Saudi Pro League 2023/2024: Dates, Teams, How To Watch And More | OneFootball

The Saudi Professional League or as it's more commonly known, The Saudi Pro League has been gaining a heap of attention this summer for attracting some of football's biggest stars to its shores.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the first big name to make the switch to Saudi Arabia at the end of 2022 in a move that now seems savvier than ever after the league's summer spending.

So what is the Saudi Pro League? And why are so many stars, some still very much in the peak of their careers choosing to move there for the upcoming 2023/2024 season? Whether you are a fan of the ultrarich league or not, we have cultivated a comprehensive hub of information about Saudi Arabia's top football league to give you further insight into everything that's happening there.

This article has been generated based on substantiated reporting, coupled with stats and figures provided by Transfermarkt, a top-tier football statistics website that provides thorough and up-to-date information on everything to do with the beautiful game.

Players

Some of the game's biggest names have chosen to play their football in the Saudi Pro League for the upcoming 2023/2024 season and you may be surprised to hear who has made the move.

Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante and former Celtic forward Jota have joined current Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad to work with coach Nuno Espirito Santo who used to manage Wolves.

Roberto Firmino and Edouard Mendy left the Premier League to become Al-Ahli players, and Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez is set to join them.

Liverpool's captain Jordan Henderson is also set to join the Saudi Arabian top flight, with a move to Al Ettifaq, the team is managed by Steven Gerrard.

Other notable names to join the Saudi Pro League are; Marcelo Brozovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ruben Neves. This list is likely to grow even bigger with many other notable names nearing moves.

Dates

The Saudi Pro League 2023/2024 season will start on Friday 11th August with a game between Al-Ahli and Al-Hazem. The following opening fixtures will then be played over the three next days starting on Saturday 12th August and finishing on Monday 14th August.

Fans of Cristiano Ronaldo will be able to watch the Portuguese star play on Monday 14th August when Al-Nassr kick off their league campaign against Steven Gerrard's Al-Ettifaq in the most notable opening fixture of the Saudi Pro League.

The fixtures are typically released in two stages, this means games for the second half of the Saudi Pro League 2023/2024 campaign have yet to be confirmed. Nevertheless, going off previous seasons in the Saudi top flight, the league will likely come to an end in May.

Teams

18 teams will play in the Saudi Pro League 2023/2024 season, this currently sees a combined total of 497 players, 24.3% of which are foreign. That's a fairly big percentage of foreign players, although, it's absolutely dwarfed by the 68.4% of foreign talents currently playing in the Premier League.

During the course of a season, 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. This is the common way for most league's in the football world to operate and the Saudi Pro League is no different to this.

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 by goal difference. So there are no drastic changes here.

However, unlike foreign leagues like the MLS, promotion and relegation do exist in the Saudi Pro League. The three lowest-placed teams in the Saudi Professional League are relegated to the First Division and the top three teams from the First Division are promoted.

Profile

Below we have created a table, profiling the Saudi Pro League, including key figures, stats and facts that you might not currently be aware of.

Long before all the glitz and glamour of recent transfers, the Saudi Pro League has seen plenty of the nation's top players wow crowds across the country.

Market Values

With some of world football's flashiest stars moving to Saudi, the league's players currently have a combined market value worth of £469.9 million.

That being said, who comes in the top ten of market values in the league? You might be surprised to find that Cristiano Ronaldo is nowhere near the top spot.

This could be just the start of the kind of money and values moving to the Saudi Pro League and these already tasty totals will more than likely skyrocket.

Could the Saudi Pro League soon become one of the top five leagues in the world? With its growing influence in the beautiful game, we wouldn't be too surprised if it did.

Most Valuable XI

The Saudi Pro League's current most valuable XI would start in a 4-2-3-1 formation and includes some of football's biggest names within it. This most valuable XI has been comprised of market value figures from Transfermarkt.

With four players in the most valuable Saudi Pro League XI, Al-Hilal lead the way with the most talents involved. However, with stars like Riyad Mahrez and Jordan Henderson arriving soon, they could edge their way into this team by the time the season commences.

History

In December 1990, the Saudi football federation decided to merge the league with the king cup in one tournament, it was decided to revamp local competitions and to introduce professional football to the Kingdom.

A new league championship was formed called "The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques League Cup", which was a two-stage championship. However, this league only became fully professional in 2007.

In 2008, the Saudi Pro League was given four places to qualify annually for the AFC Champions League, this comprises the top three teams in the Saudi Arabian top flight and the winner of the Kings Cup.

As of 2022, the league's main sponsor is Roshn, a real estate division of the Public Investment Fund, something which likely brings in quite a lot of money and revenue for the league.

The history of the Saudi Pro League will be rewritten in a massive way over the coming years, with new stars arriving in the Kingdom and big fees being paid for them.

It's already causing quite a stir in the world of football and it will be interesting to see just how much the league grows with all this new investment.

How To watch Saudi Pro League

The primary rights holder to the Saudi Pro League is Shahid. However, fear not, you can sign up for Shahid anywhere in the world with monthly subscriptions starting at £6.41 for customers in the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, due to the global popularity of Al-Nassr superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, the club have indicated that some of their games will be broadcast on the following channels; Sky Sports, ESPN, Sport Italia, Sport TV, L'Equipe, SSC and Shahid. Highlights of all Saudi Pro League fixtures will also be available on the club's YouTube channels.