Saudi Pro League

Saudi Pro League

Organising body	Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF)
Founded	1976; 48 years ago (1976)
Country	Saudi Arabia
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	18
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Saudi First Division League
Domestic cup(s)	King Cup Super Cup
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League Arab Club Champions Cup
Current champions	Al-Ittihad (9th title) (2022–23)
Most championships	Al-Hilal (18 titles)
Most appearances	Mohamed Al-Deayea (406)
Top goalscorer	Majed Abdullah (189 goals)
TV partners	Shahid and SSC (MENA)
Website	spl.com.sa
Current: 2023–24 Saudi Pro League

The first season of competition was the 1976–77 season. The league had been operating as a round-robin tournament from its inaugural season until the 1989–90 season, after that the Saudi Federation decided to merge the football League with the King's Cup in one tournament and the addition of the Golden Box. The Golden Box would be an end of season knockout competition played between the top four teams of the regular league season. These teams would play at a semi-final stage to crown the champions of Saudi Arabia. The league reverted to a round-robin system in the 2007–08 season.

The association is also regularly ranked with the highest coefficient in Asia due to successful and consistent performances in the AFC Champions League by its clubs. Al-Hilal is the most successful team, holding 18 titles in its history and most recently winning the title in 2021–22. Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr are also some of the most successful teams in the league.

Beginning in 2023, the league started experiencing widespread international exposure due to attracting numerous top level players from European leagues through financially lucrative contracts, immediately becoming a star-studded league. The nation's Public Investment Fund took 75% stakes in four founding members (Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, and Al-Nassr) in the same year as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 program.

Up until the late 1950s, football in Saudi Arabia was organized on a regional basis, with the King's Cup being the only nationwide tournament. In 1957, the first qualification process consolidated the regional tournaments of the Central, West, East, and North regions. Clubs competed in their regional leagues to qualify for the King's Cup, which was the final stage of the competition. The winner of the King's Cup was not the league winner.

1976 saw the start of the first-ever professional football league in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with eight teams, the following season the number of clubs increased to ten. The 1981–82 season saw the merger of both the Saudi Premier League and the Saudi First Division for that season exclusively to the concern of the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification process. Twenty teams were divided into two groups, A and B. The top two in each group would enter a semi-final stage to determine the overall champions. In the following season which reverted back to regular round-robin competition, the number of first-division clubs was later increased to 12 in the 1984–85 season.^{[citation needed]}

In December 1990, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation decided to merge the league with the King Cup in one tournament, it was decided to revamp local competitions and introduce professional football. A new league championship was formed called "The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques League Cup", which was a two-stage championship. The first stage was a regular double round-robin league competition with the top 4 qualifying for the final knockout stage, called the golden box. Clubs were allowed to sign players on a professional basis making the league semi-professional. This system lasted for seventeen seasons before reverting to a regular round-robin competition. The league became fully professional in 2007.

As of 2008, depending on the nation's coefficient, four teams from Saudi Arabia qualify for the AFC Champions League annually. This includes the top three positions of the league, together with the winner of the King Cup. If the winner of the King Cup is also among the top three teams then the fourth-best team qualifies for the play-offs, and if the winner of the King Cup is not in the top three league positions in the league, the top two will qualify directly for the group stages while the third team will qualify for the AFC Champions League play-offs.^{[citation needed]}

2023 Saudi "Revolution"

The Saudi Pro League made international headlines in 2023 due to many players from other leagues, particularly those in Europe, transferring to clubs for the 2023–24 season. Cristiano Ronaldo was the first star signing to the league, with the BBC deeming that he led this "revolution" in Asian football. Upon his move to Al-Hilal, Neymar also credited Ronaldo for the immediate transformation of the league. Other players who joined the league include Ballon d'Or-holder Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kanté, Roberto Firmino, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Sadio Mané, Riyad Mahrez and Jordan Henderson. According to Spanish publication Marca the league has "shaken up the European transfer market". The nation's Public Investment Fund took 75% stakes in four founding members (Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, and Al-Nassr) in June 2023 as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 program. These actions have been critcised by many sporting journalists and who have described the transfers as part of a sportswashing scheme by the Saudi government.

Sponsorship

Starting in the 2009–10 season until the 2012-13 season, the league was sponsored by Zain Group.and was known as "Zain league" From the 2013–14 season until the 2017–18 season, Abdul Latif Jameel was the sponsor and the league was known as "Jameel league", from the 2018–19 season until the 2021-22 season major restructuring of Saudi football, under which the league's name reverted to the "Saudi Pro League". From the 2022-23 season, for a five-year period, the sponsor of the league is Roshn and the league is known as "Roshn Saudi league", Roshn is a real estate division of the Public Investment Fund.

Competition

There are 18 clubs in the Saudi Pro League. During the course of a season (usually from August to May) each club plays the other clubs twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for 34 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by position on the league table depending on points, then the head-to-head record between the tied teams is taken into consideration, and then goal difference.^{[citation needed]}

Promotion and relegation

A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Saudi Pro League and Saudi First Division League. The three lowest-placed teams in the Saudi Pro League are relegated to the First Division and the top three teams from the First Division are promoted to the Saudi Pro League.^{[citation needed]}

For details on the 2023–24 Saudi Pro League season, see here.

 

 

Abha

 

Al-Ahli Saudi FC
Al-Ittihad

 

Al-Ettifaq

 

Al-Fateh

 

Al-Fayha

 

Al-Hazem

 

Al-Hilal
Al-Nassr
Al-Riyadh
Al-Shabab

 

Al-Khaleej

 

Al-Okhdood

 

Al-Raed
Al-Taawoun

 

Al-Tai

 

Al-Wehda

 

Damac

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Locations of teams in the 2023–24 Saudi Pro League

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

List of champions

Performance by club

Total titles won by city

As of 2023, 38 clubs have participated in the Saudi football top division.

