2014–15 UAE Pro League

The 2014–15 UAE Pro League, known as the Arabian Gulf League for sponsorship reasons,[1] was the 40th top-level football season in the United Arab Emirates. Fourteen teams participated with Al Ahli as the defending champions after securing the championship last season for the first time since the 2008–09 campaign.

Arabian Gulf League
Season2014–15
ChampionsAl-Ain (12th title)
RelegatedAjman
Al-Ittihad Kalba
2016 AFC Champions LeagueAl-Ain
Al-Jazira
Al-Shabab Al-Arabi
Al-Nasr
2015–16 GCC Champions LeagueAl-Wasl
Baniyas
Matches played182
Goals scored562 (3.09 per match)
Average goals/game3.09
Top goalscorerMirko Vučinić
(25 goals)
Biggest home winAl Ain 7–1 Ajman
(13 February 2015)
Biggest away winFujairah 0–7 Baniyas
(30 November 2014)
Highest scoringAl Ain 7–1 Ajman
(13 February 2015)
Longest winning runAl Jazira (5 matches)
Longest unbeaten runAl Ain (12 matches)
Longest winless runAjman (14 matches)
Longest losing runKalba (9 matches)
Highest attendance19,790 Al-Jazira vs. Al Wahda
Lowest attendance182 Ajman vs. Emirates
Average attendance2,529

The league was started on 15 September 2014 and was concluded on 15 May 2015.[2]

Teams

edit

Al Shaab and Dubai Club were relegated to the second tier being replaced by Ittihad Kalba and Fujairah who were both relegated in the 2012–13 campaign.[3]

Stadia and locations

edit
Team Home city Emirate Manager Stadium Capacity
Ajman Ajman Ajman   Manuel Cajuda Ajman Stadium 5,537
Al Ahli Dubai Dubai   Cosmin Olăroiu Rashed Stadium 9,415
Al Ain Al Ain Abu Dhabi   Zlatko Dalić Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium 25,000
Al Dhafra Madinat Zayed Abu Dhabi   Laurent Banide Al Dhafra Stadium 5,020
Al Jazira Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi   Eric Gerets Al Jazira Stadium 42,056
Al Nasr Dubai Dubai   Ivan Jovanović Al-Maktoum Stadium 10,954
Al Shabab Dubai Dubai   Caio Júnior Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium 8,011
Al Wahda Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi   Sami Al-Jaber Al-Nahyan Stadium 11,538
Al Wasl Dubai Dubai   Gabriel Calderon Zabeel Stadium 8,411
Baniyas Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi   Luis García Plaza Baniyas Stadium 9,047
Emirates Ras al-Khaimah Ras al-Khaimah   Paulo Comelli Emirates Club Stadium 5,020
Fujairah Fujairah Fujairah   Ivan Hašek Fujairah Club Stadium 5,020
Ittihad Kalba Kalba Sharjah   Walid Obaid Al-Balooshi Ittihad Kalba Stadium 3,000
Sharjah Sharjah Sharjah   Paulo Bonamigo Sharjah Stadium 10,082

Managerial changes

edit
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Al Jazira   Walter Zenga Sacked[4] Pre-season 14 May 2014   Eric Gerets[5] 20 May 2014
Al Shabab   Marcos Paquetá Mutual consent 23 May 2014   Caio Júnior[6] 23 May 2014
Baniyas   Adnan Hamad 1 July 2014   Luis García Plaza[7] 10 July 2014
Al Wasl   Jorginho 13th 1 October 2014   Gabriel Calderón 1 October 2014
Ajman   Fathi Al-Jabal Sacked 13th 25 January 2015   Manuel Cajuda 27 January 2015
Al Wahda   José Peseiro[8] 4th 10 February 2015   Sami Al Jaber 16 February 2015

Foreign players

edit
Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Former players
Ajman   Rafael Crivellaro   Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf   Boris Kabi   Driss Fettouhi   Karim Ziani
  Bakari Koné
Al Ahli   Éverton Ribeiro   Luis Jiménez   Oussama Assaidi   Kwon Kyung-won   Ciel
  Grafite
  Carlos Muñoz
  Hugo Viana
  Mirel Rădoi
Al Ain   Jirès Kembo Ekoko   Asamoah Gyan   Miroslav Stoch   Lee Myung-joo
Al Dhafra   Humam Tariq   Bilal El Najjarine   Youssef Kaddioui   Makhete Diop   Matías Defederico
  Diego Felipe
  Paulinho Guerreiro
Al Jazira   Manuel Lanzini   Jucilei   Jonathan Pitroipa   Mirko Vučinić
Al Nasr   Brett Holman   Renan Garcia   Ibrahima Touré   Pablo Hernández   Ivan Trichkovski
Al Shabab   Edgar   Carlos Villanueva   Henrique Luvannor   Azizbek Haydarov
Al Wahda   Damián Díaz   Sebastián Tagliabúe   Hussain Fadhel   Adil Hermach
Al Wasl   Caio Canedo   Éderson   Fábio Lima   Hugo Viana   Neto Berola
Baniyas   Denis Stracqualursi   Ángel Dealbert   Joan Verdú   Carlos Muñoz
  Kim Jung-woo
Emirates   Alexandro   Luiz Henrique   Issam Erraki   Sin Jin-ho   Germán Herrera
  Rodrigo Silva
Fujairah   Karim Ziani   Madjid Bougherra   Boubacar Sanogo   Hassan Maatouk   Hassan Yebda
Ittihad Kalba   Danilo Bueno   Paulo Martins   Said Fettah   Papa Waigo   Rafael
  Luís Leal
  Wael Ayan
Sharjah   Marion   Maurício Ramos   Rodriguinho   Wanderley   Léo Lima
  Luan

