2012–13 Saudi Pro League

The 2012–13 Saudi Professional League (known as the Zain Professional League for sponsorship reasons) was the 37th season of the Saudi Professional League, the top Saudi professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1976. The season began on 2 August 2012 and ended on 27 April 2013.^[6] Al-Shabab were the defending champions.^[7] The league was contested by the 12 teams from the 2011–12 season as well as Al-Shoulla and Al-Wehda, who joined as the promoted clubs from the 2011–12 First Division. They replace Al-Ansar and Al-Qadisiyah who were relegated to the 2012–13 First Division.

Professional League

Season	2012–2013
Dates	2 August 2012 – 27 April 2013
Champions	Al-Fateh (1st title)
Relegated	Hajer Al-Wehda
AFC Champions League	Al-Fateh Al-Ittihad Al-Hilal Al-Shabab
GCC Champions League	Al-Raed Al-Shoulla
Matches played	182
Goals scored	531 (2.92 per match)
Top goalscorer	Sebastián Tagliabué (19 goals)
Biggest home win	Al-Hilal 6–0 Al-Raed (28 September 2012)
Biggest away win	Najran 0–6 Al-Hilal (23 August 2012)
Highest scoring	Al-Wehda 2–5 Al-Shabab (28 August 2012) Al-Faisaly 4–3 Al-Wehda (19 October 2012) Al-Faisaly 6–1 Najran (18 April 2013)
Longest winning run	10 games[1] Al-Hilal
Longest unbeaten run	17 games[2] Al-Fateh
Longest winless run	19 games[3] Al-Wehda
Longest losing run	11 games[4] Al-Wehda
Highest attendance	28,188[5] Al-Ahli 1–1 Al-Ittihad (14 February 2013)
Lowest attendance	60[5] Al-Shoulla 1–1 Al-Faisaly (30 January 2013)
Average attendance	3,544
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

On 14 April, Al-Fateh won their first League title, with 2 games to spare, following a 1–0 home win over Al-Ahli.^[8] Al-Fateh became the seventh club to win the Pro League. This is considered by many to be one of the greatest shocks in Saudi football history, especially considering that Al-Fateh were promoted to the Pro League for the first time only four years earlier.^[9]

Al-Wehda were the first team to be relegated following a 2–1 home defeat to Al-Faisaly on 29 March.^[10] Hajer became the second and final team to be relegated following a 2–1 defeat away to Al-Shabab on the final matchday.^[11]

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-Shoulla (returning after an absence of eight seasons) and Al-Wehda (returning after a season's absence). They replaced Al-Qadisiyah (ending their three-year top-flight spell) and Al-Ansar (who were relegated after one season in the top flight).

Stadiums and locations

Al-Ahli
Al-Ittihad

Al-Ettifaq

Al-Faisaly

Al-Fateh
Hajer

Al-Hilal
Al-Nassr
Al-Shabab

Al-Raed
Al-Taawoun

Al-Shoulla

Al-Wehda

Najran

Locations of teams in the 2012–13 Saudi Professional League

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Al-Ahli	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium King Abdul Aziz Stadium[a]	25,000[12] 33,195[13]
Al-Ettifaq	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	21,701[14]
Al-Faisaly	Harmah	Prince Salman Sport City Stadium	5,200[15]
Al-Fateh	Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	19,096[16]
Al-Hilal	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[17] 22,500[18]
Al-Ittihad	Jeddah	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium King Abdul Aziz Stadium[a]	25,000[12] 33,195[13]
Al-Nassr	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[17] 22,500[18]
Al-Raed	Buraidah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	23,600[19]
Al-Shabab	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[17] 22,500[18]
Al-Shoulla	Al-Kharj	Al-Shoulla Club Stadium	8,000[20]
Al-Taawoun	Buraidah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	23,600[19]
Al-Wehda	Mecca	King Abdul Aziz Stadium	33,195[13]
Hajer	Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	19,096[16]
Najran	Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium	3,200[21]

1. Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad played at the King Abdul Aziz Stadium, from 23 November onwards, due to the expansion of the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium.

