2009–10 Saudi Pro League

The 2009–10 Saudi Professional League (known as the Zain Professional League for sponsorship reasons) was the 34th season of the Saudi Pro League, the top Saudi professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1976. The season began on 18 August 2009, and ended on 18 March 2010.^[2] Al-Ittihad were the defending champions.^[3]

Saudi Pro League

Season	2009–10
Dates	18 August 2009 – 18 March 2010
Champions	Al Hilal (12th title)
Champions League	Al-Hilal Al-Ittihad Al-Nassr Al-Shabab
Matches played	132
Goals scored	377 (2.86 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mohammad Al-Shalhoub (12 goals)
Biggest home win	Al-Ittihad 7–1 Al-Qadsiah (26 August 2009)
Biggest away win	Najran 0–5 Al Wehda (7 January 2010)
Highest scoring	Al-Ittihad 7–1 Al-Qadsiah (26 August 2009)
Longest winning run	6 games[1] Al Hilal
Longest unbeaten run	14 games[1] Al Hilal
Longest winless run	14 games[1] Al-Raed
Longest losing run	8 games[1] Najran
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

Al Hilal secured the title with a 2–0 win away to Al-Hazem on 24 January 2010.^[4] Al Hilal won the league with three games to spare. Al Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al Shabab and Al Nassr all secured a berth for the 2011 AFC Champions League. No teams were relegated at the end of the season following the decision to increase the number of teams from 12 to 14.^[5]

Name sponsorship

On 16 June 2009, the Saudi Professional League announced a sponsorship with telecommunication company Zain. As part of the sponsorship deal the Saudi Professional League would be known as the Zain Professional League for the next 4 seasons.^[6]

Qualification and Prize Money

The League champions, runners-up and third-placed team, as well as the winners of the King Cup of Champions, qualify for the 2011 AFC Champions League.

The top six teams, and the Crown Prince Cup winners and runners-up qualify for King Cup of Champions.

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

Teams

Twelve teams competed in the league – the top nine teams from the previous season, the relegation play-off winner and the two teams promoted from the Saudi First Division. Al-Raed defeated Abha 4–3 on aggregate to confirm their top-flight status.^[7] The promoted teams were Al-Qadsiah (returning after a season's absence) and Al-Fateh (playing top-flight football for the first time ever). They replaced Abha (relegated after a season's presence) and Al-Watani (ending their two-year top-flight spell).

Stadiums and locations

Al-Ahli
Al-Ittihad

Al-Ettifaq

Al-Fateh

Al-Hazem

Al Hilal
Al-Nassr
Al Shabab

Al-Qadsiah

Al-Raed

Al-Wehda

Najran

Locations of teams in the 2009–10 Saudi Professional League

Club	Location	Stadium
Al-Ahli	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium
Al-Ettifaq	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium
Al-Fateh	Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium
Al-Hazem	Ar Rass	Al-Hazem Club Stadium
Al-Hilal	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium
Al-Ittihad	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium
Al-Nassr	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium
Al-Qadsiah	Al Khubar	Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium
Al-Raed	Buraydah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium
Al Shabab	Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium
Al-Wehda	Mecca	King Abdul Aziz Stadium
Najran	Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium

Personnel

Club	Coach	Nationality	City	Stadium	Capacity	2008–09 season	Notes
Al-Ahli	Sergio Farias		Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	24,000	3rd	Qualified to the 2010 AFC Champions League
Al-Ettifaq	Marin Ion		Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	30,000	6th	Qualified to the 2009–10 Gulf Club Champions Cup
Al-Fateh	Fathi Al-Jabal		Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	20,000	First Division runners-up
Al-Hazem	Lula		Ar Rass	Al-Hazem Club Stadium	11,000	8th
Al-Hilal	Eric Gerets		Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	69,000	2nd	Qualified to the 2010 AFC Champions League
Al-Ittihad	Enzo Trossero		Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	24,000	1st	Qualified to the 2010 AFC Champions League
Al-Nassr	Jorge da Silva		Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	69,000	5th	Qualified to the 2009–10 Gulf Club Champions Cup
Al-Qadsiah	Dimitar Dimitrov		Al Khubar	Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium	10,000	First Division champions
Al-Raed	Edison Mario Souza		Buraydah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	35,000	10th
Al-Shabab	Edgar Pereira		Riyadh	King Fahd Stadium	69,000	4th	Qualified to the 2009–10 Gulf Club Champions Cup
Al-Wehda	Eurico Gomes		Mecca	King Abdul Aziz Stadium	28,550	7th
Najran	Mourad Okbi		Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium	10,000	9th

