The 2015–16

Oman Professional League The Oman Professional League (; known as the ''Omantel Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the Omantel Elite League, is the top division of the Oman Football Association, and was officially created in 1976. Curren ...

(known as the ''

Omantel Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) is the first telecommunications company in Oman and is the primary provider of internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that ...

Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons) is the 40th edition of the top

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. The season began on 13 September 2015 and conclude on 14 April 2016. The start of the 2015–16 Professional League season which was scheduled for 19 August 2015 was later postponed to 13 September 2015 following requests from five of the 14 participating clubs (Al-Oruba, Fanja, Al-Nahda, Saham and Sur).

Al-Oruba SC Al-Oruba Sports Club was a Qatari football club. The football club merged with Al-Nasour to form a new football club named Al-Esteqlal, now known as Qatar SC. It was a founding member of the Q-League and it has won five consecutive Q-League tit ...

are the defending champions, having won their fourth title in the previous

2014–15 Oman Professional League The 2014–15 Oman Professional League (known as the ''Omantel Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 39th edition of the top football league in Oman. The season began on 11 September 2014, and concluded on 28 May 2015. Al-Nahda C ...

season. At the end of the 25th round,

Oman Football Association The Oman Football Association () is the governing body of football in Oman. It was founded in 1978, and has been a member of the Asian Football Confederation and of FIFA since 1980. History The first football club of the Sultanate (documented ...

announced that if the top two teams at the end of the last round end up with equal points, the two teams will play a home and away championship play-off on 28 April 2016 and 2 May 2016 at the respective home grounds. The curtains came down on a thrilling OPL season with

Fanja SC Fanja Sports Club (; known locally as ''Al-Malik''; ), known simply as Fanja, is an Omani professional sports club based in Fanja. The club currently plays in the Oman Professional League, top division of Oman Football Association. Their home g ...

outplaying Al-Suwaiq SC for a 2-0 victory and a record-equalling ninth domestic league crown on Sunday, 24 April 2016.

Teams

This season the league had 14 teams. Bowsher Club and

Al-Seeb Club Al-Seeb Club (; also known as ''The Emperor'', "Master of the Clubs", Al-Seeb or Seeb Club) is an Football in Oman, Omani professional Association football, football club based in Seeb, Al-Seeb, that competes in the Oman Professional League, the ...

were relegated to the

Oman First Division League The Oman First Division League (known as the Omantel First Division League for sponsorship purposes) is the second-highest association football, football league in Oman. Contested by 13 teams, the top 2 replace the bottom two in the Oman Profess ...

after finishing in the relegation zone in the

season.

Sohar SC Sohar Sporting Club () is an Football clubs of Oman, Omani sports club based in Sohar, Oman. The club currently plays in the Oman Professional League, top division of Oman Football Association. Their home ground is in City of Sohar. History The ...

however again managed to play in the top division as they won the Relegation/Promotion playoff against

Al-Rustaq SC Al-Rustaq Sports Football Club (Arabic: نادي الرستاق الرياضي لكرة القدم) is an Omani sports club based in Rustaq, Oman. In 2016, the club was promoted to the first tier for the first time in its history. For the 2022 ...

who had finished third in the 2014–15 Oman First Division League to earn the Relegation/Promotion playoff spot. The two relegated teams were replaced by Oman First Division League winners Muscat Club and runners-up

Salalah SC Salalah Sport Club (; also known locally as ''Al-Nimoor'', or "The Tiger(s)", or just simply as Salalah, is an Omani football club based in Oman's southern city of Salalah. Their home ground is Al-Saada Stadium, but they also recognize the older ...

Stadiums and locations

:''Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.''

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managerial changes

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team could use four foreign players on the field during each game including at least one player from the AFC country.

League table

Results

Clubs season-progress

Promotion/relegation play-off

1st leg

2nd leg

Ja'lan earned promotion to

2016–17 Oman Professional League The 2016–17 Oman Professional League (known as the ''Omantel Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons) is the 41st edition of the top Association football, football league in Oman. The season will begin on 17 September 2016 and is set to co ...

after winning 3-2 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Top Omani Scorers

Hat-tricks

^* Player scored 4 goals

OFA Awards

awarded the following awards for the 2015–16 Oman Professional League season. *Top Scorer: Vedran Gerc (Sohar) *Best Player: Mohammed Al-Musalami (Fanja) *Best Goalkeeper: Riyadh Al-Alawi (Al-Oruba) *Best Coach:

Abderrazak Khairi Abderrazak Khairi (born 20 November 1962) is a Moroccan former football player and coach who played as a midfielder. Career Born in Rabat, Khairi played for the local club FAR Rabat. He scored goals in the 1985 and 1986 Coupe du Trône finals, ...

(Al-Suwaiq) *Best Team Manager: Hamdan Bait Said (Salalah) *Fair Play Award:

Media coverage

Controversies

The league was the subject of controversies like the refusal of

and

2014–15 Sultan Qaboos Cup The 2014–15 Sultan Qaboos Cup was the 42nd edition of the Sultan Qaboos Cup (), the premier knockout tournament for football teams in Oman. The competition began on 9 October 2014 with the qualification round. Fanja SC were the defending champ ...

to play in the 2015

Oman Super Cup The Oman Super Cup () is an Omani football cup competition. It has been played on and off since the first edition was held in 1999. It is the curtain raiser to the Omani football season. It pairs the previous season's Sultan Qaboos Cup winners aga ...

. On 19 August 2015, the defending

and

Sultan Qaboos Cup The Sultan Qaboos Cup (), also known as the HM's Cup, is Oman's premier knockout tournament for men's football. It was officially founded in 1972 and the champions of that first edition were Al-Ahli. It was briefly known as Oman Cup. Currently, t ...

champions,

decided to pull out of the 2015 Oman Super Cup citing non-payment of dues by the

and a late release of its players from national and army team camps as the main reasons behind the club's decision to pull out. On 21 August 2015, Fanja was declared the winner of the Super Cup after its opponent, Al-Oruba, as expected failed to turn up for the match. On 6 September 2015, the defending champions were punished by the OFA's disciplinary committee for failing to turn up against Fanja in the 2015 Oman Super Cup. The defending champions of both the Oman Professional League and the Sultan Qaboos Cup were fined a sum of

Omani Rial The Omani rial (, ISO 4217 code OMR) is the currency of Oman. It is divided into 1000 ''paisa, baisa'' (also written ''baiza'', ). Fixed exchange rate From 1973 to 1986, the rial was pegged to the United States dollar, U.S. dollar at 1 Omani rial ...

500 and the committee decided that the club will play their first five 2015–16 Oman Professional League fixtures away from home.

References

External links

Season
at soccerway.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Oman Professional League Top level Omani football league seasons 2015–16 in Omani football