2015–16 UAE Pro League

The 2015–16 UAE Pro League (also known as Arabian Gulf League for sponsorship reasons) was the 41st top-level football season in the United Arab Emirates. Fourteen teams participated with Al-Ain as the defending champions after securing the championship last season for the twelfth time. Al-Ahli won its 7th title on 29 April despite being held to a 2–2 draw at home.

UAE Pro League

Season	2015–16
Champions	Al-Ahli (7th title)
Relegated	Fujairah Al-Shaab
2017 AFC Champions League	Al-Ahli Al-Jazira Al-Ain Al-Wahda
2017 GCC Champions League	Al-Wasl Al-Dhafra
Matches played	182
Goals scored	573 (3.15 per match)
Average goals/game	3.15
Top goalscorer	Sebastián Tagliabué (25 goals)
Biggest home win	Al-Ahli 8-1 Fujairah (19 August 2015)
Biggest away win	Dibba Al Fujairah 0-4 Al-Wahda (20 August 2015) Dibba Al Fujairah 0-4 Al-Dhafra (23 April 2016)
Highest scoring	Al-Shaab 3-6 Fujairah (22 January 2016)
Longest winning run	8 games Al-Ahli
Longest unbeaten run	16 games Al-Ahli
Longest winless run	16 games Al-Shaab
Longest losing run	8 games Emirates
Highest attendance	Al-Ain vs. Al-Wahda (18,126)
Lowest attendance	Dibba Al Fujairah vs. Al-Shaab (168)
Average attendance	2,557
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

Teams

Stadia and locations

Ahli

Ain

Dhafra

Fujairah
Dibba

Jazira

Nasr

Shaab

Shabab

Sharjah

Wahda

Wasl

Baniyas

Emirates

Locations of teams in the 2015–16 UAE Pro League

Team	Stadium	Town	Capacity	Manager
Al-Ahli	Al-Rashid Stadium	Dubai	8,844	Cosmin Olăroiu
Al-Ain	Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium	Al Ain	22,717	Zlatko Dalić
Al-Dhafra	Al Dhafra Stadium	Madinat Zayed	5,000	Mohammad Kwid
Al-Jazira	Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium	Abu Dhabi	42,056	Henk ten Cate
Al-Nasr	Al-Maktoum Stadium	Dubai	10,750	Ivan Jovanović
Al-Shaab	Khalid Bin Mohammed Stadium	Sharjah	5,000	Stefano Cusin
Al-Shabab	Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium	Dubai	8,011	Caio Júnior
Al-Wahda	Al Nahyan Stadium	Abu Dhabi	11,456	Javier Aguirre
Al-Wasl	Zabeel Stadium	Dubai	8,439	Gabriel Calderón
Baniyas	Baniyas Stadium	Abu Dhabi	8,954	Abdullah Mesfer
Dibba Al Fujairah	Fujairah Club Stadium	Fujairah	10,645	Theo Bücker
Emirates	Emirates Club Stadium	Ras al-Khaimah	5,127	Paulo Comelli
Fujairah	Fujairah Club Stadium	Fujairah	10,645	Ivan Hašek
Sharjah	Sharjah Stadium	Sharjah	11,073	Abdulaziz Al-Anbari

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team could use four foreign players on the field during each game including at least one player from the AFC country.

