# 2021–22 Saudi Second Division League

The 2021–22 Saudi Second Division was the first season of the Saudi Second Division League after its rebrand, and the 46th season since its establishment in 1976. The season began on 29 September 2021 and concluded on 20 April 2022 with the final. The group stage draw was held on 8 June 2021.
The season was originally scheduled to conclude on 16 April with the final. However, it was announced that both the final and third-place play-off would be postponed due to an ongoing investigation into match-fixing allegations. The investigation was concluded on 12 April with no evidence of any match-fixing and the new date for the final was announced as 20 April.
The final was played on 20 April 2022 between Al-Arabi and Al-Qaisumah. Al-Arabi defeated Al-Qaisumah 1–0 to win their second title and first since 1986.

## Overview
### Changes

On 9 October 2020, the Saudi FF announced that the number of teams in the league would be increased to 32, with each group consisting of 16 teams, starting from the 2022–23 season. To prepare for these changes it was announced that only 3 teams would be promoted to the MS League and 5 teams would be relegated from the MS League in the 2021–22 season.

### Rebrand

On 29 September 2021, the newly appointed executive director of the SDL, Abdulmohsen Al-Duhaimi, announced a rebrand; beginning with the 2021–22 season, the competition would be known as the Second Division League (SDL). As part of the rebranding, a new logo was introduced.

## Team changes

A total of 28 teams are contesting the league, including 20 sides from the 2020–21 season, 4 relegated teams from the MS League, and 4 promoted teams from the 2020–21 Third Division.

### To Second Division

Promoted from the Third Division
* Al-Saqer
* Al-Nairyah
* Al-Rayyan
* Tuwaiq
Relegated from MS League
* Al-Bukiryah
* Al-Thoqbah
* Arar
* Al-Nojoom

### From Second Division

Promoted to MS League
* Al-Akhdoud
* Al-Orobah
* Al-Kholood
* Bisha
Relegated to the Third Division
* Al-Hejaz
* Al-Mujazzal
* Al-Selmiyah
* Kumait

## Teams

;Group A
| Club | Location | Stadium |
| Al-Arabi | Unaizah | Al-Najma Club Stadium |
| Al-Bukiryah | Al Bukayriyah | Al-Bukiryah Club Stadium |
| Al-Dahab | Mahd adh Dhahab | Ohod Club Stadium (Medina) |
| Al-Entesar | Rabigh | Al-Entesar Club Stadium |
| Al-Lewaa | Baqaa | Al-Jabalain Club Stadium (Ha'il) |
| Al-Nojoom | Al-Hasa (Al-Shuqaiq) | Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium |
| Al-Rawdhah | Al-Hasa (Al-Jeshah) | Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium |
| Al-Riyadh | Riyadh | Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Stadium |
| Al-Sadd | Najaan | Al-Shoulla Club Stadium (Al-Kharj) |
| Al-Saqer | Buraidah (Al-Basr) | Al-Taawoun Club Stadium |
| Al-Sharq | Ad-Dilam | Al-Shoulla Club Stadium (Al-Kharj) |
| Al-Washm | Shaqra | Al-Washm Club Stadium |
| Tuwaiq | Al Zulfi | Al-Zulfi Club Stadium |
| Wej | Ta'if | King Fahd Stadium |

### Group B

| Club | Location | Stadium |
| Afif | Afif | Al-Dera'a Club Stadium (Dawadmi) |
| Al-Ansar | Medina | Al-Ansar Club Stadium |
| Al-Jandal | Dumat al-Jandal | Al-Orobah Club Stadium (Sakakah) |
| Al-Nairyah | Al Nairyah | Al-Ettifaq Club Stadium |
| Al-Najma | Unaizah | Al-Najma Club Stadium |
| Al-Qaisumah | Hafar al-Batin | Al-Qaisumah Club Stadium |
| Al-Rayyan | Haʼil | Al-Jabalain Club Stadium |
| Al-Safa | Safwa City | Al-Safa Club Stadium |
| Al-Taqadom | Al Mithnab | Al-Najma Club Stadium (Unaizah) |
| Al-Taraji | Qatif | Al-Khaleej Club Stadium |
| Al-Thoqbah | Khobar | Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium |
| Al-Zulfi | Al Zulfi | Al-Zulfi Club Stadium |
| Arar | Arar | Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Musa'ed Sport City Stadium |
| Hetten | Samtah | King Faisal Sport City Stadium (Jizan) |