League table

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Al-Ain (C) 26 18 6 2 62 19 +43 60 Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage
2 Al-Jazira 26 16 3 7 66 46 +20 51 Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off
3 Al-Shabab 26 14 7 5 49 35 +14 49 Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Second Qualifying Round
4 Al-Wahda 26 13 8 5 44 32 +12 47
5 Al-Nasr 26 10 9 7 43 32 +11 39 Qualification to the 2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage[a]
6 Al-Wasl 26 10 9 7 53 45 +8 39 Qualification to the 2016 GCC Champions League
7 Al-Ahli 26 10 8 8 35 27 +8 38
8 Baniyas 26 9 8 9 42 37 +5 35 Qualification to the 2016 GCC Champions League
9 Fujairah 26 9 5 12 23 45 −22 32
10 Emirates 26 8 6 12 34 45 −11 30
11 Al-Dhafra 26 5 12 9 31 33 −2 27
12 Sharjah 26 7 5 14 36 43 −7 26
13 Ajman (R) 26 2 9 15 27 60 −33 15 Relegation to the 2015–16 UAE Division 1 Group A
14 Ittihad Kalba (R) 26 3 1 22 17 63 −46 10
Updated to match(es) played on 3 June 2015. Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Al-Nasr qualifies for 2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage as winners of 2014–15 UAE President's Cup.

Results

edit
Home \ Away AJM AHL AIN JAZ NAS SHB WAS BAN DHA EMI FUJ KAL SHR WAH
Ajman 0–0 0–4 2–3 0–3 2–2 1–2 2–2 1–1 2–4 0–1 0–1 0–4 3–3
Al-Ahli 0–0 1–1 4–2 2–2 2–4 0–4 0–0 1–0 0–1 4–0 2–0 2–0 1–1
Al Ain 7–1 1–0 2–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 3–1 2–1 3–0 4–0 4–1 4–0
Al Jazira 3–1 2–0 4–3 3–2 2–4 4–2 1–4 1–2 3–0 2–2 3–0 1–2 1–1
Al Nasr 1–1 2–1 1–2 2–4 1–1 0–0 0–0 1–0 3–0 5–1 3–0 3–0 0–2
Al Shabab 2–1 1–0 1–1 3–4 2–1 2–2 1–0 1–1 1–3 1–0 2–1 4–2 1–2
Al Wasl 3–3 1–5 0–1 2–4 2–2 2–2 1–2 2–2 2–2 3–1 1–0 2–1 3–0
Baniyas 3–0 1–0 0–3 2–3 1–1 2–0 2–2 1–0 2–3 1–1 1–0 2–5 1–2
Dhafra 1–1 2–2 1–1 3–3 2–2 1–2 3–1 2–3 1–1 0–0 3–1 2–0 1–2
Emirates 0–2 0–1 1–5 0–2 0–3 2–3 2–3 3–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 1–1 1–2
Fujairah 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–3 0–1 0–3 1–4 0–7 0–0 0–1 2–1 2–1 1–0
Kalba 2–3 0–3 1–4 0–4 2–0 0–2 1–6 1–1 1–0 0–3 2–3 1–2 0–1
Sharjah 4–1 0–1 1–1 1–2 0–2 0–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 4–2 4–1
Wahda 3–0 1–2 0–0 1–0 5–1 1–1 2–2 3–1 2–1 2–1 1–0 5–0 1–1
Updated to match(es) played on 12 April 2015. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

edit

Goalscorers

edit
As of matches played 15 May 2015
Rank Player Club Goals[9]
1   Mirko Vučinić Al Jazira 25
2   Ibrahima Touré Al Nasr 18
3   Wanderley Sharjah 17
4   Ali Mabkhout Al Jazira 16
4   Caio Al Wasl 16
4   Fábio Lima Al Wasl 16
5   Sebastián Tagliabué Wahda 15
6   Éderson Al Wasl 14
7   Asamoah Gyan Al Ain 13
8   Makhete Diop Dhafra 12
9   Henrique Luvannor Al Shabab 11

Hat-tricks

edit
Player For Against Result Date
  Mirko Vučinić Al Jazira Emirates 3–0[10] 25 September 2014
  Ahmed Khalil Al Ahli Al Jazira 4–2 18 October 2014
  Ali Mabkhout Al Jazira Ajman 3–1 4 February 2015
  Asamoah Gyan Al Ain Fujairah 3–0 28 February 2015

References

edit
  1. ^ "UAE Pro League - Home".
  2. ^ "2014/15 Season Schedule confirmed". Pro League Committee. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Arabian Gulf League 2014/2015". Soccerway. Perform. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Al Jazira dismiss Walter Zenga after seven months". The National. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Al Jazira confirm Eric Gerets as new coach to replace Walter Zenga". The National. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Coach Marcos Paqueta is the fall guy for Al Shabab's wobbles". The National. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Baniyas reach agreement with new manager Luis Garcia". The National. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  8. ^ "Al Wahda dismiss manager Jose Peseiro after poor results". The National. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Summary - Arabian Gulf League - United Arab Emirates - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway". Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Al Jazira vs. Emirates - 25 September 2014 - Soccerway". Retrieved 26 September 2014.