UAE Pro League unveils nominees for 2025–26 season awards

The UAE Pro League has announced the nominees for the 2025–26 Season Awards, with the winners set to be honoured during the annual awards ceremony at Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental in Abu Dhabi on 10 August.

The awards celebrate the season’s standout performers across the Golden Ball , Golden Boy, Golden Glove, The Leader Award, as well as the Fans’ Player of the Year and Best Goal Award.

Ten players have been shortlisted for the Golden Ball Award. The nominees are Matias Palacios, Alejandro Romero, Laba Kodjo, Soufian Rahimi and Rami Rabiea (Al Ain), Nicolás Giménez (Al Wasl), Yuri César and Guilherme Bala (Shabab Al Ahli), Omar Khribin (Al Wahda), Tarik Tissoudali (Khorfakkan).

Five goalkeepers have been nominated for the Golden Glove Award: Khalid Eissa (Al Ain),Hamad Al Meqbali (Shabab Al Ahli), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Ali Al Hosani (Ajman), and Zayed Ahmed (Al Wahda).

The nominees for the Leader Award are Vladimir Ivić (Al Ain), Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa (Shabab Al Ahli), Marino Pusic (Al Jazira), Goran Tufegdžić (Ajman), Rui Carlos Pinho da Vitória (Al Wasl).

The Golden Boy Award features Abdulkarim Trawri, El Houssein Rahimi (Al Ain), Vinicius Melo, Mamadou Coulibaly (Al Jazira), Renan Victor Da Silva, Mohammed Almansoori, Kauan Santos (Shabab Al Ahli), and Abdoulaye Toure (Al Nasr).

A total of 23 players have been shortlisted for the Fans’ Player of the Year Award.

Voting for the awards will open at 2:00 pm on 27 July and close at 2:00 pm on 1 August through the UAE Pro League’s official website and mobile application. Votes will be cast by team captains, head coaches, media representatives, and fans.

The ceremony will also honour the winners of several statistics-based awards, including the The Golden Shoe – League Top Scorer, won by Kodjo Laba (Al Ain); The Golden Shoe – ADIB Cup Top Scorer, awarded to Abdoulaye Toure (Al Nasr), The Silver Shoe – League U23 Top Scorer, won by Ali AlMemar. Additional honours will include the Dream Team Award, the Fan Attendance Award.

Finally, the UAE Pro League will present an award based on specific criteria: Club Licensing and Professionalism Award, which will be granted to the club that meets the defined standards outlined by the UAE Pro League.