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.^[1]

The league was previously known as the Pro League. Starting from the 2013–14 season the name was changed to UAE Arabian Gulf League.^[2] The name change has been viewed as a revival of the Persian Gulf naming dispute^[3] with Iran accusing the United Arab Emirates of racism,^[4][5] and the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran barring the transfer of Javad Nekounam to a UAE club.^[6]

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[7]	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[8]	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[9]	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.^[10]

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[11]
Al Ahli	Quique Flores[12]	End of contract	Cosmin Olăroiu [13]
Al Nasr	Walter Zenga[14]	Mutual Consent	Ivan Jovanovic [15]
Baniyas	Salem Al Orafi[16]	End of contract	Jorge da Silva[17]
Dubai	Rene Marsiglia[16]	End of contract	Martin Rueda [18]
Al Wasl	Eid Baroot	End of contract	Laurent Banide[19]
Al Ain	Cosmin Olăroiu	Joined Al Ahli	Jorge Fossati [20]
Al Ain	Jorge Fossati	Sacked	Ahmad Abdullah [21]
Al Wasl	Laurent Banide [22]	Sacked	Saleem Abdelrahman
Al Jazira	Luis Milla	Sacked	Walter Zenga [23]
Al Ain	Ahmad Abdullah	Temp mandate over	Quique Flores
Dubai	Martin Rueda	Sacked [24]	Umberto Barberis
Al Wahda	Karel Jarolim	Sacked [25]	Jose Peseiro [26]
Emirates	Eid Baroot	Sacked [27]	Paulo Comelli [28]
Al Shaab	Marius Șumudică	Sacked [29]	Jamsheer Muratocalo
Al Shaab	Jamsheer Muratocalo	Caretaker role finished [30]	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^1
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^[1]

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

1. "New season to kick off on 30th August with Super Cup Final". Pro League Committee. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
2. "New League name announced by H.E. Mohammed Thani Murshed Al Romaithi". Pro League Committee. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
3. James M. Dorsey (13 September 2011). "MIDEAST - Gulf rivalry between Iran, UAE transferred to the football pitch". Hurriyetdailynews.com. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
4. Category: Asia (29 May 2013). "Iran accuses UAE of racism in renaming Pro League to the Arabian Gulf League". Inside World Football. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
5. persiangulfstudies.com. "Persian Gulf Studies Center". Persiangulfstudies.com. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
6. "Iran bars captain's UAE transfer over Gulf name". Fox News. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
7. "Ajman coach Abdul Qader: Shock Etisalat Cup final win is just step 1".
8. John McAuley (21 June 2013). "Arabian Gulf League: Al Nasr give Ivan Jovanovic carte blanche". The National. Abu Dhabi Media. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
9. "Paulo Bonamigo's rebuilding job at Sharjah starts with Ze Carlos". The National. The National. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
10. "Quique Sanchez Flores wants Al Ain to be inspired at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium". The National. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
11. "Pro League: Wahda announce Czech as new coach as Hickersbergers sees out draw with Jazira". The National. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
12. "Quique Flores leaves Al Ahli". Pro League. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
13. "Do not judge me, says Olaroiu after switch over from Al Ain to Al Ahli". The National. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
14. "Walter Zenga leaves Al Nasr by mutual consent". Pro League. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
15. "Al Nasr reach tentative agreement with new coach Ivan Jovanovic". Pro League. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
16. "Arabian Gulf League: Walter Zenga has a view to stick around". The National. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
17. "Arabian Gulf League: Jorge da Silva to bring winning ways to Baniyas". The National. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
18. "Swiss coach Martin Rueda takes over the helm at Dubai club". The National. Abu Dhabi Media. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
19. John McAuley (28 May 2013). "Pro League: Al Wasl unveil Laurent Banide as their new manager". The National. Abu Dhabi Media. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
20. "Fossati Al Ain Manager Officially". The National. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
21. "Al Ain dismiss Fossati". Pro League Committee. 14 September 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
22. "Laurent Banide dismissed as Al Wasl coach". UAE National Newspaper. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
23. "Walter Zenga replaces Milla at Al Jazira". UAE National Newspaper. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
24. "Dubai part ways with coach Martin Reuda". UAE National Newspaper. 4 November 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
25. "Karel Jarolim sacked as Al Wahda coach". The National. 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
26. "Former Braga coach Jose Peseiro is Al Wahda’s man". The National. 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
27. "New coach Paulo Comelli intent on proving he is no ‘tourist’". The National. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
28. "Emirates unveil new Head Coach Paulo Comelli". Pro League Committee. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
29. "Shaab coach sacked in seventh casualty of Arabian Gulf League this season". The National. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
30. "Al Shaab turn to Zeljko Petrovic to save Arabian Gulf League campaign". The National. 23 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.