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The 2020–21 Saudi Professional League was the 45th edition of the Saudi Professional League, the top Saudi professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1976. The season began on 17 October 2020 as a consequence of the postponement of the previous season's conclusion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fixtures for the 2020–21 season were announced on 29 September 2020.

Al-Hilal are the defending champions after winning the Pro League for the 16th time last season. Al-Ain, Al-Batin, and Al-Qadsiah join as the three promoted clubs from the 2019–20 MS League. They replace Al-Adalah, Al-Fayha, and Al-Hazem who were relegated to the 2020–21 MS League.

On 29 March, the Ministry of Sports announced that fans will be allowed to return to stadiums for the final three rounds of matches with a maximum of 40% capacity.

On 23 May, Al-Hilal secured their seventeenth league title with one match to spare following a 1–0 away win against Al-Taawoun. It was also the club's second consecutive title and fourth in the last five seasons. Al-Ain were the first team to be relegated following a 2–0 defeat away to Al-Nassr on 14 May. In the final matchday, both Al-Qadsiah and Al-Wehda were relegated following a draw with Abha and a loss against Al-Shabab respectively.

Teams

Sixteen teams will compete in the league – the top thirteen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the MS League.

Teams who were promoted to the Pro League

The first club to be promoted was Al-Batin, who were promoted following Al-Bukayriyah's 1–1 draw with Al-Ain on 1 September 2020. Al-Batin will play in the top flight of Saudi football after a season's absence. Al-Batin were crowned champions following their 1–1 draw with Al-Bukayriyah on the final matchday.

The second club to be promoted was Al-Ain, who were promoted on 10 September 2020 following their 2–0 win at home against Ohod. Al-Ain will play in the top flight of Saudi football for the first time in history. Al-Ain became the first team from the Al Bahah Region to play in the Pro League.

The third and final club to be promoted was Al-Qadsiah, following their 3–1 home win against an already promoted Al-Batin side on 10 September 2020. Al-Qadsiah will play in the top flight of Saudi football after a season's absence.

Teams who were relegated to the MS League

The first club to be relegated was Al-Adalah, who were relegated after only a year in the top flight following a 1–1 home draw with Al-Raed.

On 4 September 2020, Al-Hazem became the second club to be relegated following a 1–0 defeat away to Al-Shabab. Al-Hazem were relegated after two years in the top flight.

On 9 September 2020, Al-Fayha became the third and final club to be relegated following a 1–0 defeat away to Al-Taawoun in the final matchday. Al-Fayha were relegated after three years in the Pro League. This was Al-Fayha's first relegation from the top flight of Saudi football.

Stadiums

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

1: Al-Faisaly play their home games in Al Majma'ah.
2: Al-Hilal and Al-Shabab also use Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium (22,500 seats) as a home stadium.

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Abha	Abderrazek Chebbi	Karim Aouadhi	Offside	Yelo, Vveyon, Mezaj Maghribi, Saudi German Hospital, ARASCO
Al-Ahli	Laurențiu Reghecampf	Yasser Al-Mosailem	Xtep	Saudia, MG Cars, Almsakin Palace, Boga Super Foods, Saudi German Hospital
Al-Ain	Pablo Machín	Saeed Al-Qarni	Puma	Gento, Ugine
Al-Batin	Aleksandar Veselinović	Mazyad Freeh	Skillano	Traof, AlNadeg, Yelo, ARASCO, Maroom Medical Center
Al-Ettifaq	Khaled Al-Atwi	Raïs M'Bolhi	Jako	Al Mattar, Mystery, Kammelna, Innosoft, Thouq, Saudi German Hospital
Al-Faisaly	Péricles Chamusca	Igor Rossi	adidas	ALDREES, Gree Electric, Yelo, Roco, ARASCO
Al-Fateh	Yannick Ferrera	Mohammed Al-Fuhaid	Offside	Kia Motors, Fuschia, Al Kifah Holding, Almoosa Hospital, ARASCO, B-Care
Al-Hilal	José Morais	Salman Al-Faraj	Mouj	EMAAR, Jahez, Tawuniya, Sayyar, Shawarmer
Al-Ittihad	Fábio Carille	Karim El Ahmadi	Tamim	B-IT Fitness, Fakeeh, Yelo
Al-Nassr	Mano Menezes	Yahya Al-Shehri	Victory	Etihad Airways, Almsakin Palace, Nejree, Richy, Naqi Water
Al-Qadsiah	Yousef Al Mannai	Naif Hazazi	Puma	MG Cars, Almana Group of Hospital, Ghodran Group
Al-Raed	Besnik Hasi	Hussain Al-Showaish	Challenge	Yelo, Address Cafe, ARASCO, B-Care
Al-Shabab	Carlos Inarejos	Éver Banega	Xtep	Arkitainer, Aqdar, Bussma, Half Million, The Chefz, Nice One, Saudi German Hospital, Marvel Home, Sanabel Alsalam, Tact, F6or Faris, QAID, 3days, Azom, HealthZone, The Real Burger, Shawarma Classic, Veloce
Al-Taawoun	Nestor El Maestro	Ibrahim Al-Zubaidi	Erreà	Fuchs, Nice One, Al Odhaib, ARASCO
Al-Wehda	Giorgos Donis	Waleed Bakshween	Tamim	Lebs.com, Al Ghazal, QAID
Damac	Krešimir Režić	Farouk Chafaï	Skillano	Abu Zaid, Bin Thaliba, Saudi German Hospital, Bnoon, Fazzah, Superano

