2013–14 Saudi Pro League

The 2013–14 Saudi Professional League (known as the Abdul Latif Jameel Professional League for sponsorship reasons) was the 38th season of the Saudi Professional League, the top Saudi professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1976. The season began on 23 August 2013 and ended on 6 April 2014.^[3] Al-Fateh were the defending champions having won their first title last season.^[4] The league was contested by the 12 teams from the 2012–13 season as well as Al-Nahda and Al-Orobah, who joined as the promoted clubs from the 2012–13 First Division. They replace Al-Wehda and Hajer who were relegated to the 2013–14 First Division.

Professional League

Season	2013–2014
Dates	23 August 2013 – 6 April 2014
Champions	Al-Nassr (7th title)
Relegated	Al-Ettifaq Al-Nahda
AFC Champions League	Al-Nassr Al-Shabab Al-Hilal Al-Ahli
GCC Champions League	Al-Taawoun Al-Faisaly
Matches played	182
Goals scored	515 (2.83 per match)
Best Player	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi
Top goalscorer	Nasser Al-Shamrani (21 goals)
Biggest home win	Al-Shabab 6–0 Al-Nahda (24 November 2013) Al-Hilal 6–0 Al-Nahda (28 March 2014)
Biggest away win	Najran 0–5 Al-Ahli (28 March 2014)
Highest scoring	Al-Ittihad 4–4 Al-Nahda (7 November 2013)
Longest winning run	13 games[1] Al-Nassr
Longest unbeaten run	22 games[1] Al-Nassr
Longest winless run	17 games[1] Al-Nahda
Longest losing run	6 games[1] Al-Shoulla
Highest attendance	52,551[2] Al-Taawoun 1–1 Al-Nassr (6 April 2014)
Lowest attendance	0[2] (spectator ban) Al-Ahli 4–0 Al-Fateh (14 February 2014)
Average attendance	4,910
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

On 28 March, Al-Nassr secured their seventh league title with one game to spare after a 1–1 draw away to Al-Shabab.^[5] This was Al-Nassr's first league title since the 1994–95 season.

Al-Nahda were the first team to be relegated following a 2–2 home draw with Al-Orobah on 22 March.^[6] Al-Ettifaq became the second and final team to be relegated following a 2–1 defeat away to Al-Ahli on the final matchday.^[7] Al-Ettifaq were relegated for the first time in history after 37 consecutive seasons in the top flight.

Name sponsorship

On 14 April 2013, it was that the Abdul Latif Jameel group had signed a six-year sponsorship contract with the SAFF.^[8] Starting from the 2013–14 season, the league would be known as the Abdul Latif Jameel Professional League. It was later announced that the sponsorship deal cost SAR720 million in total, SAR120 million a year. The previous sponsor, Zain, opted not to renew their contract following its expiration.

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-Orobah (playing in the top flight for the first time ever) and Al-Nahda (returning to the top flight after nineteen years). They replaced Hajer (ending their two-year top-flight spell) and Al-Wehda (who were relegated after one season in the top flight).

Stadiums and locations

Al-Ahli
Al-Ittihad

Al-Ettifaq
Al-Nahda

Al-Faisaly

Al-Fateh

Al-Hilal
Al-Nassr
Al-Shabab

Al-Orobah

Al-Raed
Al-Taawoun

Al-Shoulla

Najran

Locations of teams in the 2013–14 Saudi Professional League

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Al-Ahli	Jeddah	King Abdul Aziz Stadium (Mecca)[a]	33,195[9]
Al-Ettifaq	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	21,701[10]
Al-Faisaly	Harmah	Prince Salman Sport City Stadium	5,200[11]
Al-Fateh	Al-Hasa	Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	19,096[12]
Al-Hilal	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[13] 22,500[14]
Al-Ittihad	Jeddah	King Abdul Aziz Stadium (Mecca)[a]	33,195[9]
Al-Nahda	Dammam	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium	21,701
Al-Nassr	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[13] 22,500[14]
Al-Orobah	Sakakah	Al-Orobah Club Stadium	6,000[15]
Al-Raed	Buraidah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	23,600[16]
Al-Shabab	Riyadh	King Fahd International Stadium Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium	62,685[13] 22,500[14]
Al-Shoulla	Al-Kharj	Al-Shoulla Club Stadium	8,000[17]
Al-Taawoun	Buraidah	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium	23,600[16]
Najran	Najran	Al Akhdoud Club Stadium	3,200[18]