### Foreign players

The number of foreign players was increased from 2 players per team to 3 players per team.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Former Players |
| Afif | Mohamed Ajid | Albashir Sidi | Abdulhadi Adamw | |
| Al-Ansar | Emmanuel Banahene | Alseny Soumah | Ablaye Sy | |
| Al-Arabi | José Anderson | Cheibane Traoré | Amir Omrani | |
| Al-Bukiryah | Oussou Konan | Chaker Rguiî | Zied Ounalli | |
| Al-Dahab | Amara Bagayoko | Halim Darragi | Kouni Khalfa | |
| Al-Entesar | Patrick Ngoula | Gnamien Gislain Yikpe | Maher Sharoma | |
| Al-Jandal | Guillaume Daho | Youssef Fouzai | Sabri Zaidi | |
| Al-Lewaa | Sedjro Counou | Mohamed Soudani | Daniel Noseki | Amadou Samaké |
| Al-Nairyah | Hamza Hadda | Hamza Letifi | Bilel Touati | |
| Al-Najma | Rabii Bouzid | Adel Hmani | Othman Saidi | |
| Al-Nojoom | Lassina Diaby | Mahmoud Shawkat | Nader Sahal | |
| Al-Qaisumah | Fody Traoré | Mohammed Al-Dhaw | Seifeddine Jerbi | |
| Al-Rawdhah | Mohamed Taib | Israel Abia | Bilel Mohsni | |
| Al-Rayyan | Charles Oliveira | Mouhamadou N'Diaye | Abdallah Berrabeh | |
| Al-Riyadh | Elhadji Malick | Mohamed Aouichi | Mahmoud Ben Salah | |
| Al-Sadd | Pingo | Mohamed Amine Khaloui | Oussama Omrani | |
| Al-Safa | Ibourahima Sidibé | Moussa Coulibaly | Sidi Touda | |
| Al-Saqer | Cheikh Saadné | Abdullahi Yatma | Mame Balla Diop | |
| Al-Sharq | Aneel Bkaki | Godfred Asante | Christian Pyagbara | |
| Al-Taqadom | Bekaye Wade | Mohamed M'Bareck | Adamou Moussa | |
| Al-Taraji | Ahmad Boussaid | Mehdi Bensib | Mohammed Ali Ben Abdessalem | |
| Al-Thoqbah | Ernest Anang | Khaled Al-Naasan | Oussema Amdouni | |
| Al-Washm | Guilherme Café | Lekão | Mateus Totô | Danilo Mariotto Peninha Mohammed Alhaj |
| Al-Zulfi | Paulo Cézar | Skander Ben Afia | Youssef Trabelsi | |
| Arar | Kaká | Vanílson | Lamine N'dao | |
| Hetten | Douglas Lima | Murillo de Souza | Ricardo Verza | |
| Tuwaiq | Bernard Arthur | Chidiebere Nwakali | Bahaeddine Othman | |
| Wej | Achraf Ben Dhiaf | Khaled Gharsellaoui | Slim Mezlini | |

## Group A
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Arabi (C, P) | 26 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 42 | 16 | +26 | 57 | Promotion to the FD League and Qualification to the Final |
| 2 | Al-Riyadh (P) | 26 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 42 | 16 | +26 | 56 | Qualification for the third place play-offs |
| 3 | Al-Entesar | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 40 | 26 | +14 | 38 | |
| 4 | Al-Bukiryah | 26 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 37 | 35 | +2 | 37 | |
| 5 | Al-Saqer | 26 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 35 | |
| 6 | Al-Rawdhah | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 35 | |
| 7 | Al-Washm | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 31 | 34 | −3 | 32 | |
| 8 | Wej | 26 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 26 | 30 | −4 | 31 | |
| 9 | Al-Lewaa | 26 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 29 | 39 | −10 | 30 | |
| 10 | Tuwaiq | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 32 | −9 | 30 | |
| 11 | Al-Sharq | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 27 | |
| 12 | Al-Sadd | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 23 | 38 | −15 | 27 | |
| 13 | Al-Dahab (R) | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 31 | −7 | 26 | Relegation to the Third Division |
| 14 | Al-Nojoom (R) | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 26 | 38 | −12 | 23 | Relegation to the Third Division |
* 1 2 Al-Saqer finished ahead of Al-Rawdhah on overall goal difference: Al-Saqer 0, Al-Rawdhah −4 (Al-Rawdhah 0–1 Al-Saqer, Al-Saqer 0–1 Al-Rawdhah).
* 1 2 Al-Lewaa finished ahead of Tuwaiq on head-to-head points: Tuwaiq 1–2 Al-Lewaa, Al-Lewaa 1–1 Tuwaiq.
* 1 2 Al-Sharq finished ahead of Al-Sadd on overall goal difference: Al-Sharq −4, Al-Sadd −15 (Al-Sadd 2–1 Al-Sharq, Al-Sharq 1–0 Al-Sadd).

