2023–24 UAE Pro League

The 2023–24 UAE Pro League was the 49th edition of the UAE Pro League. Shabab Al Ahli were the defending champions.

UAE Pro League

Season	2023–24
Dates	18 August 2023 – 7 June 2024
Champions	Al Wasl (8th title)
Relegated	Hatta Emirates
AFC Champions League Elite	Al Wasl Al Ain Shabab Al Ahli
AFC Champions League Two	Sharjah
AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League	Al-Nasr
Matches played	182
Goals scored	624 (3.43 per match)
Top goalscorer	Omar Khribin (19 goals)
Biggest home win	Shabab Al Ahli 10–0 Hatta (2 June 2024)
Biggest away win	Hatta 0–5 Al Wasl (27 October 2023)
Highest scoring	Shabab Al Ahli 10–0 Hatta (2 June 2024)
Longest winning run	Al Wasl (9 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Al Wasl (21 games)
Longest winless run	Hatta (19 games)
Longest losing run	Emirates (11 games)
← 2022–23 2024–25 →

Teams

Team changes

Promoted to the Pro League

Hatta secured promotion to the pro league after a decisive 3–2 victory over Al Rams.^[1] Hatta are returning after two seasons of absence. Emirates would secure promotion on the second last matchday after winning 4–3 against Al Rams, coincidentally the same club Hatta beat. This will be Emirates 10th season in the Pro League.^[2]

Relegated to the First Division

Al Dhafra got relegated after losing to Ajman 2–1. This marks the fourth time Al Dhafra got relegated in the top flight with the last time being in 2010–11 season. Dibba Al Fujairah soon followed after drawing 1–1 to Al Dhafra, ending their short spell in the Pro League a year after Dibba Al Fujairah got promoted as division 1 champions.^[3]

Stadium and locations

Ajman

Ain

Bataeh

Jazira

Nasr

Wahda

Wasl

Baniyas

Emirates

Hatta

Kalba

Khor F.

Shabab Al Ahli

Sharjah

Locations of teams in the 2023–24 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 Bataeh	Al Bataeh	Al Bataeh Stadium	2,000
Al Jazira	Abu Dhabi (Al Nahyan)	Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium	42,056
Al Nasr	Dubai (Al Nasr)	Al-Maktoum Stadium	15,058
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
Hatta	Hatta	Hamdan Bin Rashid Stadium	5,000
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	35,000

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	Daniel Isăilă	Saoud Saeed	Adidas	Ajman Bank
Al Ain	Hernán Crespo	Bandar Al-Ahbabi	Nike	First Abu Dhabi Bank
Al Bataeh	Goran Tomić	Mohamed Ahmed	Nike	Majid Al Futtaim Group
Al Jazira	Grégory Dufrennes	Ali Khasif	Zat Outfit	Healthpoint
Al Nasr	Alfred Schreuder	Ahmed Shambih	Adidas	Emirates Islamic
Al Wahda	Goran Tufegdžić	Allan	Adidas	Volkswagen
Al Wasl	Miloš Milojević	Ali Salmeen	Macron	Dubai Real Estate Centre
Baniyas	Darko Milanič	Fawaz Awana	Macron	ADIB
Emirates	Benito Carbone	Andrés Iniesta	uhlsport	RAK Ceramics
Hatta	Nenad Vanić	Vernon De Marco	uhlsport	Emaar
Kalba	Ghazi Fahad	Abdusalam Mohammed	Adidas	Caltex
Khor Fakkan	Nebojša Jovović	Masoud Sulaiman	Macron	ADNOC
Shabab Al Ahli	Marko Nikolić	Majed Naser	Nike	Mai Dubai
Sharjah	Cosmin Olăroiu	Shahin Abdulrahman	Adidas	SAIF Zone

