2013–14 Saudi Professional League

Professional League

Season	2013–2014
Champions	Al-Nassr (6th title)
Relegated	Al-Nahda Al-Ettifaq
Champions League	Al-Nassr Al-Hilal Al-Shabab Al-Ahli
Matches played	182
Goals scored	515 (2.83 per match)
Top goalscorer	Nasser Al-Shamrani (21 goals)
Biggest home win	Al-Shabab 6–0 Al-Nahda
Biggest away win	Al-Shabab 1–4 Al-Ittihad
Highest scoring	Al-Ittihad 4–4 Al-Nahda
Longest winning run	13 games Al-Nassr
Longest unbeaten run	22 games Al-Nassr
Longest losing run	6 games Al-Shoalah
Highest attendance	52,551 Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Taawon
Lowest attendance	184 al-Nahda – Al-Shoalah
Average attendance	4910
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

The 2013–14 Saudi Professional League (officially known as the Abdul Latif Jameel League, because of its sponsorship) was the 38th season of Saudi Professional League since its establishment in 1976.

Al Fateh were the defending champions for this season, having won the previous 2012–13 season.^[1] The season was featured 12 teams from the 2012–13 League and two new teams promoted from the 2012–13 First Division: Al-Oruba and Al-Nahda who replace relegated Hajer and Al-Wahda.

On 28 March 2014, Al-Nassr won the title after a 1–1 away game with Al-Shabab. It was their first league title since 1995 and their sixth league title overall.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Jeddah

Al-Hasa

Riyadh

Dammam

Buraydah

Al-Kharj

Najran

Harmah

Sakakah

Locations of teams in the 2013–14 Saudi Professional League

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Al-Ahli	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	23,000
Al-Shoalah	Al Kharj	Al-Shoalah Club Stadium	8,000
Al-Fateh	Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	27,550
Al-Hilal	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	67,000
Al-Ettifaq	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	26,000
Al-Ittihad	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	23,000
Al Nassr	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	67,000
Al Raed	Buraydah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	25,000
Al-Shabab	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	67,000
Al-Oruba FC	Sakakah	Al-Oruba Club Stadium	5,000
Najran SC	Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium	2,800
Al-Faisaly	Harmah	Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz Sport City Stadium	7,000
Al Taawon	Buraydah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	25,000
Al-Nahda	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	26,000

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor	Position
Al-Ittihad	Amro Anwar	SportOne		7th
Al-Hilal	Sami Al-Jaber	Nike	Mobily	2nd
Al-Ahli	Vítor Pereira	Umbro		5th
Al Fateh	Fathi Al Jebali	Lotto	Kia	1st
Al-Nahda	Jalal Qaderi	Adidas		2nd In 1st Division
Al-Ettifaq	Eusebiu Tudor	Puma	—	6th
Al-Nassr	José Daniel Carreño	NFC		4th
Al-Shoalah	José Maqueda	Puma		9th
Al Raed	Noureddine Zekri	Hattrick		8th
Al-Shabab	Emilio Ferrera	Adidas	Sanabel Al Salam	3rd
Al-Oruba	Djamel Belkacem		Herfy	1st in 1st Division
Najran	Gjoko Hadžievski	Adidas	—	10th
Al-Faisaly	Marc Brys	Hattrick		11th
Al Taawon	Tawfiq Rawabeh	JAKO	—	12th

Managerial changes

Managerial changes during the 2013-14 campaign.

Pre-season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al-Hilal	Zlatko Dalić	Contract not renewed	Sami Al-Jaber [2]
Al-Ahli	Aleksander Ilic	Contract not renewed	Vítor Pereira [3]
Ettifaq	Maciej Skorza	Contract not renewed [4]	Theo Bucker
Al Raed	Vlatko Kostov	Contract not renewed	Noureddine Zekri

During the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by
Al-Nahda	Ilie Balaci	Sacked	Ayman Makhlouf
Al-Shabab	Michel Preud'homme	Resigned [5]	Emilio Ferrera
Al-Ettifaq	Theo Bucker	Sacked	Eusebiu Tudor
Al-Shoalah	Ahmad Al-Ajlani	Sacked	José Maqueda
Al-Ittihad	Beñat San José	Sacked	Amro Anwar
Al-Nahda	Ayman Makhlouf	Caretaker role over	Jalal Qaderi
Ettifaq	Goran Tufegdžić	Sacked	Ioan Andone
Al-Raed	Noureddine Zekri	Sacked

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per SPL team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries.

