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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. Al-Hilal were the defending champions. 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.

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. 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. Al-Qadsiah became the second and final team to be relegated following a 3–2 defeat away to Al-Nassr on 13 April.

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

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

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	Fuchsia
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	Ahmed Al-Harbi	Jako
Hajer	Ednaldo Patricio	Khaled Al-Rejaib	Hattrick	Al-Ghadeer
Najran	Gjoko Hadžievski	Jehad Al-Hussain	Hattrick

• 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	Pre-season	Blaž Slišković	30 May 2011
Al-Nassr	Dragan Skočić	Sacked	26 May 2011		Eurico Gomes (caretaker)	26 May 2011
Al-Qadsiah	Dimitar Dimitrov	End of contract	1 June 2011		Mariano Barreto	12 June 2011
Hajer	Zuhair Al-Louati		1 June 2011		Ednaldo Patricio	27 June 2011
Najran	José Rachão		1 June 2011		Gjoko Hadžievski	1 July 2011
Al-Shabab	Enzo Trossero		12 June 2011		Michel Preud'homme	14 June 2011
Al-Hilal	Gabriel Calderón	Sacked	18 June 2011		Thomas Doll	20 July 2011
Al-Ahli	Aleksandar Ilić	End of contract	30 June 2011		Karel Jarolím	5 August 2011
Al-Ettifaq	Youssef Zouaoui		30 June 2011		Branko Ivanković	22 July 2011
Al-Nassr	Eurico Gomes (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	30 June 2011		Gustavo Costas	18 July 2011
Al-Raed	Eurico Gomes	Sacked	17 October 2011	13th	Hafez Al-Hoarbi (caretaker)	17 October 2011
Al-Ansar	Blaž Slišković		26 October 2011	14th	Ayoub Ghulam (caretaker)	26 October 2011
Al-Raed	Hafez Al-Hoarbi (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	28 October 2011	13th	Ammar Souayah	28 October 2011
Al-Ansar	Ayoub Ghulam (caretaker)		10 November 2011	14th	Jalel Kadri	10 November 2011
Al-Ittihad	Dimitri Davidović	Sacked	28 November 2011	5th	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)	28 November 2011
Al--Nassr	Gustavo Costas		30 November 2011	6th	Ali Komaikh (caretaker)	30 November 2011
Al-Nassr	Ali Komaikh (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	4 December 2011	6th	Francisco Maturana	4 December 2011
Al-Ittihad	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)		16 December 2011	6th	Matjaž Kek	16 December 2011
Al-Taawoun	Florin Motroc	Resigned	29 December 2011	13th	Srećko Juričić	30 December 2011
Al-Taawoun	Srećko Juričić	Sacked	20 January 2012	12th	Grigore Sichitiu	20 January 2012
Al-Hilal	Thomas Doll		22 January 2012	4th	Ivan Hašek	22 January 2012
Al-Ittihad	Matjaž Kek		8 February 2012	6th	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)	8 February 2012
Al-Ittihad	Abdullah Ghurab (caretaker)	End of caretaker period	27 February 2012	7th	Raúl Caneda	27 February 2012
Al-Taawoun	Grigore Sichitiu	Sacked	2 April 2012	12th	Khalid Kamal (caretaker)	2 April 2012

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 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 Nenad Injac Despot Višković
Al-Ettifaq	Sebastián Tagliabúe	Bruno Lazaroni	Carlos Santos	Hassan Mudhafar Al-Gheilani	Lee Won-young
Al-Faisaly	Leon Benko	Dario Jertec	Amer Deeb	Wael Ayan	Asim Šehić Pero Pejić
Al-Fateh	Élton Arábia	Doris Fuakumputu	Kemekho Cissokho	Shadi Abu Hash'hash
Al-Hilal	Youssef El-Arabi	Adil Hermach	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	Wagner Querino	Vinícius Reche	Kim Byung-suk	Antar Yahia Juan Mercier Juan Pablo Pino
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	Ramzi Bourakba	Farid Cheklam	Reda Benhadj Djillali	Jehad Al-Hussain	Zoran Baldovaliev Dušan Đokić

League table

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

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
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
Victor Simões	Al-Ahli	Al-Taawoun	4–2 (H)	15 October 2011
Youssef El-Arabi	Al-Hilal	Al-Qadsiah	5–4 (A)	20 October 2011
Wendel	Al-Ittihad	Al-Qadsiah	8–0 (A)	2 November 2011
Victor Simões	Al-Ahli	Al-Ansar	5–1 (H)	29 December 2011
Nasser Al-Shamrani	Al-Shabab	Al-Ansar	3–0 (H)	8 April 2012

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
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
  • Mishaal Al-Saeed (Al-Ittihad)

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

Club

• Most yellow cards: 69
  • Al-Ittihad

• Most red cards: 6
  • Al-Ahli

Attendances

By team

Updated to games played on 18 April 2012
Source:
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. 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.

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.

• 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)

References

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External links

• Saudi Arabia Football Federation Archived 2018-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
• Saudi League Statistics

• Saudi Pro League seasons
• 2011–12 in Asian association football leagues
• 2011–12 in Saudi Arabian football