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Pos.	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Al Wasl	Juan Antonio Pizzi[4]	16 May 2023	Mutual consent	Pre-season	Miloš Milojević[5]	2 June 2023
Al Bataeh	Saeed Shakhit	25 May 2023	End of caretaker spell		Mirel Rădoi	25 May 2023
Al Jazira	Marcel Keizer[6]	26 May 2023	End of contract		Frank de Boer	5 June 2023
Al Ain	Serhiy Rebrov[7]	27 May 2023			Alfred Schreuder[8]	27 May 2023
Hatta	Abdullah Mesfer[9]	1 June 2023	Mutual consent		Željko Markov[10]	6 June 2023
Shabab Al Ahli	Leonardo Jardim[11]		End of contract		Marko Nikolić	2 June 2023
Baniyas	Daniel Isăilă				Darko Milanič	8 June 2023
Al Nasr	Goran Tomić[12]	5 June 2023			Goran Tufegdžić[13]	5 June 2023
Ajman	Goran Tufegdžić		Signed by Al Nasr		Caio Zanardi	6 June 2023
Al Wahda	Arno Buitenweg	18 June 2023	End of caretaker spell		Pitso Mosimane[14]	18 June 2023
Hatta	Željko Markov	4 September 2023	Sacked	13th	Fabio Viviani[15]	5 September 2023
Emirates	Mohammed Al Jalboot	5 September 2023	Mutual consent	10th	Lluís Planagumà[16]
Khor Fakkan	Abdulaziz Al Anberi	24 September 2023		10th	Gerard Zaragoza	29 September 2023
Ajman	Caio Zanardi[17]	3 October 2023	Sacked	13th	Daniel Isăilă	3 October 2023
Khor Fakkan	Gerard Zaragoza	28 October 2023		12th	Nebojša Jovović[18]	29 October 2023
Al Nasr	Goran Tufegdžić[19]	6 November 2023		10th	Fabrizio Cammarata	6 November 2023
Al Ain	Alfred Schreuder[20]	8 November 2023	Mutual consent	3rd	Hernán Crespo[21]	14 November 2023
Al Wahda	Pitso Mosimane[22]	9 November 2023	Sacked	5th	Arno Buitenweg	9 November 2023
Al Nasr	Fabrizio Cammarata	27 November 2023	End of caretaker spell	9th	Alfred Schreuder[23]	27 November 2023
Al Jazira	Frank de Boer[24]	13 December 2023	Sacked	7th	Bob de Klerk	14 December 2023
Emirates	Lluís Planagumà[25]	21 December 2023		14th	Aaref Al Shehhi	21 December 2023
Al Bataeh	Mirel Rădoi[26]	25 December 2023	Resigned	7th	Goran Tomić[27]	7 January 2024
Al Wahda	Arno Buitenweg	3 January 2024	End of caretaker spell	5th	Goran Tufegdžić	3 January 2024
Al Jazira	Bob de Klerk	5 January 2024		6th	Mirel Rădoi[28]	5 January 2024
Emirates	Aaref Al Shehhi			14th	Walter Zenga[29]
Ittihad Kalba	Farhad Majidi[30]	2 March 2024	Sacked	11th	Ghazi Fahad	2 March 2024
Hatta	Fabio Viviani[31]	15 March 2024		14th	Nenad Vanić	17 March 2024
Al Jazira	Mirel Rădoi	8 April 2024		8th	Grégory Dufrennes	9 April 2024
Emirates	Walter Zenga[32]	24 April 2024	Mutual consent	13th	Benito Carbone	24 April 2024

Foreign players

All teams can register many foreigners as they want but could only include up to five professional players. Players in the age of under-23 do not counted as professionals.

