Saudi Pro League

Saudi Pro League (SPL), men’s Saudi professional association football (soccer) league established in 2008. It is the top tier of the Saudi football league system, one higher than the Saudi First Division League, and features 18 clubs. The Riyadh-based Al-Hilal SFC is the most successful club in Saudi football league history with 21 titles, 8 of them coming in the SPL era. Al-Ittihad (14), Al-Nassr (10), and Al-Ahli (9), are second, third, and fourth on the list of title-winners, respectively. In the 2020s the Saudi regime invested heavily in the SPL as part of Vision 2030, a plan to diversify the country’s economy, reduce its dependence on oil production, and improve the country’s image.

Format

Each club plays the other 17 league teams twice a season in home and away fixtures, for a total of 34 games. The season lasts from late August to May of the following year. Clubs get three points for a win, one for a draw, and zero points for a loss. At the end of each season, the club with the most points wins the title. At the end of the season, the bottom three clubs are relegated to the Saudi First Division League, and the top three clubs from the First Division League are promoted to the SPL.

History

Club football in Saudi Arabia has been played since the 1950s, but initially consisted of local tournaments, with the winners of the regional competitions contending for a trophy named the King’s Cup. In 1974–75 a one-time tournament with eight teams called the Saudi Categorization League was organized to consolidate the regional leagues.

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The new and revamped Saudi Premier League started late in 1975, a year marked by King Faisal’s assassination, and was abandoned after only four rounds. The first full season thus took place in 1976–77, again with eight teams. The league was expanded to 10 teams the next year, with the top eight retaining their place and the bottom two getting relegated to a lower-tier division. In 1981–82 the league format was again changed to feature 20 teams in two groups of 10 each; the bottom five clubs in each group were relegated that year. The league reverted to a 10-team system the following season, before expanding to 12 teams in 1984–85.

In 2008 the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) gave the league its current name and set up a separate governing body to manage the SPL. This move raised competition standards, eventually leading to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recognizing the SPL as the top-ranked league in Asia. The SPL further expanded to 14 teams in 2010–11, 16 in 2018–19, and 18 in the 2023–24 season.

Investments and sponsorship

In 2016 the government of Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030, a project aimed at widening its economic base, reducing its reliance on oil sales as a driver of the country’s gross domestic product, and improving the country’s image. Between 2021 and 2023 this project saw the Saudi government use its Public Investment Fund (PIF), chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, to invest more than $6 billion in sports such as football, golf, boxing, wrestling, esports, and Formula One. Saudi real estate developer Roshn, a PIF subsidiary, was named the league’s title sponsor in 2022. The PIF also acquired a majority stake in four SPL clubs—Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Ahli—in 2023.

These clubs spent large sums to acquire top football players. In December 2022 Al-Nassr signed five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo at an annual salary of about $214 million, including commercial deals that advertise Saudi Arabia and its World Cup-hosting prospects. In June 2023 France and Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema moved to Al-Ittihad for a salary of more than $100 million a year. A month later Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain player Neymar joined Al-Hilal for a transfer fee (compensation a signing club pays to the club the transferring player is leaving) of close to $100 million. Legendary Argentine footballer Lionel Messi declined an offer to play for Al-Hilal. However, he became a brand ambassador promoting Saudi Arabian tourism. The star player signings led to the league making high-profile international broadcast deals.

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The rise in SPL’s profile has been accompanied by a jump in the Saudi national team’s fortunes in international football as well. During the group stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Saudi Arabia handed eventual champion Argentina its only loss in the tournament. In 2023 Saudi Arabia hosted the FIFA Club World Cup and was chosen as the host for the 2034 FIFA World Cup a year later.

The Saudi government’s investments have drawn criticism, both domestic and foreign. Clubs such as Al-Shabab have spoken out against the uneven investment that saw their traditional rivals gain popularity and bench strength. International critics have termed the investments and blockbuster player transfers as “sportswashing,” or using sports success and visibility to divert attention from the Saudi regime’s record of human rights abuses such as executions, poor treatment of migrants, and suppression of free speech. Absence of financial transparency in PIF investments has also been cited as a concern. Such claims have been countered by the regime, which stated that the investments were made to bolster the country’s profile and economy. The SPL also pointed to European football leagues’ history of offering higher salaries to attract top players as a precedent.

Title winners

More than 30 clubs have played in the SPL since it was established in the 2008–09 season, with Al-Hilal winning eight titles since then. Other successful clubs include Al-Ittihad (three titles), Al-Nassr (three titles), and Al-Ahli, Al-Fateh, and Al-Shabab (one title each). A list of the SPL title winners can be found in the table below.