Club	Visa 1	Visa 2	Visa 3	Asian Player	Non-Visa Foreign^1	Former Players^2
Al-Ahli	Eric de Oliveira	Mossoró	Luís Leal	Suk Hyun-Jun	Majed Al Khaibari	Younis Mahmoud
Al-Faisaly	Reinaldo	Marcelo Nicácio	Khalil Bani Attiah	Yaseen Al-Bakhit	None	None
Al-Fateh	Élton	Doris Salumo	Ammar Jemal	Mohamad Haidar	None	None
Al-Hilal	Thiago Neves	Digao	Segundo Castillo	Kwak Tae-Hwi	None	Adil Hermach
Al Nassr	Mourad Delhoum	Élton Brandão	Amad Al Hosni	Mohamed Husain	None	Rafael Bastos Everton
Al-Nahda	Saddick Adams	Habib Meïté	Amine Abbes	None	None	Adama Traoré Ismaeel Abdulatif
Al-Orobah	Jean Bapidi Fils	Charles Edoa	Ibrahim Salah	Abdallah Deeb	None	Eliassou Issiaka
Al-Raed	Bruno Moreno	Alexis Mondomo	Issoumaila Dao	Hussain Al-Hadhri	None	Lawrence Doe
Al-Taawon	Vinícius Reche	Paul Alo'o	David Ochieng	Shadi Abu Hash'hash	None	None
Al Shabab	Rafinha	Fernando Menegazzo	Macnelly Torres	Imad Khalili	None	None
Al-Shoalah	Lassana Fané	Mamoudou Kondo	Hassan Taïr	Mohammad Mustafa	None	None
Ettifaq	Danny Morais	Nicolae Grigore	Papa Waigo	Murilo de Almeida	None	Ahmed Kano
Ittihad	Leandro Bonfim	Kiril Ognjevski	Juan Rodríguez	None	None	Jóbson
Najran	Farid Cheklam	Jandson	Matheus Gotler	Mossab Al-Laham	None	Waheed Oseni

• ^1 Those players who were born and started their professional career abroad but have since gained Saudi Arabia Residency.
• ^2 Foreign players who left their clubs after first half of the season.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Nassr (C)	26	20	5	1	60	21	+39	65	AFC Champions League group stage
2	Al-Hilal	26	20	3	3	60	24	+36	63
3	Al-Ahli	26	12	9	5	48	24	+24	45	AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
4	Al-Shabab	26	9	10	7	42	38	+4	37	AFC Champions League group stage^1
5	Al-Taawon	26	8	11	7	33	28	+5	35	GCC Champions League group stage
6	Al-Ittihad	26	8	8	10	45	46	−1	32
7	Al-Faisaly	26	8	8	10	28	35	−7	32	GCC Champions League group stage
8	Al-Orobah	26	5	14	7	24	33	−9	29
9	Al-Raed	26	7	8	11	21	33	−12	29
10	Al-Fateh	26	7	7	12	33	39	−6	28
11	Najran	26	8	4	14	32	43	−11	28
12	Al-Shoalah	26	6	8	12	30	42	−12	26
13	Ettifaq (R)	26	6	8	12	30	41	−11	26	Relegation to 2014–15 First Division
14	Al-Nahda (R)	26	3	7	16	29	68	−39	16

Source: thesaff.com (Arabic)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th goal difference; 5th number of goals scored;
¹Al-Shabab are ensured a spot to the 2015 AFC Champions League Group Stage as 2014 King Cup of Champions winners.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away^[1]