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

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Al-Ahli	Vítor Pereira	Taisir Al-Jassim	Umbro	ExxonMobil2
Al-Ettifaq	Ioan Andone	Sultan Al-Bargan	Uhlsport	ExxonMobil2
Al-Faisaly	Giovanni Solinas	Omar Abdulaziz	Macron	ALDREES, Roco1
Al-Fateh	Fathi Al-Jabal	Hamdan Al-Hamdan	Lotto	Kia Motors, Fuchsia1
Al-Hilal	Sami Al-Jaber	Salman Al-Faraj	Nike	Mobily
Al-Ittihad	Khalid Al-Koroni	Osama Al-Muwallad	SportONE	ExxonMobil2
Al-Nahda	Jalel Kadri	Ahmed Al-Dossari	Adidas	Al-Shuhail Group
Al-Nassr	José Daniel Carreño	Hussein Abdulghani	NFC	Nassrawi.com
Al-Orobah	Jameel Qassem	Ali Al-Khaibari	Uhlsport	Herfy
Al-Raed	Marc Brys	Hamad Al-Sagoor	Hattrick	Aljafen Academy, Al Qassim National Hospital1
Al-Shabab	Ammar Souayah	Ahmed Otaif	Sporta	STC, Toyota1, ExxonMobil2
Al-Shoulla	Juan José Maqueda	Burj Maodah	Hattrick
Al-Taawoun	Taoufik Rouabah	Abdoh Hakami	Macron	Alwasail
Najran	Nizar Mahrous	Hamad Al-Rubaie	Macron

• 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	Maciej Skorża	End of contract	12 May 2013	Pre-season	Theo Bücker	19 June 2013[19]
Al-Raed	Vlatko Kostov		12 May 2013		Noureddine Zekri	26 June 2013[20]
Al-Nahda	Aymen Makhlouf		17 May 2013		Ilie Balaci	18 June 2013[21]
Al-Hilal	Zlatko Dalić		23 May 2013		Sami Al-Jaber	1 June 2013[22]
Al-Ahli	Aleksandar Ilić		30 May 2013		Vítor Pereira	9 June 2013[23]
Al-Shabab	Michel Preud'homme	Resigned	19 September 2013[24]	4th	Emilio Ferrera	19 September 2013[24]
Al-Nahda	Ilie Balaci	Sacked	25 September 2013[25]	14th	Aymen Makhlouf (caretaker)	25 September 2013
Al-Ettifaq	Theo Bücker		30 September 2013[26]	12th	Eusebiu Tudor (caretaker)	30 September 2013
Al-Nahda	Aymen Makhlouf (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	7 October 2013	13th	Jalel Kadri	7 October 2013[27]
Al-Shoulla	Ahmad Al-Ajlani	Resigned	8 October 2013[28]	14th	Juan José Maqueda	12 October 2013[29]
Al-Ettifaq	Eusebiu Tudor (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	27 October 2013	11th	Goran Tufegdžić	27 October 2013[30]
Al-Ittihad	Beñat San José	Sacked	1 December 2013[31]	8th	Amro Anwar (caretaker)	19 June 2013
Al-Faisaly	Marc Brys		7 December 2013[32]	12th	Issame Charaï (caretaker)	7 December 2013[32]
Al-Faisaly	Issame Charaï (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	15 December 2013	12th	Mohammed El Sayed (caretaker)	15 December 2013
Al-Faisaly	Mohammed El Sayed (caretaker)		20 December 2013	12th	Giovanni Solinas	20 December 2013[33]
Al-Ittihad	Amro Anwar (caretaker)		5 January 2014	6th	Juan Verzeri	5 January 2014[34]
Najran	Gjoko Hadžievski	Sacked	9 January 2014[35]	11th	Nizar Mahrous	9 January 2014[35]
Al-Shabab	Emilio Ferrera		24 January 2014[36]	4th	Ammar Souayah	24 January 2014[37]
Al-Ettifaq	Goran Tufegdžić		9 February 2014[38]	10th	Ioan Andone	10 February 2014[39]
Al-Raed	Noureddine Zekri		14 February 2014[40]	13th	Emad Al-Sulami (caretaker)	14 February 2014
Al-Ittihad	Juan Verzeri		28 February 2014[41]	6th	Khalid Al-Koroni	1 March 2014[42]
Al-Raed	Emad Al-Sulami (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	2 March 2014	13th	Marc Brys	2 March 2014[43]