### Results

| Home \ Away | ARB | BUK | DAH | ENT | LEW | NOJ | RAW | RIY | SAD | SAQ | SHR | WAS | TUW | WEJ |
| Al-Arabi | | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Al-Bukiryah | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Al-Dahab | 0–1 | 1–3 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| Al-Entesar | 1–1 | 6–0 | 3–0 | | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Al-Lewaa | 0–4 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Al-Nojoom | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 4–0 | 1–2 |
| Al-Rawdhah | 1–1 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | 0–2 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 |
| Al-Riyadh | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 4–1 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Al-Sadd | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Al-Saqer | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 |
| Al-Sharq | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 |
| Al-Washm | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| Tuwaiq | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | | 0–0 |
| Wej | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | |

## Group B
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Qaisumah (P) | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 39 | 23 | +16 | 54 | Promotion to the FD League and Qualification to the Final |
| 2 | Al-Taraji | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 41 | 30 | +11 | 51 | Qualification for the third place play-offs |
| 3 | Al-Najma | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 47 | 28 | +19 | 49 | |
| 4 | Al-Zulfi | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 58 | 25 | +33 | 45 | |
| 5 | Al-Ansar | 26 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 38 | 33 | +5 | 38 | |
| 6 | Al-Taqadom | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 33 | +1 | 36 | |
| 7 | Hetten | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 36 | |
| 8 | Al-Jandal | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 42 | 39 | +3 | 34 | |
| 9 | Al-Safa | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 22 | 28 | −6 | 34 | |
| 10 | Al-Rayyan | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 33 | 46 | −13 | 32 | |
| 11 | Arar | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 38 | 50 | −12 | 27 | |
| 12 | Al-Nairyah | 26 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 33 | −12 | 24 | |
| 13 | Afif (R) | 26 | 4 | 11 | 11 | 33 | 42 | −9 | 23 | Relegation to the Third Division |
| 14 | Al-Thoqbah (R) | 26 | 2 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 53 | −29 | 13 | Relegation to the Third Division |
* 1 2 Al-Taqadom finished ahead of Hetten on head-to-head points: Al-Taqadom 2–0 Hetten, Hetten 0–2 Al-Taqadom.
* 1 2 Al-Jandal finished ahead of Al-Safa on head-to-head points: Al-Jandal 1–1 Al-Safa, Al-Safa 0–4 Al-Jandal.

### Results

| Home \ Away | AFI | ANS | JAN | NAI | NAJ | QAI | RAY | SAF | TAQ | TAR | THO | ZUL | ARA | HET |
| Afif | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–2 |
| Al-Ansar | 3–2 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| Al-Jandal | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 4–4 | 1–4 | 0–0 |
| Al-Nairyah | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 2–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Al-Najma | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 3–0 |
| Al-Qaisumah | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 |
| Al-Rayyan | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 0–4 | 1–1 |
| Al-Safa | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 0–4 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Al-Taqadom | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 2–0 |
| Al-Taraji | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 2–0 |
| Al-Thoqbah | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | | 0–3 | 2–3 | 1–3 |
| Al-Zulfi | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 5–1 | 6–1 | 3–0 | | 2–3 | 3–0 |
| Arar | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | | 1–2 |
| Hetten | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | |

