Champions Al Ahli will be confident they can convert team success into individual accolades after they dominated the final shortlists for Saturday’s 2015/16 Arabian Gulf League Awards.
Organising body the Pro League Committee on Monday released the top-three nominees for each of the five categories voted on by industry experts. This has seen the candidates whittled down from ten in each of the Emirati Player of the Year, Foreign Player of the Year and U21 Player of the Year sections, while two names have been bounced out of the running for the Coach of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year prizes.
The Red Knights are in the mix in each one of the celebrated quintet but U21. They will hold realistic aspirations that coach Cosmin Olaroiu, goalkeeper Majed Nasser and Brazil playmaker Everton Ribeiro will take away gongs during a glitzy ceremony at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace.
Injured defensive midfielder Majed Hassan is in contention for the Emirati trophy, but he faces stellar opposition. Al Ain playmaker Omar Abdulrahman has arguably been the top flight’s leading performer thanks to his 12 assists, while Al Jazira front man Ali Mabkhout finished second top scorer with 23 goals.
In total, 11 categories will be recognised in the capital this weekend. One such is Fans’ Player of the Year, in which votes on the PLC’s official social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – @AGLeague) saw Omar Abdulrahman (Al Ain), Fellipe Bastos (Al Ain) and Omar Khrbin (Al Dhafra) emerged as the leading trio.
EMIRATI PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Majed Hassan (Al Ahli), Ali Mabkhout (Al Jazira), Omar Abdulrahman (Al Ain)
FOREIGN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Everton Ribeiro (Al Ahli), Sebastian Tagliabue (Al Wahda)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Zlatko Dalic (Al Ain), Cosmin Olaroiu (Al Ahli), Javier Aguirre (Al Wahda)
GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR
Majed Nasser (Al Ahli), Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ahmed Shambieh (Al Nasr)
U21 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Mohamed Al Akbari (Al Wahda), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Waleed Ambar (Emirates Club)