# 2018–19 Saudi Second Division

The 2018–19 Saudi Second Division was the 43rd season of the Saudi Second Division since its establishment in 1996. Fixtures were released on 4 September 2018 and the opening round of matches was played on 19 October 2018. The league season ended on 13 April 2019 with the final.
On 13 April 2019, Hetten defeated Al-Bukayriyah 1–0 in the final to win their first title.

## Overview
### Changes

On 7 March 2018, the Saudi FF announced that the league would be increased from 20 teams to 24 teams, divided into 2 groups of 12 teams.

## Team changes

A total of 24 teams are contesting the league, including 9 sides from the 2017–18 season, 1 relegated team from the MS League, 10 promoted teams from the 2017–18 Third Division, and four winners from the 2017–18 relegation playoffs.

### To Second Division

Promoted from the Third Division
* Al-Akhdoud
* Al-Dera'a
* Al-Jandal
* Al-Arabi
* Al-Sahel
* Al-Bukayriyah
* Al-Hait
* Arar
* Al-Ghazwah
* Al-Sadd
* Afif
Relegated from MS League
* Al-Watani

### From Second Division

Promoted to MS League
* Al-Washm
* Al-Jabalain
* Al-Jeel
* Al-Ansar
* Al-Ain
* Al-Adalh
* Abha
Relegated to the Third Division
* Al-Badaya

## Teams

;Group A
| Club | Location | Stadium |
| Al-Akhdoud | Najran | Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium |
| Al-Bukayriyah | Al Bukayriyah | Al-Bukayriyah Club Stadium |
| Al-Diriyah | Diriyah | Reserve Stadium in Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium (Riyadh) |
| Al-Ghazwah | Badr | Al-Majd Club Stadium (Yanbu) |
| Al-Hejaz | Baljurashi | King Saud Sport City Stadium (Al Bahah) |
| Al-Jandal | Dumat al-Jandal | Al-Oruba Club Stadium (Sakakah) |
| Al-Muzahimiyyah | Al-Muzahmiyya | Ergah Stadium |
| Al-Riyadh | Riyadh | Prince Turki bin Abdulaziz Stadium |
| Al-Sadd | Najaan | Al-Shoulla Club Stadium (Al-Kharj) |
| Al-Sahel | Qatif | Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium (Khobar) |
| Al-Suqoor | Tabuk | King Khalid Sport City Stadium |
| Al-Taqadom | Al Mithnab | Al-Najma Club Stadium (Unaizah) |
1: ^ Al-Akhdoud will play at Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium due to the ongoing war in Yemen

### Group B

| Club | Location | Stadium |
| Afif | Afif | Al-Dera'a Club Stadium (Dawadmi) |
| Al-Arabi | Unaizah | Al-Najma Club Stadium |
| Al-Dera'a | Dawadmi | Al-Dera'a Club Stadium |
| Al-Hait | Ha'il | Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium |
| Al-Jubail | Jubail | Al-Jubail Club Stadium |
| Al-Kholood | Ar Rass | Al-Hazem Club Stadium |
| Al-Sharq | Ad Dilam | Al-Shoulla Club Stadium (Al-Kharj) |
| Al-Thoqbah | Khobar | Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium |
| Al-Watani | Tabuk | King Khalid Sport City Stadium |
| Arar | Arar | Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Musa'ed Sport City Stadium |
| Hetten | Samtah | King Faisal Sport City Stadium |
| Wej | Ta'if | King Fahd Stadium |

