2010–11 UAE Pro League

The 2010–11 UAE Pro League (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 and Emirates were relegated from the previous season. Dubai and Ittihad Kalba were promoted from the UAE First Division 1 Group A. The campaign began on 26 August 2010 and ended on 9 June 2011.^[5]

UAE Pro 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 Sharjah (15 May 2011)[1] Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra (20 May 2011)[2]
Biggest away win	Sharjah 3–5 Baniyas (13 December 2010)[3][4]
Highest scoring	Dubai 6–4 Al Dhafra (20 May 2011)[2]
Highest attendance	36,241 Al Jazira – Dubai
Average attendance	3,240
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

After being runner-up for three consecutive seasons, Al Jazira secured their 1st Pro League title after beating Al Wasl 4–0 on 16 May 2011,^[6] becoming the third club to achieve the double in country's history after Al Nasr in 1986 and Al Wasl in 2007.^[7]

Teams

Ajman and Emirates 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 second level champions Ittihad Kalba and runners up Dubai.

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

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	Abdulhameed Al Mishtiki	Fabio Cannavaro	Adidas	Toshiba
Al Ain	Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Alexandre Gallo	Ali Al-Wehaibi	Macron	First Gulf Bank
Al Dhafra	Saif bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed	Mohammad Kwid	Mohammed Salem Al Saedi	BURRDA	ADCO
Al Jazira	Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Abel Braga	Ibrahim Diaky	Adidas	IPIC
Al Nasr	Maktoum bin Hasher bin Maktoum Al Maktoum	Walter Zenga	Abdallah Mousa	Erreà	Emirates NBD
Al Shabab	Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum	Paulo Bonamigo	Adeel Abdullah	Erreà	emaratech
Al Wahda	Saeed bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Josef Hickersberger	Basheer Saeed	Nike	EMAL
Al Wasl	Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum	Khalifa Mubarak	Khalid Darwish	Nike	Saif Belhasa Group of Companies
Baniyas	Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Mahdi Ali	Fawzi Bashir	Erreà	Secure Project Management
Dubai	Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum	Junior dos Santos	Ali Hassan	Umbro	N/A
Ittihad Kalba	Saeed bin Saqr Al Qasimi	Jorvan Vieira	Grégory Dufrennes	Adidas	Gillett Group
Sharjah	Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani	Abdul Majid	Abdullah Suhail	N/A	Saif-Zone

Managerial changes

Pre-season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al Ain	Abdulhameed Al Mishtiki (caretaker)	Appointed on permanent role[8]	Abdulhameed Al Mishtiki
Al Wasl	Alexandre Guimarães	Contract not renewed[9]	Sérgio Farias
Al Ahli	Henk ten Cate	Resigned[10]	David O'Leary
Al Wahda	Josef Hickersberger	Contract not renewed[11]	László Bölöni

During the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al Wahda	László Bölöni	Sacked[12]	Tite[13]
Al Wahda	Tite	Resigned[14]	Josef Hickersberger[15]
Al Dhafra	Michel Decastel	Sacked[16]	Alexandre Guimarães
Al Nasr	Hélio dos Anjos	Sacked[16]	Eid Baroot (caretaker)
Dubai	Ayman El Ramady	Sacked[16]	Junior dos Santos
Al Ain	Abdulhameed Al Mishtiki	Sacked[17]	Alexandre Gallo
Al Nasr	Eid Baroot	Full-time coach appointed	Walter Zenga
Al Ahli	David O'Leary	Sacked[18]	Abdulhameed Al Mishtiki
Al Wasl	Sérgio Farias	Sacked[19]	Khalifa Mubarak
Baniyas	Lotfi Benzarti	Sacked[20]	Mahdi Ali
Al Sharjah	Manuel Cajuda	Sacked[21]	Abdul Majid