## Third place play-off

Both teams that finish second in Groups A and B will face each other in a two-legged match with the winner gaining promotion to the FD League. The first leg was originally scheduled to be held on 8 April and the second leg on 14 April, however, it was both matches were postponed following an investigation into match-fixing allegations. Al-Riyadh, who finished second in Group A, faced Al-Taraji, who finished second in Group B. The first leg was played on 15 April and the second leg on 20 April. Al-Riyadh defeated Al-Taraji 3–2 on aggregate to earn promotion to the Saudi First Division League.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Al-Taraji | 2–3 | Al-Riyadh | 1–1 | 1–2 |

### Second leg
## Final

The winners of each group will play a single-legged final on 20 April to decide the champion of the 2021–22 Second Division. As winners of Group A, Al-Arabi faced Al-Qaisumah, the winners of Group B. The match was held at Al-Arabi's home stadium due to them having more points. Al-Arabi defeated Al-Qaisumah 1–0 to win their second title and first since 1986.

## Statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 20 April 2022
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Israel Abia | Al-Rawdhah | 20 |
| 1 | Youssef Trabelsi | Al-Zulfi | 20 |
| 3 | Elhadji Malick Tall | Al-Riyadh | 17 |
| 4 | Vanílson | Arar | 15 |
| 4 | Mohammed Abdessalem | Al-Taraji | 15 |
| 6 | Fahad Hadl | Al-Qaisumah | 14 |
| 7 | Ahmad Boussaid | Al-Taraji | 13 |
| 7 | Maher Sharoma | Al-Ansar | 13 |
| 9 | Ricardo | Hetten | 12 |
| 9 | Abdullah Al-Qahtani | Al-Arabi | 12 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Emmanuel Banahene | Al-Ansar | Arar | 3–1 (H) | 9 October 2021 |
| Israel Abia | Al-Rawdhah | Al-Sadd | 4–1 (H) | 23 October 2021 |
| Elhadji Malick Tall | Al-Riyadh | Al-Rawdhah | 4–1 (H) | 13 November 2021 |
| Israel Abia | Al-Rawdhah | Tuwaiq | 3–3 (A) | 26 November 2021 |
| Aneel Bakaki | Al-Sharq | Al-Entesar | 3–0 (A) | 10 December 2021 |
| Vanílson | Arar | Al-Taqadom | 3–3 (A) | 18 December 2021 |
| Youssef Trabelsi | Al-Zulfi | Al-Qaisumah | 5–0 (H) | 14 January 2022 |
| Vanílson | Arar | Al-Jandal | 4–1 (A) | 5 February 2022 |
| Abdullah Al-Qahtani | Al-Arabi | Al-Lewaa | 4–0 (A) | 11 February 2022 |
| Bernard Arthur | Al-Taqadom | Al-Safa | 4–0 (A) | 12 February 2022 |
| Youssef Trabelsi | Al-Zulfi | Afif | 4–1 (A) | 4 March 2022 |
| Mohanad Al-Shudukhi | Al-Najma | Al-Thoqbah | 5–2 (H) | 4 March 2022 |
| Maher Sharoma | Al-Entesar | Al-Bukiryah | 6–0 (H) | 5 March 2022 |
| Youssef Trabelsi | Al-Zulfi | Al-Taqadom | 5–1 (H) | 11 March 2022 |
| Faisal Al-Mutairi | Al-Zulfi | Al-Jandal | 4–4 (A) | 31 March 2022 |

#### Note

(H) – Home; (A) – Away

## Number of teams by province

| Rank | Province | Number | Teams |
| 1 | Eastern Province | 7 | Al-Nairyah, Al-Nojoom, Al-Qaisumah, Al-Rawdhah, Al-Safa, Al-Taraji and Al-Thoqbah |
| 1 | Riyadh | 7 | Afif, Al-Riyadh, Al-Sadd, Al-Sharq, Al-Washm, Al-Zulfi and Tuwaiq |
| 3 | Al-Qassim | 5 | Al-Arabi, Al-Bukiryah, Al-Najma, Al-Saqer and Al-Taqadom |
| 4 | Ha'il | 2 | Al-Lewaa and Al-Rayyan |
| 4 | Mecca | 2 | Al-Entesar and Wej |
| 4 | Medina | 2 | Al-Ansar and Al-Dahab |
| 7 | Al Jawf | 1 | Al Jandal |
| 7 | Jazan | 1 | Hetten |
| 7 | Northern Borders | 1 | Arar |