2008–09 Saudi Professional League

Professional League

Season	2008–2009
Champions	Al-Ittihad (8th title)
Relegated	Al-Watani Abha
Champions League	Al-Ittihad Al-Hilal Al-Ahli Al-Shabab
Matches played	134
Goals scored	371 (2.77 per match)
Top goalscorer	Hicham Aboucherouane Nasser Al-Shamrani (12 goals each)
Biggest home win	Al-Hilal 7–0 Najran (20 December 2008)
Biggest away win	Al-Shabab 0–4 Al-Ittihad (28 January 2009) Al-Raed 0–4 Al-Shabab (30 November 2008)
Highest scoring	Al-Ittihad 7–2 Al-Watani (15 December 2008) Al-Raed 6–3 Al-Wehda (8 April 2009)
← Premier League 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Saudi Professional League was the 33rd season of Saudi Professional League since its establishment in 1976.

Al-Hilal were the defending champions for this season, having won the previous 2007–08 season. The season featured 10 teams from the 2007–08 and two new teams promoted from the 2007–08 First Division: Al-Raed and Abha who replace relegated Al-Qadisiya and Al-Tai.

On 12 April 2009, the final round of the season, Al-Ittihad won the title after a 2–1 victory over Al-Hilal. It was their eighth league title overall. Al-Watani and Abha were relegated.

Qualification and Prize money

The Top three of the league and the winner of Champions Cup qualified to the Champions League.

The Top eight qualified to Champions Cup.

Prize money:

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

Stadiums and locations

Jeddah

Abha

Ar Rass

Riyadh

Dammam

Tabuk

Buraydah

Mecca

Najran

Locations of teams in the 2008–09 Saudi Professional League

Club	Location	Stadium
Abha	Abha	Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium
Al-Ahli	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium
Al Hazm	Ar Rass	Al Hazm Club Stadium
Al-Hilal	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium
Al-Ettifaq	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium
Al-Ittihad	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium
Al-Nasr	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium
Al Raed	Buraydah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium
Al-Shabab	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium
Al-Watani	Tabuk	Khalid bin Abdul Aziz Stadium
Al-Wahda	Mecca	King Abdul Aziz Stadium
Najran	Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium

Members clubs

Club	Coach	Nationality	City	Stadium	Capacity	2007-2008 season	Notes
Abha	Abdulqader Yomer		Abha	Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium	20,000	The 2nd In 1st Division
Al-Ahli	Stoycho Mladenov		Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	24,000	8th	2008 Gulf Club Champions Cup Qualifier
Al Hazm	Luiz Ribeiro Pinto Neto		Ar Rass	Al Hazm Club Stadium	11,000	7th	2008–09 Arab Champions League Qualifier
Al-Hilal	Georges Leekens		Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	69,000	Champions	2009 AFC Champions League Qualifier
Al-Ettifaq	Ioan Andone		Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	30,000	4th	2009 AFC Champions League Qualifier
Al-Ittihad	Gabriel Calderón		Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	24,000	2nd	2009 AFC Champions League Qualifier
Al-Nasr	Edgardo Bauza		Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	69,000	5th	2008 Gulf Club Champions Cup Qualifier
Al Raed	Mohamed Aldo		Buraydah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	35,000	The 1st In 1st Division
Al-Shabab	Enzo Trossero		Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	69,000	3rd	2009 AFC Champions League Qualifier
Al-Wahda	Theo Bucker		Mecca	King Abdul Aziz Stadium	28,550	6th	2008–09 Arab Champions League Qualifier
Al-Watani	Moussa Saib		Tabuk	Khalid bin Abdul Aziz Stadium	20,000	9th
Najran	Lotfy Albenzarte		Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium	10,000	10th

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by	Date
Al-Nasr	Edgar	Sacked [1]	Edgardo Bauza	January 2009
Al-Hilal	Cosmin Olaroiu	Sacked [2]	Catalin Necula (caretaker)	March 2009
Al-Hilal	Catalin Necula	Necula was temporary replacement [3]	Georges Leekens	April 2009
Al-Ahli	Stoycho Mladenov	Sacked at end of the season [4][5]	Gustavo Alfaro	April 2009
Al-Hilal	Georges Leekens	Sacked after 1 month [6]	Eric Gerets	May 2009

