Al Ain stars Palacios, Laba and Rahimi shortlisted for Golden Ball Award

The UAE Pro League has announced the final shortlists for the 2025–26 Season Awards, with the winners to be revealed during the annual awards ceremony on Monday, Aug.10, at the Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental in Abu Dhabi.

The ceremony will honour the winners across all award categories.

Three Al Ain stars have been shortlisted for the Golden Ball Award for Best Player: Matias Palacios, Kodjo Laba, and Soufian Rahimi.

The finalists for the Leader Award for Best Coach are Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa (Shabab Al Ahli), Vladimir Ivic (Al Ain), and Goran Tufegdzic (Ajman).

Competing for the Golden Glove Award for Best Goalkeeper are Khalid Eissa (Al Ain), Zayed Ahmed (Al Wahda), and Hamad Al Meqbaali (Shabab Al Ahli).

The Golden Boy Award for Best U23 Player will be contested by Abdulkarim Trawri and El Houssein Rahimi (Al Ain), alongside Abdoulaye Toure (Al Nasr).

The shortlist for the Fans’ Player of the Year Award features Nicolas Gimenez (Al Wasl), Rami Rabiea (Al Ain), and Soufian Rahimi (Al Ain).

Meanwhile, El Houssien Rahimi (Al Ain), Alejandro Romero (Al Ain), and Sergio Pereira (Al Wasl) have been shortlisted for the Best Goal Award.

In the criteria-based awards, Al Wasl, Al Nasr, and Al Ain are the finalists for the Club Licensing and Professionalism Award, while Bani Yas, Al Ain, and Al Dhafra have been shortlisted for the Fan Attendance Award.

The ceremony will also recognise the winners of the statistics-based awards. Kodjo Laba (Al Ain) secured the Golden Shoe – ADNOC Pro League Top Scorer award after finishing the season with 25 goals, while Abdoulaye Toure (Al Nasr) claimed the Golden Shoe – ADIB Cup Top Scorer award with four goals. Ali Al-Maamari (Al Jazira) won the Silver Shoe – U23 League Top Scorer award after scoring 17 goals.

In addition, the Dream Team, featuring the season’s best XI, will be unveiled during the ceremony.

The UAE Pro League continued its 2026–27 Season Launch Workshop on Monday at Rixos Marina Abu Dhabi.

The workshop was attended by Musab Al Marzooqi, CEO of the UAE Pro League, representatives of professional football clubs, match officials, and league administrations’ representatives as preparations continue for the new season.

Opening the second day of the workshop, Al Marzooqi welcomed attendees to the annual gathering, describing it as an important platform to review the latest developments, exchange knowledge and ensure all stakeholders enter the new campaign with a shared vision and full readiness.

He emphasised that every successful season begins with thorough preparation.

“The real start of the season is our preparation. The better we prepare, the higher the quality of our competitions and the better the experience we deliver to clubs, fans and partners,” he affirmed.

The UAE Pro League CEO added that the UAE Pro League views professionalism as an ongoing journey of continuous improvement, driven by adopting best practices, learning from successful experiences and working together towards common objectives.

As part of the League’s commitment to benefiting from international expertise, representatives from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) took part in the workshop.

Chetan Kulkarni, Head of Operations of AFC, delivered a comprehensive presentation on matchday operations, covering technical, organisational, commercial, media, security and fan engagement aspects required to deliver world-class football events.

Meanwhile, Dojin Sa, AFC Head of Professional Football Department, presented a detailed session on club development, highlighting key professional requirements, areas of strength and the challenges faced by professional clubs as they continue their development.