RIYADH: The 2026/27 Saudi Pro League season is upon us. With the league set to kick off on Thursday and more than €222 million ($256 million) spent, we take a look at how each team stands before the new season.
What you need to know:
Defending Champions: Al-Nassr
Ange Postecoglou’s side are looking to win back-to-back titles, a feat they last achieved in 2015.
Newly promoted sides: Abha, Al-Faisaly, Al-Diriyah
The Saudi First Division continues to produce strong sides, with only three of the last 10 relegated sides from the Saudi Pro League going straight back down. This looks like a season where all three promoted sides will stay up.
Continental permutations
The top four teams qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite League Stage, fifth place for the preliminary stage, sixth for the AFC Champions League Two group stage and seventh and eighth for the AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League.
The relegation battlers
These are the sides who survived the drop last season, or have just arrived from the First Division, and cannot afford to be as fortunate again.
Abha had a stellar season in the Saudi First Division, topping the table with 77 points from 34 games. However, while this is not head coach Damir Buric’s first time taking a club to the Saudi Pro League, it will be his first time coaching there. Twenty-two players have left the club, while 15 new signings were made, among them Nabil Fekir. Abha will benefit from the altitude in Saudi Arabia’s south, but with such wholesale squad turnover, cohesion may take time to build — and it might not be a smooth ride.
Al-Fayha have seen the departure of three prominent youngsters — Sabri Dahal, Khaled Al-Rammah and Rakan Kaabi — without the kind of statement signings to soften the blow. Head coach Fabio Carrille arrives with the unfortunate distinction of having failed to keep Damac up last season, and while that does not automatically doom his second attempt, the club’s recent business does little to suggest survival will be comfortable. With rivals around them strengthening more aggressively, this could be the season Al-Fayha slip from mid-table into a genuine relegation fight.
Al-Kholood have the second-lowest average age of arrivals in the league, a clear reflection of a transfer strategy built around developing Saudi talent rather than pursuing short-term solutions. Head coach Des Buckingham deserves credit for keeping the club up last season and leading them to a maiden King Cup final — a rare high point for a side of their resources. Whether that young core can take the step from survival to stability, though, remains the open question hanging over their campaign.
Al-Riyadh avoided relegation on the final day last season, a rescue owed largely to the work of head coach Mauricio Dulac. The signing of Al-Ahly’s Trezeguet will bring eyes to the club and offers a genuine attacking upgrade, but the departures of Yoann Barbet and Toze strip out experience at the back and in midfield that will be difficult to fully replace. Another year in the thick of the relegation battle looks the more likely outcome.
Al-Hazem boast the experience of Jalel Kadri — the longest-serving head coach in the Saudi Pro League — who once took Al-Khaleej to their best-ever finishes in the competition. Al-Hazem overachieved last season relative to expectations, and have backed that up with a range of experienced signings — from KV Mechelen’s Mory Konate to Al-Fateh’s Sofiane Bendebka — in an effort to sustain that momentum rather than relying on it repeating itself by chance.
Al-Faisaly have long been known as the perennial overachievers in Saudi Arabia, once winning the King’s Cup on a shoestring budget. They have done it again, making 13 signings without spending a single riyal, with most arriving from fellow Saudi Pro League sides. But while that model thrived in the pre-Ronaldo era of Saudi football, it remains to be seen whether a zero-spend strategy can hold up in a far wealthier, far more competitive landscape.
The surprise packages
These are the sides positioned to outperform their reputation, backed by fresh investment or a settled project finally coming together.
Al-Diriyah are newly promoted, but sit in the same bracket as Al-Qadsiah and NEOM — clubs that underwent an ownership overhaul and rapid squad development in recent seasons. Two consecutive promotions have brought them here, and with signings like Nikola Vasilj, Chancel Mbemba and Idrissa Gueye, they look well equipped to avoid a relegation fight and mount a surprise challenge instead.
Al-Khaleej may have lost their Greek core, including Saudi national team head coach Georgios Donis, but they have established themselves as a modern-day SPL outfit regardless. The signings of Musa Barrow and Angelo Fulgini strengthen the wings, and a push back toward the top eight looks well within reach.