AHI

ETT

FSL

FAT

HIL

ITT

NAH

NAS

ORO

RAE

SHB

SHL

TWN

NAJ

Al-Ahli

2–1

1–1

4–0

1–1

2–1

3–1

0–0

1–1

0–0

1–1

5–2

1–2

3–2

Ettifaq

2–0

1–1

2–0

1–3

2–5

2–1

1–2

0–0

0–1

0–1

1–0

3–3

0–0

Al-Faisaly

1–3

0–3

2–1

1–3

3–0

2–1

0–2

1–1

3–2

0–0

2–0

0–0

1–0

Al-Fateh

0–3

2–0

1–0

0–1

1–1

4–0

1–2

0–0

2–2

2–1

3–1

1–1

5–2

Al-Hilal

1–0

5–1

2–1

2–0

5–2

6–0

1–2

3–0

1–2

4–1

2–0

1–0

2–0

Al-Ittihad

0–0

1–1

1–2

4–2

2–2

2–1

0–3

0–0

1–2

1–1

4–1

2–1

3–2

Al-Nahda

1–5

2–0

0–0

1–2

1–2

4–4

1–4

2–2

1–0

4–1

2–2

0–2

2–5

Al-Nassr

3–1

2–2

4–0

1–0

3–4

3–1

4–1

2–1

3–0

3–2

2–0

2–1

2–0

Al-Orobah

0–4

1–4

1–2

2–1

2–3

1–0

1–1

0–0

0–0

1–1

2–2

0–0

1–1

Al-Raed

0–1

2–1

1–0

2–1

0–1

1–4

0–0

0–3

1–1

0–0

0–1

0–0

1–0

Al-Shabab

1–0

0–0

4–3

1–1

1–0

1–4

6–0

1–1

1–3

5–2

1–3

1–0

5–1

Al-Shoalah

1–1

4–0

1–1

2–2

2–2

2–1

0–0

0–3

1–2

1–1

0–1

1–2

1–2

Al-Taawon

1–1

2–2

1–1

1–0

1–2

1–1

4–1

1–1

0–1

2–1

3–3

0–1

2–0

Najran

0–5

1–0

1–0

1–1

0–1

2–0

5–1

2–3

2–0

1–0

1–1

0–1

1–2

Source: thesaff.com (Arabic)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Clubs season-progress

W	Win
D	Draw
L	Lose

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Al-Ahli	W	D	D	W	D	D	W	D	W	L	L	W	L	D	L	W	W	L	W	D	W	W	D	D	W	W
Ettifaq	L	L	W	D	L	L	W	D	D	D	W	W	W	L	L	L	D	D	D	L	L	L	W	L	D	L
Al-Faisaly	L	D	L	W	D	L	W	L	L	W	L	L	D	D	D	L	D	L	W	W	L	W	D	W	D	W
Al-Fateh	D	W	L	D	D	W	L	D	L	W	L	D	L	L	W	D	W	L	L	L	W	L	D	W	L	L
Al-Hilal	W	W	W	W	D	L	W	W	W	L	D	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	W
Al-Ittihad	W	L	W	L	W	D	L	D	D	W	L	L	W	D	D	D	D	D	L	L	W	W	L	L	W	L
Al-Nahda	D	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	D	L	D	L	D	D	L	L	L	W	L	W	L	L	W	D	L	L
Al-Nassr	W	D	W	W	W	D	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	D	D
Al-Orobah	L	W	D	L	D	D	D	L	D	D	D	W	D	L	D	L	D	W	L	D	D	W	L	D	D	W
Al-Raed	W	L	L	L	D	W	D	D	W	L	L	D	L	W	W	D	L	L	L	D	L	L	W	D	W	D
Al-Shabab	L	W	W	D	D	W	W	L	D	W	W	L	D	D	L	D	L	W	D	D	W	W	L	D	D	L
Al-Shoalah	D	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	D	L	D	W	W	D	W	W	W	L	W	D	L	L	D	L	L	D
Al-Taawon	D	D	W	D	L	W	L	W	D	W	W	L	L	W	D	W	D	D	L	L	W	L	D	D	D	D
Najran	L	W	L	W	W	W	L	W	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	W	D	D	L	D	L	L	W

Source: SL Stats

Prize money

• First place: 2.5 million Saudi Riyals
• Second place: 1.5 million Saudi Riyals
• Third place: 1 million Saudi Riyals

References

1. "Outsiders Al Fath celebrate Saudi success". FIFA.com. fifa.com. Retrieved 28 Apr 2013.
2. The club's management named Sami Al Jaber as a head coach of Al-Hilal's First football team
3. Porto’s Pereira to coach Saudi’s Al-Ahli
4. Bucker leaves Lebanon
5. Shabab and Preud’homme part company