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Replaced by	Date
Al-Hilal	Georges Leekens	Sacked[8]	Eric Gerets	May 2009
Al-Ahli	Stoycho Mladenov	Sacked[9]	Gustavo Alfaro	June 2009
Al-Raed	Luiz Antônio Zaluar	End of contract[10]	Acácio Casimiro	June 2009
Al-Hazem	Ammar Souayah	End of contract[11]	Mohsen Saleh	July 2009
Al-Nassr	Edgardo Bauza	End of contract[12]	Jorge da Silva	July 2009
Al-Shabab	Enzo Trossero	End of contract[13]	Jaime Pacheco	July 2009
Al-Qadsiah	Daniel Lanata	Sacked[14]	Ammar Souayah	September 2009
Al-Raed	Acácio Casimiro	Sacked[15]	Edison Mario Souza	October 2009
Najran	Marcelo Zuleta	Sacked[16]	Samir Jouili	October 2009
Al-Ettifaq	Stoycho Mladenov	Sacked[17]	Saber Eid (caretaker)	October 2009
Al-Ettifaq	Saber Eid (caretaker)	End of caretaker period[18]	Marin Ion	October 2009
Al-Ahli	Gustavo Alfaro	Resigned[19]	Alan Guido (caretaker)	November 2009
Al-Qadsiah	Ammar Souayah	Resigned[20]	Anas Al Zerqati (caretaker)	November 2009
Al-Hazem	Mohsen Saleh	Resigned[21]	Emad Al Solami (caretaker)	November 2009
Al-Hazem	Emad Al Solami (caretaker)	End of caretaker period[22]	Lula	December 2009
Al-Ahli	Alan Guido (caretaker)	End of caretaker period[23]	Sergio Farias	December 2009
Al-Qadsiah	Anas Al Zerqati (caretaker)	End of caretaker period[24]	Dimitar Dimitrov	December 2009
Najran	Samir Jouili	Sacked[25]	Mourad Okbi	January 2010
Al-Ittihad	Gabriel Calderón	Sacked[26]	Hassan Khalifah (caretaker)	January 2010
Al-Ittihad	Hassan Khalifah (caretaker)	End of caretaker period[27]	Enzo Trossero	January 2010
Al-Shabab	Jaime Pacheco	Sacked[28]	Edgar	April 2010

Foreign players

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

• Players name in bold indicates the player was registered during the mid-season transfer window.
• Players name in italic indicates the player was de-registered or left their respective clubs during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC Player	Former players
Al-Ahli	Marcinho	Victor Simões	Saïf Ghezal	Ahmed Kano	Javier Toledo Sebastián Rusculleda Josimar Mosquera
Al-Ettifaq	Cristian Dănălache	Dorel Stoica	Jeremiah White	Badar Al-Maimani	Youness Mankari Khalifa Ayil Al-Noufali José Luis Garcés
Al-Fateh	Emmanuel Emmanuel	Naïm Berrabet	Ramzi Ben Younès
Al-Hazem	Salaheddine Aqqal	Hamad Ji	Mohamed Rebeiz	Bashar Bani Yaseen
Al-Hilal	Thiago Neves	Mirel Rădoi	Christian Wilhelmsson	Lee Young-pyo
Al-Ittihad	Abdelmalek Ziaya	Hicham Aboucherouane	Amine Chermiti	Ahmed Hadid Al-Mukhaini	Luciano Leguizamón
Al-Nassr	Víctor Figueroa	Hossam Ghaly	Pascal Feindouno	Lee Chun-soo	Éder Gaúcho
Al-Qadsiah	Nasigba John-Jumbo	Nelson Figueredo	Juan Cominges		Rubén Gigena Said Suwailim Al-Shoon
Al-Raed	Bruno Luiz	Felipe Campos	Sérgio Ricardo	Hatem Aqel	Mário Sérgio Sédonoudé Abouta
Al-Shabab	Flávio Amado	Marcelo Camacho	Tarik El Taib	Hussain Ali Baba	Adam Griffiths
Al-Wehda	Abdelkarim Benhania	Abdessamad Rafik	Youssef Kaddioui		Eli Felton
Najran	Abdessamad Ouarrad	Yves Diba Ilunga	Moussa Soulaimane	Anas Bani Yaseen	Cédric Kisamba Ibrahim Kamara

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Hilal (C)	22	18	2	2	56	18	+38	56	Qualification for the Champions League group stage and the King Cup of Champions[a]
2	Al-Ittihad	22	14	3	5	46	30	+16	45
3	Al-Nassr	22	12	7	3	38	23	+15	43
4	Al-Shabab	22	11	7	4	36	23	+13	40
5	Al-Wehda	22	7	7	8	34	27	+7	28	Qualification for the King Cup of Champions
6	Al-Ahli	22	7	7	8	28	29	−1	28
7	Al-Hazem	22	6	6	10	29	38	−9	24
8	Al-Fateh	22	6	6	10	26	38	−12	24
9	Al-Ettifaq	22	5	7	10	24	30	−6	22
10	Al-Qadsiah	22	5	5	12	20	40	−20	20
11	Al-Raed	22	3	7	12	18	35	−17	16
12	Najran	22	4	4	14	22	46	−24	16

Source: SLstat
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Total goal difference; 3) Total goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only for deciding champion, relegation and AFC competitions participation).
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Since the winners of the King Cup of Champions, Al-Ittihad, qualified for the Champions League, the spot given to the King Cup of Champions winners (Champions League group stage) was passed to the fourth-placed team.