### Foreign players

The number of foreign players is limited to 2 per team.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Former Players |
| Afif | Moatazbellah Hassan | Aboubakar Mahadi | — |
| Al Akhdoud | Patrick Carvalho | Lecão | Aymen Souayah Haythem Ben Youssef |
| Al-Arabi | Emmanuel Okoye | Ahmed Hosni | Mostafa Galal Udoh Joshua |
| Al-Bukayriyah | Shehab El-Din Ahmed | Adel Hamani | — |
| Al-Dera'a | Musab Lukaku | Naoufel Youssefi | Sultan Azaz |
| Al-Diriyah | Oumar Toure | Khaldoun Mansour | Mohammed Camara |
| Al-Ghazwah | Mohamed Abo Sheashaa | Omran Saeed | — |
| Al-Hait | Camara | Mohamed Sghaier Nasri | Marouane Tritar |
| Al-Hejaz | Mostafa Kahraba | Prince Nnake | — |
| Al-Jandal | Mohamed Kassory | Samba Diallo | Islam Adel |
| Al-Jubail | Koffi Adama | Yaya Traoré | — |
| Al-Kholood | Venancio Silvs | Aboubacar Camara | Luiz Claudio |
| Al-Muzahimiyyah | Luiz Claudio | Mohamed Osama | Hany El Agazy |
| Al-Riyadh | Kazim Balimo | — | Cedric Fein Camar Jebril |
| Al-Sadd | Mohamed Mohsen | Amir Omrani | Abdelhamid Sami |
| Al-Sahel | Geraldo | Amr El Shahat | Marcos |
| Al-Sharq | Mohamed Shika | Fouad Al Omaisi | Mohamed Abo Sheashaa Wael Farrag |
| Al-Suqoor | Cedric Fein | Moussa Euller | Abdulqader Majarmsh Ahmed Jamal |
| Al-Taqadom | Hamada El Ghannam | Ragab El Arabi | Douglas da Silva Francesco da Silva |
| Al-Thoqbah | Kaba Mohamad | Frederick Ogangan | Bassem Elmaneaai |
| Al-Watani | Youssef Hassan | Wael Chehaibi | Jean Bapidi Barga Anael Alaa Maher |
| Arar | Fernando dos Santos | Brian Amidu | — |
| Hetten | Aymen Kthiri | Mohamed Kasdoghli | Oussama Ben Maammar |
| Wej | Issouf Ouattara | Jean Bapidi | Amr El Shahat |

## Group A
### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Bukayriyah (P) | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 37 | 13 | +24 | 48 | Promotion to the MS League and Qualification to the Final |
| 2 | Al-Taqadom (P) | 22 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 37 | 24 | +13 | 43 | Promotion to MS League |
| 3 | Al-Jandal | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 31 | 16 | +15 | 41 | |
| 4 | Al-Hejaz | 22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 39 | 29 | +10 | 38 | |
| 5 | Al-Sadd | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 40 | 25 | +15 | 37 | |
| 6 | Al-Sahel | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 26 | 25 | +1 | 30 | |
| 7 | Al-Akhdoud | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 39 | 34 | +5 | 26 | |
| 8 | Al-Diriyah | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 25 | 37 | −12 | 24 | |
| 9 | Al-Suqoor | 22 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 22 | 37 | −15 | 21 | |
| 10 | Al-Riyadh | 22 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 21 | 36 | −15 | 20 | |
| 11 | Al-Muzahimiyyah (R) | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 22 | 41 | −19 | 17 | Relegation to the Third Division |
| 12 | Al-Ghazwah (R) | 22 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 38 | −22 | 14 | Relegation to the Third Division |

## Group B
### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Hetten (C, P) | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 38 | 19 | +19 | 42 | Promotion to the MS League and Qualification to the Final |
| 2 | Al-Thoqbah (P) | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 34 | 22 | +12 | 40 | Promotion to MS League |
| 3 | Al-Kholood | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 29 | 19 | +10 | 35 | |
| 4 | Wej | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 36 | 34 | +2 | 34 | |
| 5 | Al-Sharq | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 24 | 23 | +1 | 30 | |
| 6 | Al-Arabi | 22 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 21 | 20 | +1 | 29 | |
| 7 | Al-Dera'a | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 31 | −8 | 27 | |
| 8 | Al-Jubail | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 30 | 37 | −7 | 26 | |
| 9 | Arar | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 21 | 23 | −2 | 25 | |
| 10 | Afif | 22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 24 | 35 | −11 | 25 | |
| 11 | Al-Hait (R) | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 20 | 29 | −9 | 24 | Relegation to the Third Division |
| 12 | Al-Watani (R) | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 29 | −8 | 22 | Relegation to the Third Division |
* 1 2 Arar finished ahead of Afif on overall goal difference: Arar −2, Afif −11 (Arar 3–1 Afif, Afif 2–0 Arar).

