Yemeni League

Yemeni League
Founded
1990
Nation
Yemen
Number of Teams
14
Asian Qualification
AFC Cup
Most time Champions
Al-Ahli San'a (10)
Current Champions (2014)
Al-Saqr Ta'izz

Yemeni League is the top division of the Yemen Football Association. It was created in 1990 after the unification of North and South Yemen. It was set up in a four-level league system: Premier, First, Second and Third divisions.^[1]

16 northern and 16 southern clubs entered the top level championship in the 1990–91 season. Previously, two separate championships were used for North Yemen and South Yemen.

Currently, 14 clubs play at the top level, with four clubs being relegated to the 2nd tier. The season is generally run from early November to late June with the league winners entering the AFC Cup and Arab Champions League.

The league aimed to go fully professional in the 2008–09 campaign.^[2]

The 2014-15 campaign was cancelled due to the Civil War which also stopped all footballing activities in the country.

Yemeni League Member Clubs

Ta'izz

Aden

San'a

Zabid

Ibb

Al Hudaydah

Al Mukalla

Zinjibar

Locations of teams in the 2014–15 Yemeni League

Club	Location	Stadium
Al-Ahli San'a	Sana'a	Ali Muhesen Stadium
Al-Hilal Al-Sahili	Al Hudaydah	Al Ulufi Stadium
Al-Ittihad Ibb	Ibb
Al-Oruba Zabid	Sana'a	Ali Muhesen Stadium
Al-Saqr Ta'izz	Ta'izz
Al-Sha'ab Hadramaut	Al Mukalla	Baradem Mukalla Stadium
Al-Sha'ab Ibb	Ibb
Al-Shula Aden	Aden
Al-Tilal Aden	Aden	May 22 Stadium
Al-Wahda Aden	Aden
Al-Wahda San'a'	Sana'a
Al Yarmuk Al Rawda	Sana'a
Fahman Abyan	Abyan
Shabab Al-Jeel	Al Hudaydah

• Al Oruba appear to represent the small town of Zabid, but play all games in Sana'a.

Champions Yemeni League (before the unification)

No.	Season	North Yemen	South Yemen
1	1970–71	Not Held	Al-Tilal Aden
2	1971–72	Not Held	؟؟؟
3	1972–73	Not Held	؟؟؟
4	1973–74	Not Held	؟؟؟
5	1974–75	Not Held	؟؟؟
6	1975–76	Not Held	Al-Wahda Aden
7	1976–77	Not Held	Al-Tilal Aden
8	1977–78	Not held	؟؟؟
9	1978–79	Al-Wahda San'a	؟؟؟
10	1979–80	Al-Zuhra	Al-Tilal Aden
11	1980–81	Al-Ahli San'a	؟؟؟
12	1981–82	Al-Sha'ab San'a	Al-Tilal Aden
13	1982–83	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Tilal Aden
14	1983–84	Al-Ahli San'a	Al Shorta Aden
15	1984–85	Not Held	؟؟؟
16	1985–86	Al Shorta San'a'	؟؟؟
17	1986–87	Not Held	Al Tilal Aden
18	1987–88	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Wahda Aden
19	1988–89	Al Yarmuk Al Rawda	Al-Wahda Aden
20	1989–90	Al Yarmuk Al Rawda	Al-Shula Aden