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Al-Ahli	Aleksandar Ilić	Taisir Al-Jassim	Umbro	STC, Toyota1, ExxonMobil2
Al-Ettifaq	Maciej Skorża	Saleh Bashir	Puma	Toyota1
Al-Faisaly	Marc Brys	Omar Abdulaziz	Joma	ALDREES, Roco2
Al-Fateh	Fathi Al-Jabal	Hamdan Al-Hamdan	Lotto	Kia Motors, Fuchsia1
Al-Hilal	Zlatko Dalić	Salman Al-Faraj	Adidas	Mobily
Al-Ittihad	Beñat San José	Mohammed Noor	SportONE	STC, Toyota1, ExxonMobil2
Al-Nassr	José Daniel Carreño	Hussein Abdulghani	NFC	STC, Toyota1, ExxonMobil2
Al-Raed	Vlatko Kostov	Issam Erraki	Hattrick	Al-Remeikhany, Al Qassim National Hospital1
Al-Shabab	Michel Preud'homme	Ahmed Otaif	Adidas	STC, Toyota1, ExxonMobil2
Al-Shoulla	Ahmad Al-Ajlani	Burj Maodah	Hattrick	Anfal Dalton
Al-Taawoun	Taoufik Rouabah	Ahmed Al-Harbi	Hattrick
Al-Wehda	Khalil Obaid	Sulaiman Amido	Hattrick
Hajer	Tarek Yehia	Mansoor Al-Najai	Uhlsport
Najran	Gjoko Hadžievski	Saheb Al-Abdullah	Adidas

• ¹ On the back of the strip.
• ² On the right sleeve of the strip.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Al-Ettifaq	Branko Ivanković	Sacked	29 April 2012[22]	Pre-season	Sameer Hilal (caretaker)	29 April 2012[22]
Al-Faisaly	Zlatko Dalić	End of contract	30 April 2012		Marc Brys	2 June 2012[23]
Al-Taawoun	Khalid Kamal (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	30 April 2012		Gjoko Hadžievski	6 May 2012[24]
Al-Ettifaq	Sameer Hilal (caretaker)		1 May 2012		Ammar Souayah	1 May 2012[25]
Najran	Gjoko Hadžievski	Signed by Al-Taawoun	6 May 2012		Miodrag Ješić	31 May 2012[26]
Al-Hilal	Ivan Hašek	Sacked	11 May 2012		Antoine Kombouaré	28 June 2012[27]
Al-Ettifaq	Ammar Souayah	End of contract	30 May 2012		Alain Geiger	7 June 2012[28]
Al-Wehda	Bashir Abdel Samad	Resigned	30 August 2012[29]	14th	Badr Hawsawi (caretaker)	30 August 2012
Al-Nassr	Francisco Maturana	Sacked	2 September 2012[30]	6th	Alejandro Dutra (caretaker)	2 September 2012[30]
Al-Nassr	Alejandro Dutra (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	15 September 2012	6th	José Daniel Carreño	15 September 2012[31]
Al-Wehda	Badr Hawsawi (caretaker)		18 September 2012	14th	Wajdi Essid	18 September 2012[32]
Al-Ettifaq	Alain Geiger	Sacked	19 September 2012	10th	Maciej Skorża	19 September 2012[33]
Hajer	Ednaldo Patricio		29 September 2012	11th	Luiz Neto (caretaker)	29 September 2012[34]
Hajer	Luiz Neto (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	4 October 2012	12th	Tarek Yehia	4 October 2012[35]
Al-Shoulla	Mohamed Salah	Sacked	31 December 2012[36]	13th	Ahmad Al-Ajlani	1 January 2013[37]
Najran	Miodrag Ješić		2 January 2013	8th	Khemais Labidi	6 January 2013[38]
Al-Wehda	Wajdi Essid		27 January 2013	14th	Khalil Obaid	27 January 2013[39]
Al-Hilal	Antoine Kombouaré		31 January 2013	2nd	Zlatko Dalić	31 January 2013[40]
Al-Raed	Ammar Souayah	Resigned	1 February 2013[41]	9th	Vlatko Kostov	2 February 2013[42]
Al-Taawoun	Gjoko Hadžievski	Sacked	21 February 2013[43]	11th	Taoufik Rouabah	25 February 2013[44]
Al-Ittihad	Raúl Caneda		23 February 2013[45]	7th	Beñat San José	23 February 2013[45]
Al-Ahli	Karel Jarolím		28 February 2013[46]	5th	Aleksandar Ilić	28 February 2013[46]
Najran	Khemais Labidi		1 March 2013	9th	Alhassan Al-Yami (caretaker)	1 March 2013[47]
Najran	Alhassan Al-Yami (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	6 March 2013	8th	Gjoko Hadžievski	6 March 2013[48]

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries.^[49]