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries.^[44]

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	Eric	Márcio Mossoró	Luís Leal	Suk Hyun-jun	Ruy Netto Victor Simões Younis Mahmoud
Al-Ettifaq	Danny Morais	Nicolae Grigore	Papa Waigo	Murilo de Almeida	Yaseen Al-Bakhit
Al-Faisaly	Marcelo Nicácio	Reinaldo	Khalil Bani Attiah	Yaseen Al-Bakhit	Gilman Lika Migen Memelli Leandro Oliveira
Al-Fateh	Élton Arábia	Doris Fuakumputu	Ammar Jemal	Mohamad Haidar
Al-Hilal	Digão	Thiago Neves	Segundo Castillo	Kwak Tae-hwi	Adil Hermach Cho Sung-hwan
Al-Ittihad	Jóbson	Leandro Bonfim	Juan Pablo Rodríguez		Fernando Baiano Mohamad Haidar
Al-Nahda	Sadick Adams	Habib Meïté	Amine Abbès		Ismail Abdullatif Renan Silva Adama Traoré
Al-Nassr	Mourad Delhoum	Mohamed Husain	Élton Brandão	Amad Al-Hosni	Everton Rafael Bastos
Al-Orobah	Charles Edoa	Jean Bapidi	Ibrahim Salah	Abdallah Deeb	Eliassou Issiaka
Al-Raed	Bruno Moreno	Alexis Enam	Issoumaïla Dao	Hussain Al-Hadhri
Al-Shabab	Fernando Menegazzo	Rafinha	Macnelly Torres	Imad Khalili 1	Kwak Tae-hwi
Al-Shoulla	Lassana Fané	Mamadou Kondo	Hassan Taïr	Mohammad Mustafa
Al-Taawoun	Vinícius Reche	Paul Alo'o	David Ochieng	Shadi Abu Hash'hash
Najran	Farid Cheklam	Gotler	Jandson	Mussab Al-Laham	Waheed Oseni

• ^1 Imad Khalili has Palestinian 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-Nassr (C)	26	20	5	1	60	21	+39	65	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage
2	Al-Hilal	26	20	3	3	60	24	+36	63
3	Al-Ahli	26	12	9	5	48	24	+24	45	Qualification for the AFC Champions League play-off round
4	Al-Shabab	26	9	10	7	42	38	+4	37	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage[a]
5	Al-Taawoun	26	8	11	7	33	28	+5	35	Qualification for the GCC Champions League
6	Al-Faisaly	26	8	8	10	28	35	−7	32[b]
7	Al-Ittihad	26	8	8	10	45	46	−1	32[b]
8	Al-Orobah	26	5	14	7	24	33	−9	29[c]
9	Al-Raed	26	7	8	11	21	33	−12	29[c]
10	Al-Fateh	26	7	7	12	33	39	−6	28[d]
11	Najran	26	8	4	14	32	43	−11	28[d]
12	Al-Shoulla	26	6	8	12	30	42	−12	26[e]
13	Al-Ettifaq (R)	26	6	8	12	30	41	−11	26[e]	Relegation to the First Division
14	Al-Nahda (R)	26	3	7	16	29	68	−39	16

Updated to match(es) played on 6 April 2014. Source: SLstat
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Total goal difference; 5) Total goals scored; 6) Fair-play points (Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played).
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Al-Shabab qualified for the Champions League group stage as 2014 King Cup winners.
2. Al-Faisaly finished ahead of Al-Ittihad on head-to-head points: Al-Faisaly 3–0 Al-Ittihad, Al-Ittihad 1–2 Al-Faisaly
3. Al-Orobah finished ahead of Al-Raed on overall goal difference: Al-Orobah –9, Al-Raed –12 (Al-Raed 1–1 Al-Orobah, Al-Orobah 0–0 Al-Raed).
4. Al-Fateh finished ahead of Najran on head-to-head points: Al-Fateh 5–2 Najran, Najran 1–1 Al-Fateh
5. Al-Shoulla finished ahead of Al-Ettifaq on head-to-head goal difference: Al-Ettifaq 1–0 Al-Shoulla, Al-Shoulla 4–0 Al-Ettifaq

