wasl

See also

• 2009–10 Al Wasl F.C. season
• 2009–10 Al Ain Club season