## Third place play-off

Al-Taqadom, who finished 2nd in Group A faced Al-Thoqbah who finished 2nd in Group B to decide the third-placed team. Al-Thoqbah defeated Al-Taqadom 3–1 after extra time to finish in third place.

## Final

The winners of each group will play a one-legged final to decide the champion of the 2018–19 Second Division. As winners of Group A, Al-Bukayriyah faced Hetten, the winners of Group B. The match was scheduled to be played on 12 April 2019, but was abandoned after 32 minutes due to heavy snowfall. Hetten won the match 1–0 and won their first ever Second Division title.
The match was abandoned after 32 minutes due to heavy snowfall, and was resumed on 13 April 2019, 16:00, from the point of abandonment.

## Statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 6 April 2019
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Abdullah Al Yahya | Al-Sadd | 16 |
| 2 | Abdullah Hadhereti | Al-Taqadom | 14 |
| 3 | Amir Omrani | Al-Sadd | 13 |
| 3 | Patrick Carvalho | Al-Akhdoud | 13 |
| 5 | Prince Nnake | Al-Hejaz | 11 |
| 5 | Sajar Al-Shammeri | Al-Jandal | 11 |
| 5 | Ali Al-Enezi | Al-Suqoor | 11 |
| 8 | Geraldo | Al-Sahel | 10 |
| 8 | Mohamed Kassola | Al-Jandal | 10 |
| 8 | Koffi Adama | Al-Jubail | 10 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Mohammed Al-Harbi | Al-Taqadom | Al-Ghazwah | 4–1 (A) | 19 October 2018 |
| Geraldo | Al-Sahel | Al-Hejaz | 4–2 (H) | 27 October 2018 |
| Abdullah Al Huwail | Al-Arabi | Afif | 4–1 (H) | 16 November 2018 |
| Saud Salawati | Wej | Al-Watani | 4–3 (H) | 16 November 2018 |
| Saud Salawati | Wej | Arar | 3–1 (A) | 23 November 2018 |
| Abdullah Al-Yahya$^4$ | Al-Sadd | Al-Diriyah | 4–1 (A) | 30 November 2018 |
| Amir Omrani | Al-Sadd | Al-Suqoor | 5–1 (H) | 6 December 2018 |
| Ammar Belal | Al-Kholood | Afif | 3–0 (A) | 7 December 2018 |
| Koffi Adama$^4$ | Al-Jubail | Al-Hait | 4–0 (H) | 28 December 2018 |
| Abdullah Al-Yahya | Al-Sadd | Al-Taqadom | 3–1 (A) | 8 February 2019 |
| Patrick Carvalho | Al-Akhdoud | Al-Suqoor | 5–0 (H) | 8 February 2019 |
| Hani Al-Ghamdi | Al-Hejaz | Al-Diriyah | 5–3 (H) | 8 February 2019 |
| Mohamed Shika | Al-Sharq | Al-Dera'a | 4–0 (H) | 9 February 2019 |
| Patrick Carvalho | Al-Akhdoud | Al-Muzahimiyyah | 5–1 (H) | 15 March 2019 |
| Mohamed Kassory | Al-Jandal | Al-Sahel | 5–0 (H) | 29 March 2019 |
| Abdullah Al-Yahya | Al-Sadd | Al-Akhdoud | 4–1 (H) | 6 April 2019 |

#### Note

(H) – Home; (A) – Away $^4$ Player scored 4 goals