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	Bruno César	Victor Simões	Jairo Palomino	Amad Al-Hosni	Diego Morales
Al-Ettifaq	Carlos	Prince Tagoe		Ahmed Kano	Cássio Júnior Xuxa
Al-Faisaly	Christophe Grondin	Naby Soumah	Yaseen Al-Bakhit	Ismail Al-Ajmi
Al-Fateh	Élton Arábia	Doris Fuakumputu	Kemekho Cissokho	Shadi Abu Hash'hash
Al-Hilal	Ozéia	Wesley	Gustavo Bolívar	Yoo Byung-soo	Adil Hermach Kader Mangane
Al-Ittihad	Bill	Modeste M'bami	György Sándor	Anas Sharbini 1	Diego Souza Faouzi Abdelghani
Al-Nassr	Rafael Bastos	Hosny Abd Rabo	Angelos Charisteas	Mohamed Husain	Damián Manso Jaime Ayoví Shavkat Mullajanov
Al-Raed	Xuxa	Yves Diba Ilunga	Issam Erraki	Abdul Salam Al-Mukhaini
Al-Shabab	Sebastián Tagliabúe	Fernando Menegazzo	Marcelo Camacho	Kwak Tae-hwi	Server Djeparov
Al-Shoulla	Lassana Fané	Mamadou Kondo	Hassan Taïr	Abdulla Baba Fatadi	Philip Boampong
Al-Taawoun	Dario Jertec	Thierno Bah	Waheed Oseni	Abdul Aziz Al-Muqbali	Hadj Bouguèche Mohammad Al-Basha Dejan Rusič
Al-Wehda	Thiago Gomes	Vinícius Reche	Pa-Modou Kah	Ahmad Sharbini 2	Sékou Doumbia Mohamed Ahmed Bashir
Hajer	Ahmed Bakri	Ayman Abdel-Aziz	Oussou Konan Anicet	Abdelatif Bahdari	Moustapha Moctar Belbi Godwin Attram Hazem Jawdat
Najran	Farid Cheklam	Hamza Al-Dardour	Jehad Al-Hussain	Wael Ayan

• ^1 Anas Sharbini has Jordanian citizenship and was counted as an Asian player.
• ^2 Ahmad Sharbini has Jordanian citizenship and was counted as an Asian player.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Fateh (C)	26	20	4	2	52	23	+29	64	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage
2	Al-Hilal	26	17	5	4	62	26	+36	56
3	Al-Shabab	26	17	5	4	53	36	+17	56
4	Al-Nassr	26	14	8	4	41	24	+17	50
5	Al-Ahli	26	12	8	6	51	33	+18	44
6	Al-Ettifaq	26	9	8	9	33	38	−5	35
7	Al-Ittihad	26	8	9	9	36	36	0	33	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage[a]
8	Al-Raed	26	7	11	8	30	41	−11	32	Qualification for the GCC Champions League
9	Al-Shoulla	26	8	6	12	32	42	−10	30
10	Najran	26	6	7	13	31	52	−21	25
11	Al-Faisaly	26	6	6	14	35	43	−8	24
12	Al-Taawoun	26	3	10	13	25	37	−12	19
13	Hajer (R)	26	3	7	16	24	48	−24	16	Relegation to the First Division
14	Al-Wehda (R)	26	2	6	18	26	52	−26	12

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. Al-Ittihad qualified for the AFC Champions League group stage as 2013 King Cup of Champions winners.

Results

Home \ Away	AHL	ETT	FSY	FAT	HIL	ITT	NSR	RAE	SHB	SHO	TWN	WHD	HJR	NAJ
Al-Ahli		0–2	2–1	3–3	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–0	5–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	5–1
Al-Ettifaq	1–4		1–1	0–4	2–2	0–0	1–3	1–0	3–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–2
Al-Faisaly	0–3	2–3		0–0	0–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–3	0–2	2–1	4–3	3–0	6–1
Al-Fateh	1–0	1–0	1–0		2–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	3–1	3–0	4–2
Al-Hilal	4–1	1–1	1–0	1–2		4–2	0–1	6–0	3–0	4–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	3–1
Al-Ittihad	1–3	3–0	2–2	0–2	1–2		1–1	2–2	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–2	2–0
Al-Nassr	2–2	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–3	0–1		4–0	0–0	3–1	3–2	3–1	1–0	1–1
Al-Raed	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–3	1–2	2–2	0–2		0–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	3–2	1–1
Al-Shabab	2–2	3–1	3–2	2–4	3–2	2–2	2–1	2–2		2–1	2–1	3–1	2–1	4–0
Al-Shoulla	1–3	0–1	1–1	2–3	1–3	1–0	1–2	0–0	1–1		1–0	1–0	0–0	1–5
Al-Taawoun	2–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–4	3–3	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–1		1–1	0–0	1–2
Al-Wehda	1–3	0–3	1–2	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–5	2–3	1–1		1–2	1–2
Hajer	1–4	2–3	3–3	1–2	2–2	0–2	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–4	0–1	2–0		1–0
Najran	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–6	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–3	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–2

Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2013. Source: SLstat.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[50]
1	Sebastián Tagliabué	Al-Shabab	19
2	Wesley	Al-Hilal	17
	Doris Fuakumputu	Al-Fateh
4	Yasser Al-Qahtani	Al-Hilal	13
5	Victor Simões	Al-Ahli	12
	Hassan Taïr	Al-Shoulla
7	Élton Arábia	Al-Fateh	11
8	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	Al-Nassr	10
	Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Shabab
	Hamza Al-Dardour	Najran
	Yoo Byung-soo	Al-Hilal
	Yves Diba Ilunga	Al-Raed

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Sebastián Tagliabué	Al-Shabab	Al-Faisaly	3–1 (A)	7 August 2012	[51]
Wesley	Al-Hilal	Najran	6–0 (A)	23 August 2012	[52]
Yasser Al-Qahtani	Al-Hilal	Al-Raed	6–0 (H)	28 September 2012	[53]
Victor Simões	Al-Ahli	Al-Shoulla	3–1 (A)	4 December 2012	[54]
Zamil Al-Sulim	Al-Ettifaq	Hajer	3–2 (A)	8 March 2013	[55]

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[56]
1	Khaled Naseer	Al-Shoulla	7
	Abdullah Al-Enezi	Al-Nassr
3	Abdullah Al-Owaishir	Al-Fateh	6
	Abdullah Al-Sudairy	Al-Hilal
5	Mabrouk Zaid	Al-Ittihad	5
6	Fayz Al-Sabiay	Al-Ettifaq	4
	Mohammad Sharifi	Al-Fateh
	Fahad Al-Thunayan	Al-Taawoun
	Mustafa Malayekah	Hajer

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 8^[57]
  • Majed Ali (Najran)
  • Abdelatif Bahdari (Hajer)
  • Lassana Fané (Al-Shoulla)

• Most red cards: 1^[57]
  • 22 players

Club

• Most yellow cards: 60^[58]
  • Hajer

• Most red cards: 4^[59]
  • Al-Nassr

Attendances

By team

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Al-Ittihad	115,892	25,026	1,077	8,915	+26.9%†
2	Al-Ahli	95,402	28,188	1,884	7,339	−33.5%†
3	Al-Fateh	79,947	21,037	856	6,150	+330.1%†
4	Al-Hilal	76,800	18,437	1,349	5,908	−20.9%†
5	Al-Nassr	51,604	14,162	657	3,970	−4.0%†
6	Al-Raed	47,496	10,311	508	3,654	−48.9%†
7	Al-Taawoun	37,285	8,285	408	2,868	−58.9%†
8	Al-Ettifaq	35,221	9,740	111	2,709	−33.1%†
9	Al-Shabab	33,187	8,635	353	2,553	−5.8%†
10	Hajer	20,044	5,386	117	1,542	+11.8%†
11	Al-Wehda	15,279	3,914	120	1,175	n/a† †
12	Najran	14,040	3,500	107	1,080	+25.7%†
13	Al-Faisaly	13,867	2,167	215	1,067	−11.4%†
14	Al-Shoulla	8,858	3,455	60	681	n/a† †
	League total	644,922	28,188	60	3,544	−19.0%†

Updated to games played on 27 April 2013
Source: ^[5][60][61]
Notes:
^† Teams played previous season in First Division.

Awards

On 7 February 2014, it was announced that both Al-Riyadiya Awards and Arriyadiyah Awards for Sports Excellence would be merged and known as the Arriyadiyah Awards for Sports Excellence.^[62] The Arriyadiyah Awards for Sports Excellence were awarded for the seventh time since its inception in 2007. The awards were sponsored by Saudi newspaper Arriyadiyah and Saudi sports network Al-Riyadiya. The awards were presented on 16 February 2014.^[63]

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Élton Arábia Hamdan Al-Hamdan Ahmed Otaif	Al-Fateh Al-Fateh Al-Shabab
Young Player of the Season	Fahad Al-Muwallad Mustafa Bassas Ayman Ftayni	Al-Ittihad Al-Ahli Al-Nassr
Golden Boot	Sebastián Tagliabué	Al-Shabab