2013–14 Arabian Gulf League

Arabian Gulf League

Season	2013–14
Champions	Al-Ahli
Relegated	Dubai Al-Shaab
AFC Champions League	Al-Ahli Al-Wahda Al-Jazira Al-Ain
Gulf Champions League	Al-Nasr Al-Shabab
Matches played	182
Goals scored	571 (3.14 per match)
Average goals/game	3.13
Top goalscorer	Asamoah Gyan (29)
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

The 2013–14 Arabian Gulf League is the 39th top-level football season in the United Arab Emirates, and the sixth professional season. Fourteen teams participate, once again with Al Ain as the defending champions after winning the previous two seasons.

The league started on 14 September and finished on 11 May 2014 in accordance with FIFA guidelines ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The league was previously known as the Pro League. Starting from the 2013–14 season the name was changed to UAE Arabian Gulf League. The name change has been viewed as a revival of the Persian Gulf naming dispute with Iran accusing the United Arab Emirates of racism, and the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran barring the transfer of Javad Nekounam to a UAE club.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Dubai

Ajman

Abu Dhabi

Al Ain

Sharjah

Ras al-Khaimah

Madinat Zayed

Sharjah

Ras al-Khaimah

Locations of teams in the 2013–14 Arabian Gulf League

Team	Home city	Manager	Stadium	Capacity
Ajman	Ajman	Abdul Wahab Abdul Qader	Ajman Stadium	10,000
Al Ahli	Dubai	Cosmin Olăroiu	Rashed Stadium	18,000
Al Ain	Al Ain	Quique Flores	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium	15,000 25,000
Al Dhafra	Madinat Zayed	Abdullah Ahmed Mesfer	Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium	12,000
Al Jazira	Abu Dhabi	Walter Zenga	Al Jazira Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium	42,056
Al Nasr	Dubai	Ivan Jovanovic	Al-Maktoum Stadium	12,000
Al Shaab Sharjah	Sharjah	Zeljko Petrovic	Khalid Bin Mohammed Stadium	10,000
Al Shabab	Dubai	Marcos Paqueta	Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium	12,000
Al Sharjah	Sharjah	Paulo Bonamigo	Sharjah Stadium	18,000
Al Wahda	Abu Dhabi	Jose Peseiro	Al-Nahyan Stadium	12,000
Al Wasl	Dubai	Hector Cuper	Zabeel Stadium	12,000
Bani Yas	Abu Dhabi	Adnan Hamad	Bani Yas Stadium	9,570
Dubai	Dubai	Umberto Barberis	Police Officers Club Stadium	6,500
Emirates	Ras al-Khaimah	Paulo Comelli	Emirates Club Stadium	5,000

• Al Ain moved into their new stadium, the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on the 16th matchday.

Managerial changes

Managerial changes during the 2013-14 campaign.

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al Wahda	Josef Hickersberger	End of contract	Karel Jarolim
Al Ahli	Quique Flores	End of contract	Cosmin Olăroiu
Al Nasr	Walter Zenga	Mutual Consent	Ivan Jovanovic
Baniyas	Salem Al Orafi	End of contract	Jorge da Silva
Dubai	Rene Marsiglia	End of contract	Martin Rueda
Al Wasl	Eid Baroot	End of contract	Laurent Banide
Al Ain	Cosmin Olăroiu	Joined Al Ahli	Jorge Fossati
Al Ain	Jorge Fossati	Sacked	Ahmad Abdullah
Al Wasl	Laurent Banide	Sacked	Saleem Abdelrahman
Al Jazira	Luis Milla	Sacked	Walter Zenga
Al Ain	Ahmad Abdullah	Temp mandate over	Quique Flores
Dubai	Martin Rueda	Sacked	Umberto Barberis
Al Wahda	Karel Jarolim	Sacked	Jose Peseiro
Emirates	Eid Baroot	Sacked	Paulo Comelli
Al Shaab	Marius Șumudică	Sacked	Jamsheer Muratocalo
Al Shaab	Jamsheer Muratocalo	Caretaker role finished	Zeljko Petrovic
Baniyas	Jorge da Silva	Sacked	Adnan Hamad
Al Wasl	Hector Cuper	Sacked	Saleem Abdelrahman

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per AGL team.