• 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	Player 5	Former players
Ajman	Ali Madan	Dodô	Walid Azaro	Miloš Kosanović	Haykeul Chikhaoui	Prestige Mboungou Nader Ghandri
Al Ain	Omer Atzili	Soufiane Rahimi	Kaku	Park Yong-woo	Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba
Al Bataeh	Paulinho	Anatole Abang	Petrus Boumal	Diney	Ulrich Meleke
Al Jazira	Fernando	Neeskens Kebano	Aboubakar Kamara	Karim Rekik	Alejandro Pozuelo
Al Nasr	Samir Memišević	Kevin Agudelo	Manolo Gabbiadini	Adel Taarabt	Iuri Medeiros
Al Wahda	Allan	Ahmad Nourollahi	Zelimkhan Bakayev	Omar Khribin	Khojimat Erkinov	Cristian Guanca João Pedro
Al Wasl	Gerónimo Poblete	Alexis Pérez	Soufiane Bouftini	Jung Seung-hyun	Haris Seferovic	Nicolás Giménez
Baniyas	Taulant Seferi	Gastón Álvarez Suárez	Prestige Mboungou	Youssoufou Niakaté	Saša Ivković	Francisco Geraldes
Emirates	Dia Saba	Nizar Al-Rashdan	Uroš Vitas	Paco Alcácer	Andrés Iniesta	Diogo Acosta Franck Kom Leo Osaki Al Sanousi Al Hadi
Hatta	Gabrielzinho	Lobi Manzoki	Aaron Tshibola	Chisom Egbuchulam	Vernon De Marco	Alexander Merkel Shabaib Al-Khaldi Moustafa Zeidan
Ittihad Kalba	Daniel Bessa	Mehdi Ghayedi	Nigel Robertha	Filip Kiss	Andrés Vombergar	Wallace Ivanildo Fernandes
Khor Fakkan	Lourency	Raniel	Thulani Serero	Abdulla Abdullaev	Azizbek Amanov	Pedro Castro Tiago Leonço Saîf-Eddine Khaoui
Shabab Al Ahli	Saeid Ezatolahi	Mu'nas Dabbur	Luka Milivojević	Bogdan Planić	Azizjon Ganiev	Federico Cartabia
Sharjah	Miralem Pjanić	Moussa Marega	Cho Yu-min	Firas Ben Larbi	Kostas Manolas Paco Alcácer

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al Wasl (C)	26	21	4	1	70	27	+43	67	Qualification for AFC CLE League stage
2	Shabab Al Ahli	26	18	4	4	73	34	+39	58	Qualification for AFC CLE play off round
3	Al Ain	26	14	3	9	54	37	+17	45	Qualification for AFC CLE League stage[a]
4	Sharjah	26	10	12	4	53	40	+13	42[b]	Qualification for AFC CL2 group stage
5	Al Wahda	26	12	6	8	45	34	+11	42[b]
6	Al Nasr	26	11	6	9	39	36	+3	39	Qualification for the AGCFF GCCL group stage
7	Al Bataeh	26	10	7	9	42	44	−2	37
8	Al Jazira	26	9	8	9	50	47	+3	35
9	Ajman	26	8	10	8	39	47	−8	34
10	Baniyas	26	7	5	14	33	46	−13	26[c]
11	Kalba	26	6	8	12	39	50	−11	26[c]
12	Khor Fakkan	26	6	5	15	34	55	−21	23
13	Emirates (R)	26	4	5	17	32	60	−28	17	Relegation to UAE Division 1
14	Hatta (R)	26	1	7	18	20	66	−46	10

Source: UPLeague
Rules for classification: ^[33] 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
Notes:

1. As 2023–24 AFC Champions League winners.
2. Sharjah are ahead of Al Wahda on head-to-head points: Sharjah 3–2 Al Wahda, Al Wahda 1–1 Sharjah
3. Baniyas are ahead of Kalba on head-to-head points: Baniyas 2–1 Kalba, Kalba 0–0 Baniyas

Results

Home \ Away	AJM	AIN	BTH	JAZ	NAS	WAH	WAS	YAS	EMI	HAT	KAL	KHF	SAD	SHR
Ajman		0–4	2–0	2–0	0–3	0–1	1–4	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–5	3–0	0–3	2–2
Al Ain	6–0		0–2	2–2	1–3	0–2	2–4	3–2	3–1	5–3	0–1	4–1	1–2	1–1
Al Bataeh	1–1	1–3		3–2	1–3	1–2	1–4	2–1	3–2	1–1	0–0	3–1	0–2	3–3
Al Jazira	1–5	2–1	3–1		2–3	1–2	2–4	1–0	2–0	3–1	2–2	3–3	1–1	1–1
Al Nasr	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–3		1–1	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–2	2–1	3–2	0–1
Al Wahda	1–2	0–2	1–2	3–2	1–0		2–2	3–1	4–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–3	1–1
Al Wasl	1–1	3–1	4–1	2–2	1–0	1–4		3–2	1–0	3–0	2–1	3–0	3–0	2–0
Baniyas	1–1	0–1	3–3	1–4	4–2	2–1	0–2		0–0	4–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–3
Emirates	4–4	2–3	1–3	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–2		2–4	2–4	2–1	2–3	1–3
Hatta	0–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	0–3	0–4	0–5	0–1	1–1		1–3	0–2	2–5	1–4
Kalba	2–4	2–2	1–2	0–4	0–0	1–0	2–4	0–0	1–2	2–1		1–1	1–3	3–4
Khor Fakkan	1–2	0–1	0–3	4–2	3–1	3–2	3–3	2–1	0–2	2–1	2–2		0–3	1–3
Shabab Al Ahli	3–0	0–3	2–1	3–2	3–3	3–1	1–2	2–1	7–0	10–0	4–1	2–1		3–1
Sharjah	1–1	2–3	2–2	1–1	2–2	3–2	1–3	5–0	3–3	0–0	1–0	4–1	1–1