Results

Home \ Away	AHL	ETT	FAT	HAZ	HIL	ITT	NSR	QAD	RAE	SHB	WHD	NAJ
Al-Ahli		2–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	3–3	3–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–1
Al-Ettifaq	0–0		0–2	2–3	0–2	2–1	1–1	0–2	3–0	0–0	1–3	3–1
Al-Fateh	3–1	0–3		1–1	0–4	1–2	0–2	5–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–1
Al-Hazem	1–1	0–2	2–1		0–2	1–2	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	3–1
Al-Hilal	3–1	1–0	5–1	4–0		5–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	5–0
Al-Ittihad	2–1	1–1	1–1	5–2	2–1		1–2	7–1	3–2	1–2	2–0	3–1
Al-Nassr	1–1	1–0	3–1	1–0	2–1	0–1		3–0	4–2	0–2	1–0	3–2
Al-Qadsiah	1–2	1–1	0–1	3–1	1–2	3–3	0–2		0–0	0–3	1–0	1–0
Al-Raed	1–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–0	2–0		1–1	1–1	2–2
Al-Shabab	2–1	4–1	2–2	0–2	1–2	1–0	3–2	0–1	2–1		2–2	1–0
Al-Wehda	1–1	2–2	6–0	0–0	1–2	1–3	0–2	2–1	4–1	1–1		2–0
Najran	2–1	3–2	1–1	2–4	1–2	2–3	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–3	0–5

Updated to match(es) played on 18 March 2010. Source: Slstat.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[29]
1	Mohammad Al-Shalhoub	Al-Hilal	12
2	Thiago Neves	Al-Hilal	11
	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	Al-Nassr
4	Waleed Al-Gizani	Al-Hazem	10
5	Víctor Figueroa	Al-Nassr	9
	Ahmed Abo Obaid	Al-Fateh
	Muhannad Assiri	Al-Wehda
	Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Shabab
	Yasser Al-Qahtani	Al-Hilal
	Christian Wilhelmsson	Al-Hilal

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Flávio Amado	Al-Shabab	Najran	3–1 (A)	19 August 2009	[30]
Naif Hazazi	Al-Ittihad	Al-Qadisiyah	7–1 (H)	26 August 2009	[31]
Thiago Neves	Al-Hilal	Al-Ittihad	5–0 (H)	10 December 2009	[32]
Hicham Aboucherouane	Al-Ittihad	Al-Hazem	5–2 (H)	6 January 2010	[33]
Muhannad Assiri	Al-Wehda	Najran	5–0 (A)	7 January 2010	[34]
Abdelkarim Benhenia4	Al-Wehda	Al-Fateh	6–0 (H)	28 January 2010	[35]

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Khalid Radhy	Al Nassr	8
2	Mohamed Al-Deayea	Al Hilal	7
3	Mohammad Khouja	Al-Ettifaq	5
	Mohammad Sharifi	Al-Fateh
	Mohammed Al-Khojali	Al-Raed
	Waleed Abdullah	Al Shabab
7	Faisal Al-Merqeb	Al Wehda	4
8	Jaber Al-Ameri	Najran	3
	Mabrouk Zaid	Al-Ittihad

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 8^[36]
  • Ramzi Ben Younès (Al-Fateh)

• Most red cards: 2^[36]
  • Abdullah Al-Garni (Al-Nassr)
  • Ahmed Menawer (Al-Hazem)
  • Mansoor Al-Harbi (Al-Ahli)
  • Zakaria Al-Hadaf (Al-Qadsiah)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 56^[36]
  • Al-Hazem

• Most red cards: 8^[36]
  • Al-Ittihad

Awards

Arriyadiyah and Mobily Awards for Sports Excellence

The Arriyadiyah and Mobily Awards for Sports Excellence were awarded at the conclusion of the season for the fourth time since its inception in 2007. The awards were sponsored by Saudi newspaper Arriyadiyah and Saudi telecommunication company Mobily. The awards were presented on 13 May 2010.^[37]

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Christian Wilhelmsson Osama Hawsawi Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	Al-Hilal Al-Hilal Al-Nassr
Young Player of the Season	Ibrahim Ghaleb Nawaf Al-Abed Khaled Al-Mutairi	Al-Nassr Al-Hilal Al-Hazem
Golden Boot	Mohammad Al-Shalhoub	Al-Hilal

Al-Riyadiya Awards

Another set of awards were awarded at the end of the season. It was announced that AlRiyadiya were presenting their awards for the first time. The awards were known as AlRiyadiya Awards and were presented on 8 May 2010.^[38]

• Best Goalkeeper: Waleed Abdullah (Al-Shabab)
• Best defender: Osama Hawsawi (Al-Hilal)
• Best Midfielder: Christian Wilhelmsson (Al-Hilal)
• Best attacker: Mohammad Al-Sahlawi (Al-Nassr)
• Player of the Year: Osama Hawsawi (Al-Hilal)

See also

• 2010 King Cup of Champions
• 2009–10 Crown Prince Cup (Final)
• 2011 AFC Champions League