NEOM performed well in their maiden SPL season, finishing eighth, but there is a clear sense the club intends to push further. Malang Sarr, Georgios Masouras and Mohannad Abu Taha are all signings that could prove vital in a genuine bid for an AFC Champions League Elite spot.
Al-Taawoun have lost their beloved Pericles Chamusca, but the club continues to push for a place among Saudi Arabia’s top five. Since 2022, they have not finished outside the top eight, even breaking into the top four in 2024. However, with Zarko Lazetic arriving for his first spell in Saudi football and 19 players having left the club, maintaining that continental push could prove more difficult than in recent years.
Anyone’s guess
These are the clubs whose ceiling and floor are both wide open — capable of a continental push or a relegation fight depending on how the pieces fall.
Al-Ettifaq’s appointment of Arthur Papas is one to watch closely. A player like Khalid Al-Ghannam should benefit from his coaching style, but the club have made just one signing in Bersant Celina, while losing the heartbeat of the team in Georginio Wijnaldum. For Al-Ettifaq, anything from an AFC Champions League Elite push to a relegation dogfight is genuinely on the cards.
Al-Fateh are the only club with a Saudi head coach at the helm, with Khaled Al-Atwi appointed in place of Jose Gomes. Known for developing players and selling them on to bigger clubs — as with Naif Masoud’s move to Al-Ahli and Mohamed Al-Sarnukh’s move to Al-Hilal — Al-Fateh’s Leicester City-esque title win in 2014 remains fresh in fans’ minds, fueling hope for another surprise. But recent relegation battles will keep those same fans on edge.
Al-Shabab’s six Saudi Pro League titles place them among the original big five in Saudi football. Financial and boardroom problems in recent years, however, have dragged them down the table, with a 13th-place finish last season representing the worst in the club’s history. Thomas Letsch arrives from Salzburg, with the club hoping he can spark the kind of turnaround that the last Salzburg export, Matthias Jaissle, delivered in the SPL.
The title contenders
Al-Ittihad have endured a strange decade, but that is no reason to count them out. Three years of bottom-half finishes were followed by three years of genuine title contention, with victory coming in 2023. A fifth-place finish came the following season, before another title in 2025, then another disappointing fifth-place finish last time out. With Jens Wissing now at the helm, that pattern could change — though among the current top five, Al-Ittihad still look like a side that requires time to close the gap.
Al-Qadsiah have proven they belong among the SPL’s elite. With Brendan Rodgers now having a full pre-season behind him, there is a real sense this could be their year, especially if last season’s top scorer, Julian Quinones, fires on all cylinders. But between continental commitments and the absence of any marquee signings, competing with the very best may prove difficult.
Al-Ahli are now set to focus fully on the SPL title after back-to-back AFC Champions League Elite triumphs, but they have been dealt a serious blow. The signings of Francisco Trincao and Eduard Spertsyan rank among the league’s shrewder pieces of business this summer, but neither can fully offset Matthias Jaissle’s departure to Newcastle less than two weeks before the season began. His replacement, Marino Pusic, has done little to inspire fans so far — and that uncertainty in the dugout may be what costs Al-Ahli dearly in their title pursuit.
Al-Nassr began their summer with an inspired managerial appointment in Ange Postecoglou, only for a transfer freeze tied to SR800 million in debt to follow. Less than a week before kick-off, Samu Costa was finally brought in as Marcelo Brozovic’s replacement, but further reinforcements proved hard to come by. With both Al-Nassr and Postecoglou chasing a first continental title, do not be surprised if focus quietly shifts toward the AFC Champions League Elite as the season wears on — a shift that could come at the expense of their title defense.
Al-Hilal look the most stable side in the SPL this season, one of just seven clubs to retain their head coach. Simone Inzaghi has plenty to reflect on after an unbeaten league campaign that still somehow ended without the title — but the addition of Crysencio Summerville, alongside six talented domestic signings, means Al-Hilal head into the new season as the team to beat.