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

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC Player	Former players
Al-Ahli	Ciel	Éverton Ribeiro	Moussa Sow	Kwon Kyung-won	Lima Oussama Assaidi
Al-Ain	Douglas	Fellipe Bastos	Danilo Asprilla	Lee Myung-joo	Ryan Babel Emmanuel Emenike
Al-Dhafra	Adil Hermach	Issam El Adoua	Makhete Diop	Omar Khribin	Jorge Luna Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf David Barral
Al-Jazira	Thiago Neves	Ángel Lafita	Kenwyne Jones	Park Jong-woo	Mirko Vučinić Jefferson Farfán
Al-Nasr	Nilmar	Jonathan Pitroipa	Jirès Kembo Ekoko	Luis Jiménez 1
Al-Shaab	Maikon Leite	Marcão	Zé Eduardo	Shavkat Mullajanov	Célio Santos 2 Matías Donoso Amr El Solia Michaël N'dri
Al-Shabab	Juninho Potiguar	Carlos Villanueva	Henrique Luvannor	Azizbek Haydarov	Jô
Al-Wahda	Sebastián Tagliabué	Denílson	Jorge Valdivia	Rim Chang-woo	Hussain Fadhel
Al-Wasl	Fábio Lima	Rogerinho	Hugo Viana	Caio Canedo 3	Edgar
Baniyas	Ishak Belfodil	Joaquín Larrivey	Royston Drenthe	Mark Milligan
Dibba Al Fujairah	Bakare Kone	Boris Kabi	Brahima Diakite	Bilal El Najjarine	Elias
Emirates	Renan Garcia	Rodrigo Pimpão	Alassane Diallo	Brett Holman	Wilmar Jordán Issam Erraki
Fujairah	Madjid Bougherra	Christophe Mandanne	Patrick Friday Eze	Hassan Maatouk
Sharjah	Maicosuel	Maurício Ramos	Ricardinho	Wanderley 4	Renato Cajá

^1 Luis Jiménez has Palestinian citizenship and was counted as Asian player.

^2 Célio Santos has East Timorese citizenship and was counted as Asian player.

^3 Caio Canedo has East Timorese citizenship and was counted as Asian player.

^4 Wanderley has Indonesian citizenship and was counted as Asian player.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Ahli (C)	26	21	3	2	60	20	+40	66	Qualification to the 2017 AFC Champions League group stage
2	Al-Ain	26	18	3	5	53	24	+29	57
3	Al-Wahda	26	13	4	9	45	28	+17	43	Qualification to the 2017 AFC Champions League play-off round and the 2016–17 Arab Club Championship Group Stage
4	Al-Nasr	26	11	8	7	47	36	+11	41
5	Al-Shabab	26	11	7	8	34	27	+7	40
6	Al-Wasl	26	11	6	9	42	36	+6	39	Qualification to the 2017 GCC Champions League
7	Al-Jazira	26	11	4	11	51	50	+1	37	Qualification to the 2017 AFC Champions League group stage
8	Al-Dhafra	26	9	7	10	37	39	−2	34	Qualification to the 2017 GCC Champions League
9	Baniyas	26	8	9	9	41	47	−6	33
10	Dibba Al Fujairah	26	8	5	13	32	46	−14	29
11	Sharjah	26	7	7	12	32	40	−8	28
12	Emirates	26	7	6	13	34	47	−13	27
13	Fujairah (R)	26	7	5	14	43	62	−19	26	Relegation to the UAE Division One
14	Al-Shaab (R)	26	1	4	21	22	71	−49	7

Updated to match(es) played on 8 May 2016. Source: UAE League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played 8 May 2016

Rank	Player	Club	Goals	Penalty Goals
1	Sebastián Tagliabué	Al-Wahda	25	1
2	Ali Mabkhout	Al-Jazira	23	5
3	Fábio Lima	Al-Wasl	20	1
4	Wanderley	Sharjah	15	2
5	Joaquín Larrivey	Baniyas	15	1
6	Patrick Friday Eze	Fujairah	14	0
7	Makhete Diop	Al-Dhafra	13	3
8	Moussa Sow	Al-Ahli	13	2
9	Ishak Belfodil	Baniyas	11	1
10	Nilmar	Al-Nasr	11	0

Source: Soccerway

Fair Play Ranking

As of matches played 8 May 2016

Pos	Team	Yellow Cards	Red Cards	Points
1	Al-Ain	41	2	46
2	Al-Ahli	60	2	64
3	Al-Nasr	57	5	69
4	Dibba Al Fujairah	51	7	69
5	Sharjah	59	5	71
6	Al-Dhafra	64	4	75
7	Emirates	65	5	76
8	Al-Shaab	62	6	77
9	Fujairah	69	4	79
10	Al-Shabab	69	5	80
11	Baniyas	71	5	83
12	Al-Jazira	72	5	84
13	Al-Wasl	62	10	84
14	Al-Wahda	82	5	94

Rules for fair play ranking: 1) 3 points for direct red card. 2) 2 points for indirect red card 3) 1 point for every yellow card

The team with the lowest number of points will be ranked top.

Source: Fairplay - Arabian Gulf League