2021–22 UAE Pro League

The 2021–22 UAE Pro League was the 47th edition of the UAE Pro League.^[1] Al Jazira are the defending champions after clinching their third title in the final day of last season. Al Ain would win its fourteenth title after beating the defending champions Al Jazira 5–0 the eleventh of May.

UAE Pro League

Season	2021–22
Dates	19 August 2021 – 26 May 2022
Champions	Al Ain (14th title)
Relegated	Al Urooba Emirates
Matches played	169
Goals scored	516 (3.05 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kodjo Laba (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Al Nasr 5–0 Al Urooba (26 August 2021) Al Ain 5–0 Al Jazira (11 May 2022)
Biggest away win	Al Urooba 0–4 Al Wahda (19 August 2021) Emirates 0–4 Al Nasr (24 September 2021)
Highest scoring	Shabab Al Ahli 4–3 Sharjah (10 September 2021)
Longest winning run	Al Ain (4 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Al Ain (12 games)
Longest winless run	Emirates (11 games)
Longest losing run	Emirates (9 games)
← 2020–21 2022–23 → All statistics correct as of 26 May 2022.

Teams

Team changes

Promoted to the Pro League

Both Al Urooba and Emirates secured promotion on the same day after beating Al Dhaid 3–0 and Masafi 6–0 on the second last matchday.^[2] Emirates is returning after getting relegated two seasons ago in 2018–19 season meanwhile Al Urooba is getting promoted back to the top tier after almost three decades of absence, only previously being in the competition in 1992–93 season.

Relegated to the First Division

On 7 May, despite winning 4–0 against Kalba, Hatta was confirmed relegated back to the First Division after only spending two seasons on the top flight.^[3] On 11 May, Fujairah got relegated after a 2–1 defeat to Ajman, both clubs were battling relegation and needed a victory.

Stadia and locations

Ajman

Ain

Dhafra

Jazira

Nasr

Urooba

Wahda

Wasl

Baniyas

Emirates

Kalba

Khor F.

Shabab Al Ahli

Sharjah

Locations of teams in the 2021–22 UAE Pro League

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Ajman	Ajman	Ajman Stadium	5,537
Al Ain	Al-Ain	Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium	25,965
Al Dhafra	Madinat Zayed	Al Dhafra Stadium	5,020
Al Jazira	Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan)	Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium	42,056
Al Nasr	Dubai (Al Nasr)	Al-Maktoum Stadium	15,058
Al Urooba	Qidfa / Mirbah (Fujairah)	Fujairah Club Stadium[4]	10,645
Al Wahda	Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan)	Al Nahyan Stadium	12,201
Al Wasl	Dubai (Zabeel)	Zabeel Stadium	8,439
Baniyas	Abu Dhabi (Al Shamkha)	Baniyas Stadium	10,000
Emirates	Ras Al Khaimah	Emirates Club Stadium	5,200
Kalba	Kalba	Ittihad Kalba Stadium	8,500
Khor Fakkan	Khor Fakkan	SBM Al Qassimi Stadium	7,500
Shabab Al Ahli	Dubai (Deira)	Al-Rashid Stadium	12,052
Sharjah	Sharjah	Sharjah Stadium	20,000

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Head Coach	Captain	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
Ajman	Goran Tufegdžić	Ali Al-Hosani	Adidas	Ajman Bank
Al Ain	Serhiy Rebrov	Ismail Ahmed	Nike	First Abu Dhabi Bank
Al Dhafra	Badr Al Idrisi	Ahmed Ali	Adidas	Ruwais
Al Jazira	Marcel Keizer	Ali Khasif	Puma	Healthpoint
Al Nasr	Salem Rabie	Tareq Ahmed	N45	Emirates Islamic
Al Urooba	Fathi Al-Obeidi	Ahmed Khamis	uhlsport	No sponsor
Al Wahda	Grégory Dufrennes	Mohammed Barqesh	Umbro	No sponsor
Al Wasl	Odair Hellmann	Ali Salmeen	Yellow	Emaar
Baniyas	Daniel Isăilă	Fawaz Awana	Macron	No sponsor
Emirates	Ayman El Ramady	Abdullah Mohammed	uhlsport	No sponsor
Kalba	Jorge Da Silva	Mansor Abbas	Adidas	Caltex
Khor Fakkan	Gabriel Calderón	Saif Mohammed	Macron	No sponsor
Shabab Al Ahli	Mahdi Ali	Majed Naser	Nike	Nissan and Omniyat
Sharjah	Cosmin Olăroiu	Shahin Abdulrahman	Adidas	Saif Zone

Foreign players

All teams could register as many foreign players as they want, but could only register four professional players in the roster.

