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The Pro-League 4th edition launches today

The first edition of the UAE League Competition was launched in the 1973-1974 season after two years of the foundation of the Union State and the first champion of the League were Al Orooba from Sharjah Emirate known later as Sharjah Club. Th competition continued on an annual basis, and stopped only once in the middle of the1990-1991 season, when the competition was not completed because of the outbreak of the war to liberate Kuwait in January 91. 
8 clubs crowned champions
The competition which starts today is number 38 edition and 8 clubs were crowned champions since it got underway. Al Ain Club were championships nine times, Al Wasl (7), each of Sharjah and Al Ahli (5), Al Wahda (4), Al Nasr and Al Shabab (3) and Al Jazira only once.
The League continued on the same bases until the end of the 2007-2008 season where Al Shabab won the last edition, before the start of the professional league in the next season 2008-2009 under the auspices of Telecommunications Company bringing the so-called "Etisalat Pro-League". Twelve clubs are participating in the competition and the first edition was won by Al Ahli followed by Al Wahda in the 2009-2010 season, then Al Jazira who captured the latest title, for the first time in its history.
Sengahoor last goal scorers:
Senegalese player Andre Sengahoor of Bani Yas netted 18 goals in 22 appearances to finish the last season on top of the scorers, and it is not necessarily that the top scorer should always be from the champion club. This happened only in eight seasons : Al Ahli won the championship in the 74-75 season and their player Suhail Salim was the top scorer; in the 83-84 season Al Ain were crowned champions and Ahmed Abdullah the top scorer( 84-85 Al Wasl Club and their striker  Fahd Khamis was the top scorer, ( 87-88 Al Wasl were champions  and Zuhair Bakhit the scorer); in season 92-93 Al Ain and Saif Sultan won the trophies;, Sharjah became champions in the 93-94 season with Abdul Aziz Mohammad top scorer , Al Wahda won the title in the 98-99 season and their star Al Bouri la was the scorer and they repeated their achievement in the 2000-2001 season with  Muhammad Al Anzi the top scorer. In the last ten seasons starting from the 2001-2002 seasons and until last season the top scorer did not belong to the champion club.
Al Bouri la from Senegal won the scorers' title twice with Al Wahda when he scored 29 goals in the 98-99 season and 18 in 99-2000 and in the 37 seasons the local players have won the scorers' title 20 times against 17 titles for the foreign players.
Prominent referees in the League history
The international referees Farid Abdul Rahman and Abdullah Al Saei became well known since the start of the league in the mid-seventies who set the base for the local referees, in addition to Khalfan Ali Khalfan, Abbas Mohammad Hassan and some Arab referees: Samir Khoury, Mohammad Kamal Mustafa Hamza, Ahmed Bash, Mohammad Zaki, Mohammad Sharkas, Omar Osman, Mohi Karam, Basheir Jame, Abdulrahman Odah, Ragab Abdel Moneim, Khatim Osman, Bassim Al Serugi, Yasin Muhammad, Mohammad Abdul Aleem, Al Amin Al Fahal, and others. Some referees from Arab Gulf states also officiated in important matches. 
Ali Bu jisaim and a global start
In the mid-eighties a new generation of referees led by the International Ali Bu jisaim who took the UAE refereeing from the local to the global standard, and he was the best ambassador for the UAE football in international forums. Bu jisaim participated in three World Cups Finals: 94 in the United States, 98 in France and 2002 in Korea and Japan. In the same period there were Salim Saeed, Saeed Abdullah, Ahmed Hakim, Abdul Aziz Al-Mulla, Muslam Ahmed, Ahmad Yaagoub, Nasir Abdullah, Ibrahim Al Amash, Salah Amin followed by another generation which it included:  Mohammad Omar, Farid Ali, Essa Darweesh who participated as an assistant referee in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and Saleh Al Marzogi who also participated as an assistant referee in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa 2010.
Referees of the current season
The international referees who will officiate in this season are seven: Ali Hamad, Mohammad Abdu Karim, Mohammad Abdullah Hassan, Hamad Al Sheikh, Abdullah Al Ajil, Amar Al Junaibi, and Fahd Al Kasar along with nine assistants: Saleh Al Marzouqi, Saad Al Hooti, Mohammad Abdullah Jasim, Omar Al Adhab, Mohammad Jasim Al Jalaf, Ahmed Al Shamsi, Mohammad Ahmed Yousuf, Hassan Socotry, Zayed Dawood, in addition tens from the first and second division referees and assistant referees.
Coaches in league history
The Egyptian coach Mohammad Siddig Shahta was the first to work in the UAE clubs as a free coach. After coaching Al Ahli in 1970, he was followed by famous coaches like English Done Revee, Yugoslavian Tadic, Egyptian Hassan Shehata, Irish Pat Seward, Tunisian Abdul Majeed Shetali, Iranian Heshmat Mohajerani, Brazilians Ninosolapola, Omar Porras from Uruguay, Brazilian Daniilo, two Tunisians Fawzi Lotfi and Lotfi Al Banzarti, and other prominent names in the world of football training.