UAE Pro League Awards 2025-26: Al Ain Sweep Honours as Andrés Iniesta Named Global Ambassador

In a ceremony held at Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental in Abu Dhabi, the UAE Pro League celebrated its biggest winners of the 2025-26 season. The league's Chairman, H.E. Abdulla Naser Al Jneibi, welcomed attendees and highlighted key achievements of the season. Al Jneibi pointed out the growing influence of football in the region, with the league reaching over 45 million television viewers and being covered by more than 800 media outlets.

The league also generated five billion media impressions and a media value of AED 1 billion. Digital platforms contributed significantly to these numbers, with more than five billion media impressions. The league's new anthem, "Football Brings Us Together", was launched, celebrating the UAE's diverse society and the League's growing identity.

Andrés Iniesta, a World Cup winner and head coach of UAE's Gulf United, was named a global ambassador for the UAE Pro League, signaling a significant step in raising the league's international profile. Al Ain was the standout club of the season, sweeping up all the awards after a remarkable campaign in which they didn't lose a single match.

Matias Palacios won the Golden Ball for Best Player, Khalid Eissa took the Golden Glove for Best Goalkeeper, and Vladimir Ivić was named Best Coach. The young talent of the season was Abdulkarim Trawri, awarded Best U23 Player. Soufian Rahimi, also from Al Ain, was named Fans' Player of the Year. Sérgio Pereira of Al Wasl was the Best Goal award winner, while Kodjo Laba and Abdoulaye Toure won the ADNOC Pro League Golden Shoe and ADIB Cup Golden Shoe, respectively, based on statistics.

Ali Al-Maamari clinched the Pro League U23 Silver Shoe with 17 goals. Al Ain's victory over Sharjah clinched their ADNOC Pro League title.