Football
is the most popular sport in Saudi Arabia.
[1]
Football in Saudi Arabia is governed by the
Saudi Arabia Football Federation
(
SAFF
) (
Arabic
:
??????? ??????? ???? ?????
). It was founded in 1956.
[2]
It administers both the club competitions and the national football teams of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Arabia Football Federation founder is
Prince Abdullah bin Faisal al Saud
.
History
[
edit
]
The
Saudi Arabia national football team
(
Arabic
:
????? ???????? ???? ?????
), is nicknamed as
Al-Saqour
, which means
The Falcons
. They are one of the most successful football teams in Asia, winning the
Asian Championship
three times and
qualified to the World Cup
six times (
1994
,
1998
,
2002
,
2006
,
2018
, and
2022
).
Rivalries
[
edit
]
Saudi Arabia has a major
rivalry with Iran
.
[
citation needed
]
League
[
edit
]
The
Saudi Professional League
is the highest level of competition in the country. In the 1970s, football was organized on a regional basis across Saudi Arabia.
[3]
In the 1976 Saudi Professional League season, with the improvement of transportation links and local football, the league was launched on a national basis. Eight clubs participated in the first season of the tournament.
[
citation needed
]
In 1981, a decision was made by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation to increase the number of clubs to 18 clubs, 8 of which take part in the
first league
, with the other 10 competing in the
second league
.
[
citation needed
]
In the 1985 season, the number of clubs in the
first league
was increased to 12.
[
citation needed
]
In 1990, a league cup was introduced, known as
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques League Cup
. It was a two-stage competition, a round-robin and knockout phase. The top four teams (known as the
Golden Square
) from the round-robin moved to the knock-out phase to compete for the final championship.
[
citation needed
]
In the 2007?08 season,
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Champions Cup
was introduced for the more elite teams to compete for. Eight teams participate, including the top six teams of the
first league
, the winner of the
Crown Prince Cup
, and the
Prince Faisal Cup
.
[
citation needed
]
Since 2023, the league started growing through the investment of the
Public Investment Fund
, mainly in
association football
.
[4]
World famous football players like
Cristiano Ronaldo
and
Karim Benzema
joined the top-flight football league of Saudi Arabia with the help of the
Public Investment Fund
.
Cristiano Ronaldo
made an immediate impact on the global following of his club
Al-Nassr
, with the
Instagram
account of the club growing from 860,000 followers before his move to over 23 million followers as of 4 January 2024.
[5]
Events hosted
[
edit
]
National team
[
edit
]
National ranking
[
edit
]
As of 3 April 2023
[update]
, Saudi Arabia is placed 54th in the FIFA World Rankings.
[
citation needed
]
Achievements
[
edit
]
Leagues of Saudi Arabia
[
edit
]
There are four professional football league levels of Saudi Arabia:
The
Saudi Professional League
was ranked 27th in 2015 by the International Federation of Football.
[6]
List of Saudi Pro League champions
[
edit
]
Performance by club
[
edit
]
No.
|
Club
|
Winners
|
Winning years
|
1
|
Al-Hilal
|
18
|
1977, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022
|
2
|
Al-Ittihad
|
9
|
1982, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009 , 2023
|
3
|
Al-Nassr
|
8
|
1980, 1981, 1989, 1994, 1995, 2014, 2015, 2019
|
4
|
Al-Shabab
|
6
|
1991, 1992, 1993, 2004, 2006, 2012
|
5
|
Al-Ahli
|
4
|
1969, 1978, 1984, 2016
|
6
|
Al-Ettifaq
|
2
|
1983, 1987
|
7
|
Al-Fateh
|
1
|
2013
|
Stadiums
[
edit
]
Best Player of Asia award
[
edit
]
League system
[
edit
]
The Saudi Arabia football association football league system is organized in a pyramidal shape similar to football league systems in many other countries. The principle of promotion and relegation binds the leagues.
[
citation needed
]
Women's football is played in Saudi Arabia, but only in the affluent areas, as the country's very restrictive laws (especially those concerning women) inhibit the practice of the sport.
[7]
[8]
In February 2020, Saudi Arabia launched a football league for women.
[9]
Academies
[
edit
]
In July 2020, the Saudi ministry of sport announced the establishment of
Mahd Sports Academy
, a sports academy which aims to scout, help, and train Saudi talent in various sports, including football.
[10]
Once complete, the academy will be one of the largest in the world.
[11]
In November 2016, the government of Saudi Arabia approved plans to turn state-owned sports clubs into private companies.
[12]
This is part of the economic reforms to reduce Saudi reliance on oil exports and ease financial burdens on the government.
[13]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]