Note: The tallies below include up to the 2023–24 season. Teams denoted in bold are current participants.^{[citation needed]}

All-time top scorers

As of matches played 30 March 2024

Boldface indicates a player still active in the Pro League.

Rank	Player	Goals	Apps	Ratio	First	Last	Club(s)
1	Majed Abdullah	189	194	0.97	1977	1997	Al-Nassr
2	Nasser Al-Shamrani	167	301	0.55	2003	2019	Al-Wehda, Al-Shabab, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad
3	Omar Al Somah	144	180	0.80	2014	2022	Al-Ahli
4	Abderrazak Hamdallah	128	132	0.97	2018	2023	Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad
5	Fahd Al-Hamdan	120	252	0.48	1984	2000	Al-Riyadh
6	Yasser Al-Qahtani	112	206	0.54	2000	2018	Al-Qadsiah, Al-Hilal
7	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	111	257	0.43	2005	2022	Al-Qadsiah, Al-Nassr, Al-Shabab, Al-Taawoun
8	Sami Al-Jaber	101	268	0.38	1988	2007	Al-Hilal
9	Hamzah Idris	96	–	–	1992	2007	Ohod, Al-Ittihad
10	Obeid Al-Dosari	91	–	–	1996	2005	Al-Wehda, Al-Ahli

Top scorers by season

Season	Nat.	Top scorer(s)	Club(s)	Goals
1975–76		Mohammad S. Abdeli	Al-Nassr	13
1976–77		Nasser Eid	Al-Qadsiah	7
1977–78		Motamad Khojali	Al-Ahli	14
1978–79		Majed Abdullah	Al-Nassr	18
1979–80		Majed Abdullah	Al-Nassr	17
1980–81		Majed Abdullah	Al-Nassr	21
1981–82		Khalid Al-Ma'ajil	Al-Shabab	22
1982–83		Majed Abdullah	Al-Nassr	14
1983–84		Hussam Abu Dawood	Al-Ahli	14
1984–85		Hathal Dosari	Al-Hilal	15
1985–86		Majed Abdullah	Al-Nassr	15
1986–87		Mohammad Suwaidi	Al-Ittihad	17
1987–88		Khalid Al-Ma'ajil	Al-Shabab	12
1988–89		Majed Abdullah	Al-Nassr	19
1989–90		Sami Al-Jaber	Al-Hilal	16
1990–91		Fahad Al-Mehallel	Al-Shabab	20
1991–92		Saeed Al-Owairan	Al-Shabab	16
1992–93		Sami Al-Jaber	Al-Hilal	18
1993–94		Moussa N'Daw	Al-Hilal	15
1994–95		Fahd Al-Hamdan	Al-Riyadh	15
1995–96		Ohene Kennedy	Al-Nassr	14
1996–97		Ahmed Bahja	Al-Ittihad	21
1997–98		Sulaiman Al-Hadaithy	Al-Najma	15
1998–99		Obeid Al-Dosari	Al-Wehda	20
1999–00		Hamzah Idris	Al-Ittihad	33
2000–01		Paulo da Silva	Al-Ettifaq	13
2001–02		Diene Faye	Al-Riyadh	10
2002–03		Carlos Tenorio	Al-Nassr	15
2003–04		Godwin Attram Kandia Traoré	Al-Shabab Al-Hilal	15
2004–05		Mohammed Manga	Al-Shabab	15
2005–06		Essa Al-Mehyani	Al-Wehda	16
2006–07		Godwin Attram	Al-Shabab	13
2007–08		Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Shabab	18
2008–09		Nasser Al-Shamrani Hicham Aboucherouane	Al-Shabab Al-Ittihad	12
2009–10		Mohammad Al-Shalhoub	Al-Hilal	12
2010–11		Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Shabab	17
2011–12		Nasser Al-Shamrani Victor Simões	Al-Shabab Al-Ahli	21
2012–13		Sebastián Tagliabué	Al-Shabab	19
2013–14		Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Hilal	21
2014–15		Omar Al Somah	Al-Ahli	22
2015–16		Omar Al Somah	Al-Ahli	27
2016–17		Omar Al Somah	Al-Ahli	24
2017–18		Ronnie Fernández	Al-Fayha	13
2018–19		Abderrazak Hamdallah	Al-Nassr	34
2019–20		Abderrazak Hamdallah	Al-Nassr	29
2020–21		Bafétimbi Gomis	Al-Hilal	24
2021–22		Odion Ighalo	Al-Hilal	24
2022–23		Abderrazak Hamdallah	Al-Ittihad	21

As of 26 December 2023

Country	Broadcaster	Ref.
Middle East and North Africa	Shahid SSC channels
Austria	DAZN
Belgium
Canada
Germany
Ireland
United Kingdom
Australia	10 Play
Balkans	Sport Klub
Brazil	Grupo Band
	Canal GOAT
Caribbean	DSports
South America
China	Bilibili Migu tv Tencent Zhibo8
France	Canal+
Greece	Cosmote Sport
Hungary	Spíler TV
India	Sony Sports Network
Italy	La7
	Sportitalia
Japan	Abema
Myanmar	Sky Net
Portugal	Sport TV
Romania	Prima Sport
South Korea	SPOTV
Hong Kong
South East Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa	StarTimes Sports
Spain	Marca.com
Turkey	S Sport
	TV8.5
United States	Fox Sports
Vietnam	VieON