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Ittihad (C)	22	17	4	1	57	21	+36	55	AFC Champions League Group Stage
2	Al-Hilal	22	15	5	2	41	9	+32	50
3	Al-Ahli	22	11	7	4	33	20	+13	40
4	Al-Shabab	22	10	5	7	37	29	+8	35
5	Al-Nassr	22	10	4	8	24	22	+2	34
6	Al-Ettifaq	22	7	8	7	23	20	+3	29
7	Al-Wahda	22	7	5	10	33	39	−6	26
8	Al Hazm	22	6	7	9	25	31	−6	25
9	Najran	22	6	3	13	22	42	−20	21
10	Al-Raed (O)	22	6	1	15	28	43	−15	19	Qualification to relegation play-off
11	Abha (R)	22	4	7	11	19	40	−21	19
12	Al-Watani (R)	22	2	6	14	22	48	−26	12	Relegated to 2009–10 First Division

Source: slstat.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(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.

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away^[1]

AlITT

HIL

AHI

SHB

NAS

ETT

WAT

WAH

NAJ

RAE

ABH

HZM

Al-Ittihad

0–0

1–2

2–1

1–0

3–0

7–2

2–1

3–2

5–1

3–0

3–0

Al-Hilal

1–2

0–0

2–0

2–1

2–0

0–0

0–0

7–0

2–0

4–1

3–0

Al-Ahli

1–2

0–1

2–1

2–1

1–1

2–0

0–0

2–0

3–2

2–1

1–0

Al-Shabab

0–4

1–1

3–2

2–1

1–0

2–2

4–2

2–1

1–4

5–0

2–0

Al-Nassr

2–2

0–2

2–1

0–0

1–0

1–0

3–1

1–0

1–0

0–1

3–1

Al-Ettifaq

1–1

0–2

0–0

2–1

1–1

3–0

4–0

1–1

1–1

3–1

0–0

Al-Watani

1–2

1–3

2–2

0–2

1–2

0–1

0–2

3–1

3–1

0–0

3–3

Al-Wahda

1–3

0–1

0–2

1–1

1–2

1–0

4–0

2–1

3–1

4–1

2–1

Najran

1–4

2–1

1–4

0–2

1–0

0–2

2–0

2–2

2–1

1–1

2–1

Al-Raed

0–2

0–2

2–3

0–4

0–1

1–2

3–2

6–3

0–1

3–1

1–0

Abha

1–2

0–3

0–0

2–1

2–2

1–0

2–2

2–2

1–0

0–1

0–0

Al Hazm

3–3

1–2

1–1

1–1

1–0

1–1

3–0

3–1

2–1

1–0

2–1

Source: Goalzz.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Relegation play-offs

Al-Raed, who finished 10th, faced Abha, who finished 11th for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches earned entry into the 2009–10 Professional League. Al-Raed won 4–3 on aggregate and retained their place in the next edition.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Abha	3–4	Al-Raed	1–1	2–3

First leg

Abha v Al-Raed

24 April 2009 20:40 (UTC+3)

Abha	1–1	Al-Raed
Yaseen  20'	Report	57' Al-Amri

Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium, Abha Referee: Claudio Circhetta, (Switzerland)

Second leg

Al-Raed v Abha

30 April 2009 20:40 (UTC+3)

Al-Raed	3–2	Abha
Felipe Campos  37' Al-Shereaf  65' Boris Kabi  88'	Report	2' Al-Faraj  49' Morjan

King Abdullah Sport City Stadium, Buraidah Referee: Jérôme Laperrière, (Switzerland)

Al-Raed won 4–3 on aggregate.

Top goalscorers

Source: goalzz.com

12 goals

• Hicham Aboucherouane (Al-Ittihad)
• Nasser Al-Shamrani (Al-Shabab)

10 goals

• Emad Moteab (Al-Ittihad)
• Yasser Al Qahtani (Al-Hilal)

9 goals

• Hassan Al-Raheb (Al-Ahli)
• Amir Akrout (Al-Wahda)
• Naif Hazazi (Al-Ittihad)
• Boris Landre (Al-Raed)

See also

• Saudi Arabia Football Federation

References

1. http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_168493833.html Edgardo Bauza takes over as Al-Nasr Coach
2. http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_168527995.html Olaroiu abruptly dismissed in bizarre circumstances
3. http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_168624529.html Leekens takes over at Al Hilal
4. http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_168690337.html Sweeping changes as Al Ahli eye ACL
5. http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_168692596.html Alfaro is new Ahli coach
6. http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_168690574.html Hilal boot out Leekens

External links

• Saudi Arabia Football Federation