Saudi Pro League

Saudi Pro League
The Saudi Pro League (SPL), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL), for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of association football in the Saudi league system.
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 has experienced international widespread 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.
History
Up until the late 1950s, football in Saudi Arabia was organized on a regional basis, with the only nationwide tournament being the King's Cup. 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.
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.
2023–24 acquisitions from Europe
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 described as a "sportswashing" scheme by some western journalists.
Sponsorship
Starting in the 2009–10 season, the league was sponsored by Zain Group. From the 2013–14 season until the 2017–18 season, Abdul Latif Jameel was sponsor and the league was known as Dawry Jameel, until a major restructuring of Saudi football, under which the league's name reverted to the Saudi Pro League. From 2022, for a five-year period, the sponsor of the league is Roshn, a real estate division of the Public Investment Fund.
Competition format
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.
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.
Current teams
For details on the 2023–24 Saudi Pro League season, see here.
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
Champions
List of champions
Performance by club
Total titles won by city
League participation
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.
48 seasons: Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr
47 seasons: Al-Shabab, Al-Ahli
45 seasons: Al-Ettifaq
39 seasons: Al-Wehda
36 seasons: Al-Qadsiah
25 seasons: Al-Tai
24 seasons: Al-Raed, Al-Riyadh
17 seasons: Al-Taawoun
16 seasons: Al-Nahda
15 seasons: Al-Fateh
13 seasons: Al-Faisaly
11 seasons: Al-Najma, Ohod
10 seasons: Al-Hazem
9 seasons: Al-Ansar, Najran
8 seasons: Al-Khaleej
7 seasons: Abha, Al-Shoulla
6 seasons: Damac, Al-Fayha, Hajer, Al-Batin
4 seasons: Al-Rawdhah
3 seasons: Al-Kawkab, Al-Jabalain
2 seasons: Al-Adalah, Sdoos, Al-Watani, Al-Orobah
1 season: Al-Okhdood, Al-Arabi, Al-Ain, Okaz
Top scorers
All-time top scorers
Boldface indicates a player still active in the Pro League.
Top scorers by season
Broadcasters
Notes
See also
Saudi Arabian Football Federation
King Cup
Saudi Super Cup
Saudi Crown Prince Cup
King Abdulaziz
Prince Faisal bin Fahd League U-21
References
External links
MBS League SAFF
Saudi Pro League Statistics
Saudi Pro League Commission
Abdul Latif Jameel League
Saudi Arabia Football Federation at FIFA.com
Saudi Arabia – List of Champions at RSSSF.com
Saudi Pro League summary at Soccerway
Saudi Pro League
Football leagues in Saudi Arabia
Top level football leagues in Asia
1976 establishments in Saudi Arabia
Sports leagues established in 1976