2011–12 Saudi Pro League

The 2011–12 Saudi Professional League (known as the Zain Professional League for sponsorship reasons) was the 36th season of the Saudi Professional League, the top Saudi professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1976. The season began on 9 September 2011, and ended on 18 April 2012.^[4] Al-Hilal were the defending champions.^[5] The league was contested by the 12 teams from the 2010–11 season as well as Al-Ansar and Hajer, who joined as the promoted clubs from the 2010–11 First Division. They replace Al-Hazem and Al-Wehda who were relegated to the 2011–12 First Division.

Saudi Pro League

Season	2011–2012
Dates	9 September 2011 – 18 April 2012
Champions	Al-Shabab (6th title)
Relegated	Al-Qadsiah Al-Ansar
AFC Champions League	Al-Shabab Al-Ahli Al-Hilal Al-Ettifaq
UAFA Club Cup	Al-Fateh Al-Nassr
GCC Champions League	Al-Faisaly Najran
Matches played	182
Goals scored	537 (2.95 per match)
Top goalscorer	Victor Simões Nasser Al-Shamrani (21 goals each)
Biggest home win	Al-Ittihad 7–0 Hajer (16 December 2011)
Biggest away win	Al-Qadsiah 0–8 Al-Ittihad (2 November 2011)
Highest scoring	Al-Qadsiah 4–5 Al-Hilal (20 October 2011)
Longest winning run	9 games[1] Al-Hilal
Longest unbeaten run	26 games[1] Al-Shabab
Longest winless run	18 games[1] Al-Ansar
Longest losing run	17 games[1] Al-Ansar
Highest attendance	22,996[2] Al-Hilal 4–0 Al-Ahli (29 September 2011)
Lowest attendance	28[3] Al-Qadsiah 2–2 Al-Faisaly (30 November 2011)
Average attendance	4,374
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

On 14 April, Al-Shabab won their sixth League title on the final matchday after a 1–1 draw away to runners-up Al-Ahli.^[6] Al-Shabab ended the season without a single defeat becoming the second team to ever do so in a 26-game league season and the third team overall.

Al-Ansar were the first team to be relegated following a 1–0 home defeat against Al-Raed on 31 March.^[7] Al-Qadsiah became the second and final team to be relegated following a 3–2 defeat away to Al-Nassr on 13 April.^[8]

Teams

Fourteen teams competed in the league – the twelve teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the First Division. The promoted teams were Al-Ansar (returning after an absence of six years) and Hajer (returning after an absence of twelve years). They replaced Al-Hazem (ending their six-year top-flight spell) and Al-Wehda (ending their eight-year top-flight spell).

Stadiums and locations

Al-Ahli
Al-Ittihad

Al-Ansar

Al-Ettifaq

Al-Faisaly

Al-Fateh
Hajer

Al-Hilal
Al-Nassr
Al-Shabab

Al-Qadsiah

Al-Raed
Al-Taawoun

Najran

Locations of teams in the 2011–12 Saudi Professional League

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Al-Ahli	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	25,000[9]
Al-Ansar	Medina	Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Stadium	24,000[10]
Al-Ettifaq	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	21,701[11]
Al-Faisaly	Harmah	Prince Salman Sport City Stadium	5,200[12]
Al-Fateh	Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	19,096[13]
Al-Hilal	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[14] 22,500[15]
Al-Ittihad	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium	25,000[9]
Al-Nassr	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[14] 22,500[15]
Al-Qadsiah	Khobar	Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium	11,000[16]
Al-Raed	Buraidah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	23,600[17]
Al-Shabab	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[14] 22,500[15]
Al-Taawoun	Buraidah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	23,600[17]
Hajer	Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	19,096[13]
Najran	Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium	3,200[18]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Al-Ahli	Karel Jarolím	Mohammad Massad	Adidas	STC
Al-Ansar	Jalel Kadri	Abdoh Besisi	Adidas
Al-Ettifaq	Branko Ivanković	Sayaf Al-Bishi	Hattrick
Al-Faisaly	Zlatko Dalić	Omar Abdulaziz	Hattrick
Al-Fateh	Fathi Al-Jabal	Jaber Hagawi	Lotto	Fuchsia1
Al-Hilal	Ivan Hašek	Osama Hawsawi	Adidas	Mobily
Al-Ittihad	Raúl Caneda	Mohammed Noor	Nike	STC
Al-Nassr	Francisco Maturana	Hussein Abdulghani	Nike	STC
Al-Qadsiah	Mariano Barreto	Ali Al-Shehri	Hattrick
Al-Raed	Ammar Souayah	Mohammed Al-Khojali	Hattrick	Al-Remeikhany
Al-Shabab	Michel Preud'homme	Ahmed Otaif	Adidas	STC
Al-Taawoun	Khalid Kamal (caretaker)	Ahmed Al-Harbi	Jako
Hajer	Ednaldo Patricio	Khaled Al-Rejaib	Hattrick	Al-Ghadeer
Najran	Gjoko Hadžievski	Jehad Al-Hussain	Hattrick