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Visa 4	Former Players
Ajman	Simon Feindouno	Boris Kabi	Bakari Koné	Ahmad Ibrahim	Driss Fettouhi
Al Ahli	Grafite	Ciel	Luis Jiménez	Hugo Viana	Esad Bajrić
Al Ain	Alex Brosque	Yassine El Ghanassy	Asamoah Gyan	Mirel Rădoi	Michel Bastos Jirès Kembo
Al Dhafra	Rogério	Bilal Najjarin	Kamel Chafni	Makhete Diop	Emmanuel Clottey
Al Jazira	Jucilei	Felipe Caicedo	Abdelaziz Barrada	Shin Hyung-Min	None
Al-Nasr	Brett Holman	Léo Lima	Éder Luís	Ibrahima Toure	None
Al-Shaab	Josimar Lima	Michaël N'dri	Oybek Kilichev	Jesús Meza	Blagoja Celeski Thiago Quirino Julius Wobay
Al Shabab	Adeílson	Edgar	Carlos Villanueva	Azizbek Haydarov	Éder
Al Sharjah	Maurício Ramos	Zé Carlos	Fellype Gabriel	Kim Jung-Woo	None
Al-Wahda	Damián Díaz	Sebastián Tagliabué	Adil Hermach	None	Dino Đulbić Marco Estrada
Al Wasl	Emmanuel Culio	Mariano Donda	Ricardo Oliveira	Edson Puch	Milan Susak Abdelfettah Boukhriss André Senghor
Baniyas	Luis Fariña	Sebastián Prediger	Carlos Muñoz	Abdul Salam Amer	Marcelinho
Dubai	Gilles Yapi Yapo	Moustapha Kondé	Salaheddine Saidi	Jehad Al-Hussain	Bruno Correa Andre Alves Dramane Traoré
Emirates	Germán Herrera	Derley	Luiz Henrique	Rodrigo	Diego Jair

Note:
^1 Foreign players who left their clubs after first half of the season;
^2 Injury Replacement Players;

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Ahli (C)	26	20	4	2	55	28	+27	64	2015 AFC Champions League Group stage
2	Al-Wahda	26	13	9	4	53	33	+20	48	2015 AFC Champions League Third qualifying round
3	Al Jazira	26	12	9	5	46	35	+11	45
4	Al Shabab	26	13	5	8	42	28	+14	44	2015 GCC Champions League Group Stage
5	Al Nasr	26	13	5	8	42	32	+10	44
6	Al Ain	26	12	7	7	52	33	+19	43	2015 AFC Champions League Group stage
7	Al Sharjah	26	10	10	6	29	25	+4	40
8	Al-Dhafra	26	9	8	9	44	44	0	35
9	Baniyas	26	8	7	11	43	42	+1	31
10	Ajman	26	7	7	12	39	46	−7	28
11	Emirates Club	26	6	7	13	40	53	−13	25
12	Al Wasl	26	7	4	15	32	47	−15	25
13	Dubai Club (R)	26	3	6	17	24	63	−39	15	Relegation to UAE Division 1 Group A
14	Al-Shaab (R)	26	3	4	19	28	61	−33	13

Updated to games played on 11 May 2014.
Source: Arabian Gulf League 2013-2014 table
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

• Al Ain qualified through winning the Presidents Cup.

Results

Home \ Away

AJM

ALI

AIN

DHA

JAZ

NAS

SHB

SHA

SHR

WAH

WAS

YAS

DUB

EMI

Ajman

1–2

0–0

0–0

1–0

3–0

2–1

0–1

1–2

2–2

4–2

3–4

1–1

3–2

Al-Ahli

2–1

1–0

3–1

2–2

3–1

1–0

2–0

2–1

2–1

2–1

4–1

4–2

4–2

Al Ain

2–1

2–3

1–1

2–2

3–2

5–2

0–0

1–1

0–1

3–0

2–1

5–2

5–2

Al-Dhafra

2–4

1–4

4–3

1–1

1–1

2–1

2–6

2–2

1–3

3–1

0–0

3–2

1–3

Al Jazira

0–0

1–3

2–1

2–2

1–2

3–0

1–0

1–0

4–4

2–3

2–0

2–2

1–0

Al Nasr

2–1

0–2

1–0

2–1

0–0

2–1

2–1

0–0

0–2

6–1

4–3

5–1

0–0

Al-Shaab

4–4

1–3

0–5

1–2

1–2

2–0

2–1

1–1

1–3

1–4

1–2

2–1

3–3

Al Shabab

3–1

1–1

3–1

1–0

2–4

2–0

1–0

2–0

1–2

1–0

1–1

3–0

3–1

Al Sharjah

2–1

1–1

1–3

0–3

1–1

0–0

1–0

1–2

2–1

2–0

1–0

3–0

0–0

Al-Wahda

4–1

0–0

1–1

1–0

3–4

3–2

2–0

1–1

1–1

3–1

3–2

2–0

4–0

Al Wasl

0–1

2–1

0–1

2–1

1–2

1–2

1–0

1–3

0–1

3–3

1–1

0–0

1–0

Baniyas

4–1

2–3

1–1

0–0

1–2

0–2

4–0

1–1

1–3

1–1

0–2

4–0

2–1

Dubai Club

2–1

0–1

0–3

1–5

0–2

0–3

1–1

1–0

1–2

1–1

1–3

1–4

1–1

Emirates Club

1–1

1–2

1–2

2–3

3–2

0–3

5–2

3–2

0–0

2–1

2–1

2–3

2–3

Updated to games played on 11 May 2014.
Source: Soccerway
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

References

Template:UAE Pro-League seasons