UAE Pro League Information

The UAE Pro League is a professional men’s football competition in the United Arab Emirates. It is the highest-level competition in this country. The history of the league goes back to 1973, and it will celebrate its 50^th edition in the 2024/25 season.

You’ll find 14 clubs competing in the UAE Pro League. The winner takes the championship but also gets qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage. The second and third-placed teams secure spots in the AFC Champions League playoffs. The bottom two teams get relegated to the UAE First Division League.

UAE Pro League fixtures are usually scheduled between August and May. The teams can register as many foreign players as they want. However, there can only be four foreign players in each game.

UAE Pro League History

The history of the UAE Pro League dates back to 1973. The first season in 1973/74 was a trial but soon proved popular among the locals.

The UAE Football Association took charge of the league in 2001. Six years later, the country formed a Pro League Committee. It became the official governing body of the league. The competition went through several name changes. Due to sponsorship reasons, it became the Etisalat League in 2006. It then became the Arabian Gulf League in 2013.

Today, the competition’s official name is the ADNOC Pro League. The 2021/22 season is the first with the name of the new sponsor.

UAE Pro League Clubs

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the two most successful emirates in UAE football. Clubs from these emirates have won 20 titles each, or 40 combined. Here are some other notable statistics about the UAE Pro League:

• AL Jazira have the biggest stadium of all the clubs in the country. Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium has a 42,056 seating capacity.
• The most successful club are Al Ain. They have 13 championships, with the last one won in 2018.
• Al Ain are the only club from the UAE to have ever won the AFC Champions League. This happened in 2003 when they beat BEC Tero Sasana in the final.

UAE Pro League Players

Notable players to perform in the UAE Pro League include Asamoah Gyan, Mirko Vučinić and Marcus Berg. The best scorer in a single season is still a domestic player – Ali Mabkhout scored 33 goals in the 2016/17 edition.

• Mabkhout holds the record for the most goals scored in the UAE Pro League. He has scored 176 goals so far, but he’s still an active player, which means that this number will likely increase.
• Ismail Matar has 359 appearances in the UAE Pro League. Matar played all his games for Al Wahda.
• Sebastián Tagliabué is the highest-scoring foreign player in the league. He scored on 171 occasions in 196 matches and even got UAE citizenship.