Learn about the lists of nominees for the Best Awards in the 2025-2026 professional season

The UAE Professional League announced the list of nominees for the 2025-2026 sports season awards, with voting open from today, for a period of five days, until the first of next August.
The association said in a press statement that team leaders and coaches, media professionals, and fans have the right to participate in the voting, which will be available through the association’s official website and smart applications, and the identity of the winners will be revealed during the annual ceremony scheduled to be held next August 10 at the Emirates Palace Hotel, Mandarin Oriental.

Golden Ball Award
The best players include: Matías Palacios, Kodjo Lapa, Rami Rabia, Alejandro Romero, and Sufyan Rahimi (Al Ain), along with Nicolas Jimenez (Al Wasl), Shabab Al Ahly duo Youri Cesar and Guilherme Bala, Omar Kharbin (Al Wahda), and Tariq Tisodale (Khorfakkan).

Gold Glove Award
The best goalkeepers include: Khaled Issa (Al-Ain), Hamad Al-Muqbali (Shabab Al-Ahly), Ali Al-Hosani (Ajman), Ali Khasif (Al-Jazira), and Zayed Ahmed (Al-Wahda).

Leader Award for Best Coach
It witnesses a five-way competition between Vladimir Ivic (Al Ain), Goran Tovijdzic (Ajman), Rui Vitoria (Al Wasl), Marino Bosic (Al Jazira), and Paulo Souza (Shabab Al Ahly).

Golden Boy Award
The award is given to the most promising player under 23 years of age to Abdelkarim Traoré and Houcine Rahimi (Al Ain), Vinicius Melo and Mamadou Koulibaly (Al Jazira), Renan Victor, Mohamed Al Mansouri, and Kun Santos (Shabab Al Ahly), and Abdallah Toure (Al Nassr).

People’s Choice Player of the Year Award
23 players are competing for it, with eight players from Al Ain, namely: Kodjo Laba, Rami Rabia, Matias Palacios, Sufyan Rahimi, Alejandro Romero, Khaled Issa, Abdelkarim Traoré, Al Hussein Rahimi, and six players from Shabab Al Ahly, namely: Youri Cesar, Guilherme Bala, Hamad Al Muqbali, Renan Victor, Mohamed Al Mansouri, Kun Santos Silva, and three players from Al Jazeera, they are: Ali Khasif, Mamadou Koulibaly, and Vinicius Melo, and two players from Al Wahda: Omar Kharbin and Zayed Ahmed, along with Nicolas Jimenez (Al Wasl), Tariq Tisodale (Khorfakkan), Ali Al Hosani (Ajman), and Abdullah Toure (Al Nasr). The category also includes an award for the most beautiful goal chosen by the public.

Statistics Awards
It was won by the top scorer in the Professional League, Al Ain striker Laba Kodjo, the Golden Shoe Award for top scorer in the League Cup, which was won by Abdullah Toure, Al-Nasr player, and the Silver Shoe Award for top scorer in the U-23 Professional League, which was won by Ali Al-Maamari, in addition to the Dream Team Award, which includes the best 11 players of the season.

The third category is the Standards Awards, which includes the Public Attendance Award and the Club Licensing and Professionalism Award.