• ¹ On the back of the strip.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Al-Ansar	Djamel Belkacem	End of contract	18 May 2011[19]	Pre-season	Blaž Slišković	30 May 2011[20]
Al-Nassr	Dragan Skočić	Sacked	26 May 2011[21]		Eurico Gomes (caretaker)	26 May 2011[21]
Al-Qadsiah	Dimitar Dimitrov	End of contract	1 June 2011		Mariano Barreto	12 June 2011[22]
Hajer	Zuhair Al-Louati		1 June 2011		Ednaldo Patricio	27 June 2011[23]
Najran	José Rachão		1 June 2011		Gjoko Hadžievski	1 July 2011[24]
Al-Shabab	Enzo Trossero		12 June 2011		Michel Preud'homme	14 June 2011[25]
Al-Hilal	Gabriel Calderón	Sacked	18 June 2011[26]		Thomas Doll	20 July 2011[27]
Al-Ahli	Aleksandar Ilić	End of contract	30 June 2011		Karel Jarolím	5 August 2011[28]
Al-Ettifaq	Youssef Zouaoui		30 June 2011		Branko Ivanković	22 July 2011[29]
Al-Nassr	Eurico Gomes (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	30 June 2011		Gustavo Costas	18 July 2011[30]
Al-Raed	Eurico Gomes	Sacked	17 October 2011[31]	13th	Hafez Al-Hoarbi (caretaker)	17 October 2011[31]
Al-Ansar	Blaž Slišković		26 October 2011[32]	14th	Ayoub Ghulam (caretaker)	26 October 2011[32]
Al-Raed	Hafez Al-Hoarbi (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	28 October 2011	13th	Ammar Souayah	28 October 2011[33]
Al-Ansar	Ayoub Ghulam (caretaker)		10 November 2011	14th	Jalel Kadri	10 November 2011[34]
Al-Ittihad	Dimitri Davidović	Sacked	28 November 2011[35]	5th	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)	28 November 2011[35]
Al--Nassr	Gustavo Costas		30 November 2011[36]	6th	Ali Komaikh (caretaker)	30 November 2011[36]
Al-Nassr	Ali Komaikh (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	4 December 2011	6th	Francisco Maturana	4 December 2011[37]
Al-Ittihad	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)		16 December 2011	6th	Matjaž Kek	16 December 2011[38]
Al-Taawoun	Florin Motroc	Resigned	29 December 2011[39]	13th	Srećko Juričić	30 December 2011[39]
Al-Taawoun	Srećko Juričić	Sacked	20 January 2012[40]	12th	Grigore Sichitiu	20 January 2012[40]
Al-Hilal	Thomas Doll		22 January 2012[41]	4th	Ivan Hašek	22 January 2012[42]
Al-Ittihad	Matjaž Kek		8 February 2012[43]	6th	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)	8 February 2012[43]
Al-Ittihad	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	27 February 2012	7th	Raúl Caneda	27 February 2012[44]
Al-Taawoun	Grigore Sichitiu	Sacked	2 April 2012[45]	12th	Khalid Kamal (caretaker)	2 April 2012[45]

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries.^[46]

Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC player	Former players
Al-Ahli	Marcelo Camacho	Victor Simões	Jairo Palomino	Amad Al-Hosni
Al-Ansar	Sadick Adams	Diakite Lamine	Radhouane Ben Ouanès	Mohammad Istanbuli	Tatá Mohammad Muneer Despot Višković Nenad Injac
Al-Ettifaq	Sebastián Tagliabúe	Bruno Lazaroni	Carlos Santos	Hassan Mudhafar Al-Gheilani	Lee Won-young
Al-Faisaly	Dario Jertec	Leon Benko	Amer Deeb	Wael Ayan	Asim Šehić Pero Pejić
Al-Fateh	Élton Arábia	Doris Fuakumputu	Kemekho Cissokho	Shadi Abu Hash'hash
Al-Hilal	Adil Hermach	Youssef El-Arabi	Christian Wilhelmsson	Yoo Byung-soo	Achille Emaná
Al-Ittihad	Fabrice Ondama	Hosny Abd Rabo	Faouzi Abdelghani	Abdullah Omar	Abdelmalek Ziaya Wendel Fahad Al Enezi Paulo Jorge
Al-Nassr	Hadj Bouguèche	Vinícius Reche	Wagner Querino	Kim Byung-suk	Antar Yahia Juan Mercier Juan Pablo Pino Daré Nibombé
Al-Qadsiah	Saïd Bouchouk	Zoran Baldovaliev	Uche Agba	Abdulwahab Al-Safi	Hadj Bouguèche William Kwabena Tiero
Al-Raed	Leandrinho	Yves Diba Ilunga	Issam Erraki	Abdul Salam Al-Mukhaini	Reinaldo
Al-Shabab	Fernando Menegazzo	Marcelo Tavares	Wendel	Server Djeparov	Ibrahim Yattara
Al-Taawoun	Migen Memelli	Vianney Mabidé	Salaheddine Aqqal	Yaseen Al-Bakhit	Šakir Redžepi Abdelrazaq Al-Hussain
Hajer	Rico	Moustapha Moctar Belbi	Hazem Jawdat	Abdelatif Bahdari	Rafael Barbosa Franklin Ayodele
Najran	Farid Cheklam	Ramzi Bourakba	Reda Benhadj Djillali	Jehad Al-Hussain	Zoran Baldovaliev Dušan Đokić

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Shabab (C)	26	19	7	0	50	16	+34	64	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage[a]
2	Al-Ahli	26	19	5	2	60	22	+38	62
3	Al-Hilal	26	18	6	2	58	22	+36	60
4	Al-Ettifaq	26	13	8	5	41	26	+15	47
5	Al-Ittihad	26	10	7	9	49	35	+14	37
6	Al-Fateh	26	10	7	9	37	41	−4	37	Qualification for the UAFA Club Cup
7	Al-Nassr	26	10	5	11	40	37	+3	35
8	Al-Faisaly	26	7	9	10	36	41	−5	30	Qualification for the GCC Champions League
9	Najran	26	7	9	10	34	49	−15	30
10	Al-Raed	26	8	4	14	28	39	−11	28
11	Hajer	26	6	7	13	23	45	−22	25
12	Al-Taawoun	26	4	7	15	28	52	−24	19
13	Al-Qadsiah (R)	26	4	6	16	34	52	−18	18	Relegation to the First Division
14	Al-Ansar (R)	26	3	1	22	19	60	−41	10

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; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winners of the King Cup of Champions, Al-Ahli, 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	ANS	ETT	FSY	FAT	HIL	ITT	NSR	QAD	RAE	SHB	TWN	HJR	NAJ
Al-Ahli		5–1	0–0	2–0	3–3	1–0	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	4–2	4–3	4–0
Al-Ansar	0–1		0–2	2–1	2–1	0–2	1–3	0–2	0–3	0–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	1–2
Al-Ettifaq	0–4	1–1		1–2	1–0	2–2	1–0	2–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	5–1	0–0	3–3
Al-Faisaly	0–1	2–1	1–4		1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	2–2	4–1
Al-Fateh	2–2	3–0	2–1	2–1		0–5	3–2	0–1	1–6	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–2
Al-Hilal	4–0	6–1	3–3	2–1	3–2		1–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	3–1	2–1
Al-Ittihad	1–3	3–2	0–1	4–2	1–2	0–2		1–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	5–3	7–0	2–2
Al-Nassr	1–3	4–1	1–3	1–1	1–2	0–3	1–3		3–2	1–0	1–2	5–0	0–0	3–2
Al-Qadsiah	0–3	2–1	0–1	2–2	1–2	4–5	0–8	2–1		0–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–2
Al-Raed	1–5	3–2	1–2	1–4	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–4	1–0		1–2	2–0	1–2	0–1
Al-Shabab	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–2	1–0	3–2		1–0	6–1	4–0
Al-Taawoun	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	3–3	0–1	2–1	1–2	2–2	0–2	1–2		2–1	1–4
Hajer	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–4	1–2	0–0	0–3	1–0	0–2	0–1	2–1		1–0
Najran	0–4	2–1	0–3	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	1–4	1–1	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 18 April 2012. Source: SLstat.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[47]
1	Victor Simões	Al-Ahli	21
	Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Shabab
3	Amad Al-Hosni	Al-Ahli	15
	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	Al-Nassr
5	Hadj Bouguèche	Al-Qadsiah / Al-Nassr	12
	Youssef El-Arabi	Al-Hilal
	Bader Al-Kharashi	Al-Faisaly
8	Yousef Al-Salem	Al-Ettifaq	11
9	Doris Fuakumputu	Al-Fateh	10
10	Sebastián Tagliabué	Al-Ettifaq	9
	Wendel	Al-Ittihad / Al-Shabab
	Hamdan Al-Hamdan	Al-Fateh
	Taisir Al-Jassim	Al-Ahli
	Jehad Al-Hussain	Najran