Results

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

Updated to match(es) played on 6 April 2014. Source: SLstat.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[45]
1	Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Hilal	21
2	Mukhtar Fallatah	Al-Ittihad	20
3	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	Al-Nassr	17
4	Élton Brandão	Al-Nassr	16
5	Jandson	Najran	14
6	Thiago Neves	Al-Hilal	13
7	Paul Alo'o	Al-Taawoun	12
8	Doris Fuakumputu	Al-Fateh	11
9	Hassan Taïr	Al-Shoulla	10
10	Élton	Al-Fateh	9
	Papa Waigo	Al-Ettifaq

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Mukhtar Fallatah4	Al-Ittihad	Al-Shabab	4–1 (A)	26 August 2013	[46]
Mukhtar Fallatah	Al-Ittihad	Al-Raed	4–1 (A)	25 November 2013	[47]
Thiago Neves	Al-Hilal	Al-Ettifaq	5–1 (H)	28 December 2013	[48]
Jandson	Najran	Al-Nahda	5–1 (H)	25 January 2014	[49]
Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	Al-Nassr	Al-Faisaly	4–0 (H)	7 February 2014	[50]
Luís Leal	Al-Ahli	Al-Fateh	4–0 (H)	14 February 2014	[51]
Élton Brandão	Al-Nassr	Al-Ittihad	3–1 (H)	23 March 2014	[52]
Nasser Al-Shamrani4	Al-Hilal	Al-Nahda	6–0 (H)	28 March 2014	[53]

Notes

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

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[54]
1	Abdullah Al-Enezi	Al-Nassr	10
2	Waleed Abdullah	Al-Shabab	9
3	Ahmed Al-Kassar	Al-Raed	8
4	Abdullah Al-Mayouf	Al-Ahli	7
5	Rafea Al-Ruwaili	Al-Orobah	6
	Mansoor Al-Najai	Al-Faisaly
7	Mohammad Sharifi	Al-Ettifaq	5
	Saeed Al-Harbi	Al-Shoulla
	Nasser Al-Saiari	Najran
	Fahad Al-Thunayan	Al-Taawoun

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 11^[55]
  • Omar Hawsawi (Al-Nassr)

• Most red cards: 2^[55]
  • Issoumaila Dao (Al-Raed)
  • Fernando Menegazzo (Al-Shabab)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 58^[55]
  • Al-Nahda

• Most red cards: 6^[55]
  • Al-Ahli

Attendances

By team

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Al-Nassr	217,286	48,730	3,758	16,714	+321.0%†
2	Al-Hilal	164,015	40,193	2,589	12,617	+113.6%†
3	Al-Ahli	103,472	31,211	0	7,959	+8.4%†
4	Al-Ittihad	98,744	24,177	613	7,596	−14.8%†
5	Al-Taawoun	77,040	52,551	365	5,926	+106.6%†
6	Al-Shabab	46,646	15,348	285	3,588	+40.5%†
7	Al-Ettifaq	37,922	14,132	149	2,917	+7.7%†
8	Al-Orobah	36,437	4,200	1,124	2,803	n/a† †
9	Al-Fateh	29,148	10,150	527	2,242	−63.5%†
10	Al-Nahda	24,852	10,636	42	1,912	n/a† †
11	Al-Raed	23,186	7,100	362	1,784	−51.2%†
12	Al-Shoulla	12,855	4,248	107	989	+45.2%†
13	Najran	12,685	3,543	242	976	−9.6%†
14	Al-Faisaly	9,388	2,433	120	722	−32.3%†
	League total	893,676	52,551	0	4,910	+38.5%†

Updated to games played on 6 April 2014
Source: ^[2][56][57]
Notes:
^† Teams played previous season in First Division.