DUBAI: A three-week pause in play provides welcome opportunity to take stock of what has been a breathtaking start to the 2024-2025 ADNOC Pro League.
Fueled by Iran superstar Sardar Azmoun’s instant impact, Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai Club sit joint top of the standings with an ominous 100 percent record from six outings.
A reinvigorated Sharjah under their rebounding “trophy machine” Cosmin Olaroiu are keeping pace on 18 points from seven fixtures.
Meanwhile, a talented chasing pack includes Hussein Ammouta taking his winning touch from Jordan to Al-Jazira, and neighbors Al-Wahda under their Celtic-inspired managerial duo of Ronny Deila and assistant Kenny Miller.
Stumbles from holders Al-Wasl and AFC Champions League kings Al-Ain add further intrigue.
Increasingly familiar difficulties for promoted clubs Dibba Al-Hisn and Al-Orooba provide some concern, plus mixed feelings about how the UAE’s World Cup 2026 qualifying mission is progressing.
Here are Arab News’ key talking points from the top flight’s early action.
An influx of talent and excitement
The majority of ADNOC Pro League clubs can reflect on a job well done in the transfer market. Most strikingly, Shabab Al-Ahli.
Iran’s Azmoun has gone from Bundesliga title joy at Bayer Leverkusen, to six goals in six starts under the enlightening tutelage of new head coach Paulo Sousa.
Global headlines were claimed by much-improved Jazira’s capture of France and Real Betis magician Nabil Fekir, plus Egypt and Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny. A rise to fourth under the wise Ammouta is testament to this work.
Deila has Wahda in third off the back of 2023-2024 Belgian Pro League glory with Club Brugge.
Kalba’s smart decision to bring astute Middle East-campaigner Vuk Rasovic back to the UAE has them sitting a solid sixth, and ex-Netherlands anchorman Leroy Fer has added ballast to fifth-placed Al-Nasr.
Ex-Liverpool winger Lazar Markovic and Romania’s Euro 2024 lead defender Andrei Burca are in situ at Baniyas, with Jamaica forward Junior Flemmings among the goals for Ajman.
An impressive introduction promises much for the challenges ahead.
Headache for the holders continues
It is one of Middle East football’s enduring conundrums.
Why can the ADNOC Pro League champions not hold onto their title? On current form, seventh-placed Al-Wasl — nine points off the pace, having played a game more than Shabab Al-Ahli — look likely to join this list.
You have to go back to 2011-2013 for the last time a UAE club, Al-Ain, retained their crown.
In the same period, Al-Nassr (2013-2015) and Al-Hilal (2016-2018; 2019-2022) have dominated the Roshn Saudi League. In the Qatar Stars League, Al-Sadd (2020-2022) and Lekhwiya, now Al-Duhail, have repeated such feats (2013-2015; 2016-2018).
Have the AFC Champions League Elite commitments drained resources? Has injury to Serbia’s Euro 2024 selection Srdan Mijailovic prevented a necessary shake-up of the XI?
Talent runs deep at Wasl, while boss Milos Milojevic’s four major trophies in two seasons with his current employers and Red Star Belgrade point to serious winning pedigree.
Maybe this is just a blip for the storied club who waited 17 years between ADNOC Pro League successes.
What is next for Crespo and Al-Ain?
May’s unexpected, but richly merited, Asian triumph now seems a long time ago for Al-Ain and Hernan Crespo.
The joy from a pulsating campaign has evaporated in 2024/2025 for “The Boss.” They have dropped points in three of their five league outings to sit a distant eighth with two games in hand, while just one point is on the board from three AFC Champions League Elite – League Stage fixtures.
Youth was paramount to their summer recruitment. Porto center-back Fabio Cardoso, 30, was the outlier.
Fiorentina loanee Gino Infantino and Paraguayan prospect Matias Segovia, both 21, are among those to show flashes of promise thus far.
It may be a waiting game to see such talents bloom, as Crespo closes on his one-year anniversary amid disappointment about how this term is unfolding.
Is the step-up too big?
Another season, another painful start in the ADNOC Pro League for promoted sides.
Last season’s joint-relegation of Hatta and Spain legend Andres Iniesta’s Emirates Club could be matched by Orooba and Dibba Al-Hisn.
Both inhabit the bottom two. They have conceded the most goals and scored the fewest, winning just one of their combined 14 matches.
Dibba Al-Hisn sit bottom this time, despite adding ample international experience through the likes of Tunisia stars Haythem Jouini and Oussama Haddadi, plus Cameroon midfielder Pierre Kunde. Iran forward Mohammad Reza Azadi was Orooba’s headline recruit.
The competition is not getting any kinder.
Even 2022-2023’s survival of Al-Bataeh was at the expense of fellow new boys Dibba Al-Fujairah. Orooba and Emirates were doomed in 2021/2022.
Can the UAE make their World Cup dream come true?
Domestic pursuits take a backseat to international aspirations for much of November.
Paulo Bento’s UAE kicked off World Cup 2026 qualifying’s third round with the welcome surprise of September’s 3-1 win at double Asian Cup holders Qatar. But a slog now appears apparent.
Only two points separate the third-placed Whites — a position good enough for the fourth round — and bottom-placed North Korea. This is in a Group A from which automatic tournament entry appears already sewn up by Iran and would-be-debutants Uzbekistan.
Brazil-born Jazira forward Bruno last month joined the trickle of naturalized options available to Bento. This could turn into a torrent throughout the next 18 months.
What is not, however, flowing freely are ADNOC Pro League goals for potential callups. Last month’s six dedicated attacking options tally only eight 2024/2025 strikes — seven come from Bruno (four) and Wasl veteran Caio Canedo (three).
An intriguing subplot is record UAE and ADNOC Pro League marksman Ali Mabkhout, 34, sitting on five efforts in seven outings since a reinvigorating summer move to Al-Nasr.
Is rapprochement tempting with an icon who played zero minutes at January’s Asian Cup?