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

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Former Players
Ajman	Firas Ben Larbi	Bubacarr Trawally	Miral Samardžić	Walid Azaro	Yorleys Mena Rabih Ataya
Al Ain	Cristian Guanca	Soufiane Rahimi	Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba	Danilo Arboleda	Yassine Meriah
Al Dhafra	Issam El Adoua	Lucas Cândido	Makhete Diop	Guilherme Augusto	Imoh Ezekiel Leonardo
Al Jazira	João Victor	Abdoulay Diaby	Miloš Kosanović	Thulani Serero
Al Nasr	Mehdi Abeid	Ryan Mendes	Dia Saba	Tozé
Al Urooba	Ali Madan	Appolinaire Kack	Rédah Atassi	Kayke	Kingsley Eduwo
Al Wahda	João Pedro	Adrien Silva	Fábio Martins	Omar Kharbin	José Ángel Jurado
Al Wasl	Adryelson	Ramiro	Gilberto	Michel Araújo	William Pottker
Baniyas	Gastón Álvarez Suárez	Nicolás Giménez	Saša Ivković	Isaac Kiese Thelin
Emirates	Zakaria Boulahia	Joseph Guédé Gnadou	Edarlyn Reyes	Walid Sabbar	Adam Ennafati
Kalba	Robert Žulj	Bayron Garcés	Wilder Cartagena	Peniel Mlapa	Roland Varga
Khor Fakkan	Dodô	Souza	Douglas Tanque	Aylton Boa Morte	Borja Valle Luis Fernández Osama Rashid Paulinho
Shabab Al Ahli	Federico Cartabia	Ahmad Nourollahi	Mehdi Ghayedi	Thomas Lehne Olsen	Carlos Eduardo Azizjon Ganiev
Sharjah	Bernard	Caio	Ben Malango	Otabek Shukurov

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Pos.	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Ajman	Ayman El Ramady	15 May 2021	End of contract	Pre-season	Goran Tufegdžić[5]	28 May 2021
Al Ain	Pedro Emanuel[6]	5 June 2021			Serhiy Rebrov[7][8]	6 June 2021
Emirates	Gjoko Hadžievski	30 June 2021			Tarik Sektioui[9]	18 August 2021
Al Dhafra	Mohammad Kwid	1 October 2021	Sacked	11th	Rogério Micale[10]	2 October 2021
Sharjah	Abdulaziz Al Anberi[11]	23 October 2021	Mutual consent	5th	Cosmin Olăroiu[12]	10 November 2021
Al Wahda	Henk ten Cate[13]	25 October 2021	Sacked	4th	Grégory Dufrennes	26 October 2021
Emirates	Tarik Sektioui	26 December 2021	Resigned	14th	Ayman El Ramady[14]	27 December 2021
Khor Fakkan	Caio Zanardi[15]	28 December 2021	Sacked	9th	Abdulmajeed Al-Nimra	28 December 2021
	Abdulmajeed Al-Nimr	2 February 2022	End of caretaker spell	10th	Gabriel Calderón[16]	2 February 2022
Al Nasr	Ramón Díaz[17]	7 February 2022	Sacked	9th	Salem Rabiea	8 February 2022
Al Dhafra	Rogério Micale[18]	2 March 2022		12th	Badr Al Idrisia	2 March 2022

_{Notes
1.^ Caretaker}

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al Ain (C)	26	20	5	1	57	17	+40	65	Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage
2	Sharjah	26	17	4	5	46	25	+21	55
3	Al Wahda	26	15	8	3	51	25	+26	53
4	Al Jazira	26	14	3	9	42	34	+8	45
5	Shabab Al Ahli	26	12	6	8	33	30	+3	42
6	Al Wasl	26	9	9	8	36	30	+6	36
7	Ajman	26	10	5	11	35	40	−5	35
8	Al Nasr	26	9	6	11	42	38	+4	33
9	Baniyas	26	8	7	11	33	39	−6	31
10	Khor Fakkan	26	8	4	14	38	49	−11	28
11	Kalba	26	6	10	10	32	38	−6	28
12	Al Dhafra	26	6	6	14	28	36	−8	24
13	Al Urooba (R)	26	3	9	14	25	57	−32	18	Relegation to UAE Division 1
14	Emirates (R)	26	2	4	20	21	61	−40	10