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.

Number of teams by Emirates

	Emirate	Number of teams	Teams
1	Abu Dhabi	4	Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Wahda and Baniyas
	Sharjah		Sharjah, Kalba, Khor Fakkan and Al Bataeh
	Dubai		Shabab Al Ahli, Al Nasr, Al Wasl and Hatta
4	Ajman	1	Ajman
	Ras Al Khaimah		Emirates

Season statistics

Positions by round

	Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League Elite
	qualification to AFC Champions League Two
	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 Wasl	7	3	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Shabab Al Ahli	1	1	2	2	1	3	2	3	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Al Ain	4	2	1	1	2	1	3	2	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	3
Sharjah	3	9	6	5	5	4	4	5	6	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	4
Al Wahda	11	7	5	6	10	6	5	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	5
Al Nasr	13	14	14	12	9	8	10	9	10	12	9	9	9	7	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6
Al Bataeh	6	4	8	11	7	7	7	7	8	6	7	7	7	9	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	8	9	9	7	7
Al Jazira	2	6	4	4	4	5	6	8	5	7	6	6	6	6	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Ajman	14	12	12	13	13	13	14	12	12	11	11	12	12	12	11	12	11	12	12	11	12	9	7	7	9	9
Baniyas	9	5	9	8	6	11	8	6	7	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	9	9	10	12	9	10	11	11	10	10
Kalba	8	11	11	10	8	10	11	10	9	9	10	11	11	11	12	11	12	10	9	9	10	11	10	10	11	11
Khor Fakkan	5	8	10	9	12	9	9	11	11	10	12	10	10	8	9	9	10	11	11	10	11	12	12	12	12	12
Emirates	12	10	7	7	11	12	12	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
Hatta	10	13	13	14	14	14	13	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14

Updated to match(es) played on 7 June 2024. Source: UPLeague

Top scorers

As of 7 June 2024^[34]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Omar Khribin	Al Wahda	19
2	Fábio Lima	Al Wasl	17
3	Igor Jesus	Shabab Al Ahli	14
	Mu'nas Dabbur	Shabab Al Ahli
5	Kodjo Laba	Al Ain	12
	Mehdi Ghayedi	Ittihad Kalba
	Walid Azaro	Ajman
8	Taulant Seferi	Baniyas	11
	Manolo Gabbiadini	Al Nasr
	Haris Seferovic	Al Wasl
	Caio	Sharjah
12	Lourency	Khor Fakkan	10
	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira

Clean sheets

As of 7 June 2024

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Khaled Al-Senani	Al Wasl	10
2	Ahmed Shambih	Al Nasr	6
3	Khalid Eisa	Al Ain	5
4	Rashed Ali	Al Wahda	4
	Ali Al-Hosani	Ajman
5	Suhail Abdulla	Emirates	3
	Fahad Al-Dhanhani	Baniyas
	Adel Al-Hosani	Sharjah
	Ibrahim Essa	Al Bataeh
	Hassan Hamza	Shabab Al Ahli
	Salem Khairi	Hatta
	Ali Khasif	Al Jazira

Hat tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round
Walid Azaro	Ajman	Ittihad Kalba	3–5 (H)	29 September 2023	4
Lourency	Khor Fakkan	Al Wahda	3–2 (H)	29 December 2023	12
Soufiane Rahimi	Al Ain	Ajman	4–0 (A)	15 March 2024	16
Walid Azaro4	Ajman	Ittihad Kalba	4–2 (A)	29 March 2024	17
Mu'nas Dabbur	Shabab Al Ahli	Hatta	10–0 (H)	2 June 2024	26

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Notes