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Hadj Bouguèche	Al-Qadsiah	Al-Fateh	6–1 (A)	14 October 2011	[48]
Victor Simões	Al-Ahli	Al-Taawoun	4–2 (H)	15 October 2011	[49]
Youssef El-Arabi	Al-Hilal	Al-Qadsiah	5–4 (A)	20 October 2011	[50]
Wendel	Al-Ittihad	Al-Qadsiah	8–0 (A)	2 November 2011	[51]
Victor Simões	Al-Ahli	Al-Ansar	5–1 (H)	29 December 2011	[52]
Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Shabab	Al-Ansar	3–0 (H)	8 April 2012	[53]

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[54]
1	Waleed Abdullah	Al-Shabab	13
	Yasser Al-Mosailem	Al-Ahli
3	Fayz Al-Sabiay	Al-Ettifaq	11
4	Khalid Sharahili	Al-Hilal	7
5	Hassan Al-Otaibi	Al-Hilal	6
6	Mohammed Al-Khojali	Al-Raed	5
	Mohammad Sharifi	Al-Fateh
8	Abdullah Al-Enezi	Al-Nassr	4
	Ali Al-Mazyadi	Al-Ittihad
	Mustafa Malayekah	Hajer

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10^[55]
  • Mishaal Al-Saeed (Al-Ittihad)

• Most red cards: 2^[55]
  • Bandar Musaad (Najran)
  • Abdoh Hakami (Al-Raed)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 69^[56]
  • Al-Ittihad

• Most red cards: 6^[57]
  • Al-Ahli

Attendances

By team

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Al-Ahli	143,486	17,200	4,110	11,037	+46.7%†
2	Al-Hilal	97,112	22,996	352	7,470	−14.5%†
3	Al-Raed	92,903	22,523	1,831	7,146	+4.0%†
4	Al-Ittihad	91,318	16,195	2,620	7,024	−6.9%†
5	Al-Taawoun	90,672	19,658	2,058	6,975	+4.2%†
6	Al-Ansar	56,669	18,400	33	4,359	n/a† †
7	Al-Nassr	53,748	17,945	588	4,134	−35.1%†
8	Al-Ettifaq	52,653	18,016	203	4,050	−7.8%†
9	Al-Shabab	35,248	8,123	725	2,711	+56.8%†
10	Al-Qadsiah	19,026	6,711	28	1,464	−28.2%†
11	Al-Fateh	18,584	4,672	164	1,430	−31.5%†
12	Hajer	17,921	4,225	247	1,379	n/a† †
13	Al-Faisaly	15,657	3,223	395	1,204	−8.9%†
14	Najran	11,161	2,330	271	859	−17.7%†
	League total	796,158	22,996	28	4,374	+4.0%†

Updated to games played on 18 April 2012
Source: ^[58][59][60]
Notes:
^† Teams played previous season in First Division.

Awards

Arriyadiyah Awards for Sports Excellence

After a partnership of five years, it was announced that Mobily would no longer sponsor the award.^[61] The Arriyadiyah Awards for Sports Excellence were awarded for the sixth time since its inception in 2007. The awards were sponsored by Saudi newspaper Arriyadiyah and Saudi marketing company RPM. The awards were presented on 16 December 2012.^[62]

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Taisir Al-Jassim Nasser Al-Shamrani Amad Al-Hosni	Al-Ahli Al-Shabab Al-Ahli
Young Player of the Season	Yasser Al-Fahmi Abdulellah Al-Nassar Ayman Fadel	Al-Ahli Al-Nassr Al-Ittihad
Golden Boot	Victor Simões Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Ahli Al-Shabab

Al-Riyadiya Awards

The Al-Riyadiya Awards were awarded for the third time since its inception in 2010. The awards were presented on 13 May 2012.^[63]

• Best Goalkeeper: Waleed Abdullah (Al-Shabab)
• Best defender: Osama Al-Muwallad (Al-Ittihad)
• Best Midfielder: Taisir Al-Jassim (Al-Ahli)
• Best attacker: Nasser Al-Shamrani (Al-Shabab)
• Player of the Year: Nasser Al-Shamrani (Al-Shabab)
• Young Player of the Year: Salem Al-Dawsari (Al-Hilal)