Yemeni League Champions

No.	Season	Champion	Runner-up	Third place	Top scorers	Top scorer's club(s)	Goals
1	1990–91	Al-Tilal Aden	Al-Mena	Al-Ahli San'a	Munif Shaif	Al-Mena	16
2	1991–92	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Tilal Aden	Al-Shula Aden	Sharaf Mahfood	Al-Tilal Aden	30
	1992–93	Note Held
3	1993–94	Al-Ahli San'a	Hassan Abyan	Al-Wahda Aden	Mohammad Al-Azazy	Al Zuhra	19
4	1994–95	Al-Wahda San'a	Al-Ahli San'a	Hassan Abyan	Jiab Bashafaay	Hassan Abyan	25
	1995–96	Not Held
5	1996–97	Al-Wahda San'a	Al-Tilal Aden	Al-Ahly Al Hudaydah	Jameel Al-Maktry	Shamsan Aden	21
6	1997–98	Al-Wahda San'a	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Shula Aden	Adel Al-Salimi	Al-Ahli San'a	20
7	1998–99	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Wahda San'a	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	Fathi Jabir	Al-Tilal Aden	22
8	1999–00	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Tali'aa Taizz	Al-Wahda San'a	Adel Al-Salimi	Al-Ahli San'a	17
9	2000–01	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	Al-Tilal Aden	Ali Al-Nono	Al-Ahli San'a	24
10	2001–02	Al-Wahda San'a	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Hilal Al-Sahili	Adel Al-Salimi	Al-Ahli San'a	18
11	2002–03	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	Al-Tilal Aden	Al-Hilal Al-Sahili	Fekri Al-Hubaishi	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	13
12	2003–04	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Tilal Aden	Yordanos Abay	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	15
13	2004–05	Al-Tilal Aden	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	Al-Ahli San'a	Yordanos Abay	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	16
14	2005–06	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	Al-Tilal Aden	Fekri Al-Hubaishi	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	26
15	2006–07	Al-Ahli San'a	Hassan Abyan	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	Berhanu Kaseem	Al-Hilal Al-Sahili	15
16	2007–08	Al-Hilal Al-Sahili	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Shula Aden	Ali Al-Nono	Al-Ahli San'a	11
17	2008–09	Al-Hilal Al-Sahili	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	Lomi Antita	Al-Ahli San'a	13
18	2009–10	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	Al-Tilal Aden	Shabab Al Baydaa	Amboio	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	15
19	2010–11	Al-Oruba Zabid	Al-Tilal Aden	Al-Ahli San'a	Tesfaye Tafese	Al-Tilal Aden	14
20	2011–12	Al-Sha'ab Ibb	Al-Ittihad Ibb	Al-Oruba Zabid	Shaaban Naggar	Al-Oruba Zabid	14
21	2013	Al Yarmuk Al Rawda	Al-Sha'ab Hadramaut	Al-Saqr Ta'izz
22	2013–14	Al-Saqr Ta'izz	Al-Ahli San'a	Al-Tilal Aden
23	2014–15	Cancelled
	2015–16	Not Held

All-time top scorers

As of 6 July 2013.

Rank	Player	Country	Goals	Years	Clubs
1	Ali Al-Nono	Yemen	163	1999–	Al-Ahli San'a, Al-Tilal Aden
2	Adel Al-Salimi	Yemen	136	1997–11	Al-Ahli San'a, Al-Wahda San'a
3	Sharaf Mahfood	Yemen	121	1985–05	Al-Tilal Aden
4	Fathi Jabir	Yemen	108	1997–08	Al-Tilal Aden
5	Yordanos Abay	Ethiopia	100	2003–	Al-Saqr Ta'izz

Total titles won

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Third place
Al-Ahli San'a	10	7	3
Al-Tilal Aden	8	5	4
Al-Wahda San'a	5	1	1
Al-Sha'ab Ibb	3	2	1
Al-Saqr Ta'izz	3	1	3
Al-Wahda Aden	3	0	1
Al Yarmuk Al Rawda	3	0	0
Al-Hilal Al-Sahili	2	0	2
Al-Shula Aden	1	0	3
Al-Oruba Zabid	1	0	1
Al-Zuhra	1	0	0
Al-Sha'ab San'a	1	0	0
Al-Shorta San'a'	1	0	0
Al-Shorta Aden	1	0	0
Al-Ittihad Ibb	0	1	0
Al-Sha'ab Hadramaut	0	1	0

• Al Yarmuk Al Rawda won championships in 1989 and 1990 as Al Yarmouk San'a'

Total titles won by town or city

Fourteen clubs from a total of five towns and cities have been champions.

Town or city	Number of titles	Clubs
San'a'	22	Al-Ahli (10), Al-Wahda (5), Al Yarmouk(3), Al-Oruba(1), Al-Zuhra(1), Al-Sha'ab(1), Al-Shorta(1)
Aden	13	Al-Tilal (8), Al-Wahda (3), Al-Shula (1), Al-Shorta (1)
Ta'izz	3	Al-Saqr (3)
Ibb	2	Al-Sha'ab (2)
Al Hudaydah	2	Al-Hilal (2)

References

1. Unified Yemen
2. دوري المحترفين .. خطوات جادة

External links

• Official site (Arabic)
• http://www.rsssf.com/tablesy/yemenchamp.html RSSSF
• Yemeni League – Hailoosport.com (Arabic)
• Yemeni League – Hailoosport.com