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Former player(s)
Al Ahli	Pinga	Fabio Cannavaro	Karim El Ahmadi		Aristide Bancé
Al Ain	Elias	Brahima Keita	Jumaa Saeed	Valentin Badea	José Sand André Dias
Al Dhafra	Filipe Machado	Mohamed Sylla	Boris Kabi	Abass Lawal	Toufik Zerara Mohamed Berrabeh
Al Jazira	Matías Delgado	Baré	Ricardo Oliveira	Ibrahim Diaky	Antonin Koutouan
Al Nasr	Careca	Léo Lima	Ismaël Bangoura		Carlos Tenorio
Al Shabab	Ciel	Júlio César	Carlos Villanueva	Lamine Diarra
Al Wahda	Fernando Baiano	Hugo	Magrão		Modibo Kane Diarra
Al Wasl	Alexandre Oliveira	Alex Pires	Mohammed Al-Balushi	Francisco Yeste
Baniyas	Mustafa Karim	Rafael Uiterloo	Fawzi Bashir	André Senghor	Éder Gaúcho
Dubai	Rachid Tiberkanine	Gil Bala	Michaël N'dri	Aboubacar Camara	Mounir Diane Yazid Kaïssi
Ittihad Kalba	Abdulla Baba Fatadi	Kanú	Grégory Dufrennes	Simon Feindouno	Matheus Martins Khadim Diouf Moustapha Dabo
Sharjah	Gustavo	Marcelinho	Robinho		Marcelão

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	2012 AFC Champions League Group Stage
2	Baniyas	22	12	5	5	38	24	+14	41
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[a]
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	Sharjah	22	8	6	8	30	34	−4	30
8	Al Ahli	22	7	6	9	30	42	−12	27
9	Dubai	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.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since 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.

Results

Home \ Away	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	2–1	1–0	3–1	1–4	1–3	0–2	0–5	2–1	1–4	6–4		1–0
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 match(es) played on 2 June 2011. Source: UFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goal(s)
1	André Senghor	Baniyas	18
2	Marcelinho	Sharjah	12
	Ibrahim Diaky	Al Jazira
4	Baré	Al Jazira	11
	Pinga	Al Wahda
	Grégory Dufrennes	Ittihad Kalba
	Boris Kabi	Al Dhafra
8	Júlio César	Al Shabab	10
	Ismaël Bangoura	Al Nasr
	Francisco Yeste	Al Wasl
11	Fernando Baiano	Al Wahda	9
	Ricardo Oliveira	Al Jazira
13	Michaël N'dri	Dubai	8
	Omar Abdulrahman	Al Ain

Source: Etisalat Pro-League – Top goalscorers^{[permanent dead link]}
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).^[22]
• First penalty kick of the season: 56 minutes and 44 seconds – Marcelinho (scored) for Al Sharjah against Al Jazira (2 September 2010).^[23]
• Fastest goal in a match: 2 minutes – Hugo for Al Wahda against Al Shabab (27 October 2010).^[24]
• 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).^[25]
• 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)^[26]
  • Boris Kabi for Al Dhafra against Al Wahda (23 December 2010)^[27]
  • Ismail Matar for Al Wahda against Ittihad Kalba (19 February 2011)^[28]
• Hat-tricks of the season:
  • André Senghor for Bani Yas against Ittihad Kalba (26 September 2010)^[26]
  • Boris Kabi for Al Dhafra against Al Wahda (23 December 2010)^[27]
  • Ismail Matar for Al Wahda against Ittihad Kalba (19 February 2011)^[28]

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Fabio Cannavaro for Al Ahli against Al Dhafra, 9 minutes (27 August 2010).^[22]
• First red card of the season: Darwish Ahmed for Al Wasl against Al Ahli, 90 minutes (1 September 2010).^[29]
• Card given at latest point in a game:

Abdallah Ahmed (yellow) at 90+3 for Al Nasr against Al Dhafra (28 May 2011).^[30]

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^{[permanent dead link]}, Red Cards^{[permanent dead link]}
Last updated: 2 June 2011

Attendances

#	Football club	Home games	Average attendance[31]
1	Al-Jazira	11	15,922
2	Al-Ain FC	11	4,950
3	Al-Wahda FC	11	3,608
4	Al-Wasl FC	11	3,240
5	Al-Ahli	11	2,513
6	Baniyas	11	2,317
7	Al-Nasr SC	11	1,703
8	Sharjah FC	11	1,501
9	Al-Shabab Al-Arabi	11	1,065
10	Dubai CSC	11	900
11	Al-Dhafra FC	11	802
12	Kalba FC	11	659

See also

• 2010–11 UAE President's Cup
• 2010–11 Etisalat Emirates Cup