Source: UPLeague
Rules for classification: ^[19] 1) points; 2) head-to-head goal difference; 3) head-to-head goals scored; 4) head-to-head away goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored; 7) number of away goals scored; 8) head-to-head points; 9) fair play ranking 10) draw
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	AJM	AIN	DHA	JAZ	NAS	URO	WAH	WAS	YAS	EMI	KAL	KHF	SAD	SHR
Ajman		0–4	1–3	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–1	4–3	4–2	1–1	1–0
Al Ain	2–1		1–0	5–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	4–1	4–1	1–0	1–1
Al Dhafra	3–0	0–1		0–3	1–1	2–1	1–3	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	4–1	0–1	0–1
Al Jazira	3–0	1–5	2–0		2–1	1–0	1–2	3–2	2–0	3–2	3–2	4–0	2–1	1–0
Al Nasr	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–0		5–0	1–2	3–2	2–2	4–0	0–3	3–0	1–1	0–2
Al Urooba	0–3	3–3	1–1	0–1	1–1		0–4	1–1	2–1	4–2	0–1	1–4	1–1	2–2
Al Wahda	3–0	0–1	3–2	1–1	2–2	4–2		2–1	1–1	4–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–2
Al Wasl	2–4	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–2	5–0	1–1		0–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0
Baniyas	0–2	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–1		3–1	1–1	2–2	4–1	0–4
Emirates	1–3	0–3	0–3[a]	0–3	0–4	0–1	2–4	0–1	2–2		1–1	2–1	0–1	2–2
Kalba	1–1	0–2	2–2	0–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–3	3–1		2–3	0–0	0–1
Khor Fakkan	2–0	1–3	3–0	2–1	4–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	4–2	2–1	0–1		1–2	1–3
Shabab Al Ahli	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	3–1	1–3	0–2	3–1	2–1	2–1	3–1		4–3
Sharjah	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–3	5–0	0–3	3–2	3–0	2–1	1–0	3–1	1–0

Source: UPLeague
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

1. The Emirates FA announced that Al Dhafra has won the match 3–0 against the Emirates due to an administrative error from Emirates Club. The match originally finished as a 1–1 draw.^[20]

Seasonal statistics

Positions by round

	Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League group stage
	qualification to AFC Champions League Play off round
	Relegation to UAE First Division League

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Al Ain	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sharjah	5	3	2	4	2	3	5	6	8	6	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	3	4	4	4	4	2	2	2	2
Al Wahda	1	4	5	6	7	8	6	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3
Al Jazira	4	5	3	2	4	2	3	2	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4
Shabab Al Ahli	7	2	4	3	3	5	2	3	5	4	3	3	3	3	4	3	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Al Wasl	6	6	7	8	8	7	9	8	9	9	10	8	9	10	6	8	8	9	7	7	6	7	7	6	6	6
Ajman	2	7	6	7	6	4	7	9	7	8	8	10	11	7	7	6	6	8	8	8	8	9	9	8	7	7
Al Nasr	13	8	8	5	5	6	4	5	3	3	6	7	8	9	8	7	7	6	9	9	9	8	6	9	9	8
Baniyas	8	9	12	9	10	10	12	12	11	11	11	11	6	6	9	9	9	7	6	6	7	6	8	7	8	9
Khor Fakkan	11	11	10	12	9	9	8	7	6	7	9	9	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	10
Kalba	10	10	11	11	12	12	11	10	10	10	7	6	7	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	11
Al Dhafra	12	13	9	10	11	11	10	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Al Urooba	14	14	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	14	13	13	13	13
Emirates	9	12	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	14	14	14	14

Updated to match(es) played on 26 May 2022. Source: UPLeague

Top scorers

As of 25 May 2022^[21]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	26
2	Omar Kharbin	Al Wahda	15
3	João Pedro		14
	Caio Lucas	Sharjah
5	Firas Ben Larbi	Ajman	12
	Tozé	Al Nasr
7	Dia Saba		11
8	Sebastián Tagliabúe		10
	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira
	Abdoulay Diaby

Clean sheets

As of 25 May 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Khalid Eisa	Al Ain	12
2	Adel Al-Hosani	Sharjah	9
3	Mohammed Al-Shamsi	Al Wahda	7
	Ali Khasif	Al Jazira
5	Ali Al-Hosani	Ajman	6
6	Ibrahim Essa	Al Wasl	5
	Mohamed Qayoudhi
	Abdullah Al-Tamimi	Al Nasr

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round
Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	Al Urooba	3–3 (A)	24 September 2021	5
		Al Jazira	5–1 (A)	20 November 2021	10
			5–0 (H) 4	11 May 2022	23
Robert Žulj	Kalba	Emirates	3–1 (H)

Notes

⁴
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Goalkeeper of the Month		References
	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
August	Serhiy Rebrov	Al Ain	Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	Ali Khasif	Al Jazira	[22]
September			Soufiane Rahimi				[23]
October			Kouame Autonne		Khalid Eisa	Al Ain	[24]
November			Soufiane Rahimi				[25]

Number of teams by Emirates

	Emirate	Number of teams	Teams
1	Abu Dhabi	5	Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Wahda, Baniyas and Al Dhafra
2	Dubai	3	Shabab Al Ahli, Al Nasr and Al Wasl
	Sharjah		Sharjah, Kalba and Khor Fakkan
4	Ajman	1	Ajman
	Fujairah		Al Urooba
	Ras Al Khaimah		Emirates