• On the back of the strip.
• On the right sleeve of the strip.
• On the shorts.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Al-Wehda	Essa Al-Mehyani (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	9 September 2020	Pre-season	Ivo Vieira	10 September 2020
Al-Taawoun	Abdullah Asiri (caretaker)		16 September 2020		Patrice Carteron	16 September 2020
Al-Ain	Al Habib Ben Ramadan	End of contract	20 September 2020		Bruno Baltazar	2 October 2020
	Bruno Baltazar	Resigned	12 October 2020		Michael Skibbe	12 October 2020
Al-Nassr	Rui Vitória	Mutual consent	27 December 2020	15th	Alen Horvat	27 December 2020
Damac	Noureddine Zekri		4 January 2021	16th	Krešimir Režić	12 January 2021
Al-Shabab	Pedro Caixinha	Sacked	5 January 2021	3rd	Carlos Inarejos	5 January 2021
Al-Ain	Michael Skibbe		28 January 2021	16th	Pablo Machín	31 January 2021
Al-Wehda	Ivo Vieira		2 February 2021	10th	Mahmoud Al-Hadid	2 February 2021
Al-Hilal	Răzvan Lucescu	Mutual consent	15 February 2021	3rd	Rogério Micale	15 February 2021
Al-Taawoun	Patrice Carteron		11 March 2021	4th	Nestor El Maestro	13 March 2021
Al-Batin	José Garrido	Sacked	20 March 2021	13th	Aleksandar Veselinović	24 March 2021
Al-Wehda	Mahmoud Al-Hadid		21 March 2021	14th	Giorgos Donis	23 March 2021
Al-Ahli	Vladan Milojević	Mutual consent	24 March 2021	7th	Laurențiu Reghecampf	31 March 2021
Al-Nassr	Alen Horvat	Sacked	9 April 2021	5th	Mano Menezes	9 April 2021
Al-Hilal	Rogério Micale		2 May 2021	1st	José Morais	2 May 2021

Foreign players

The policy of foreign players remained unchanged. Clubs can register a total of seven foreign players over the course of the season.

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

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Former Players
Abha	Mehdi Tahrat	Benjamin Tatar	Amine Atouchi	Abdelali Mhamdi	Carlos Strandberg	Karim Aouadhi	Saad Bguir	Craig Goodwin
Al-Ahli	Elvis Sarić	Lucas Lima	Driss Fettouhi	Alexandru Mitrita	M'Baye Niang	Ljubomir Fejsa	Omar Al Somah	Marko Marin Samuel Owusu
Al-Ain	Bastos	Getterson	Filip Bradarić	Naeem	Amadou Moutari	Badou Ndiaye	Juanpi	Saphir Taïder Mohammed Nahiri Peter Nworah Haythem Jouini
Al-Batin	Fábio Abreu	Renato Chaves	Youssef El Jebli	Mohamed Rayhi	Xandro Schenk	Martín Campaña	Khaleem Hyland
Al-Ettifaq	Raïs M'Bolhi	Elierce Souza	Karol Mets	Walid Azaro	Souleymane Doukara	Filip Kiss	Naïm Sliti
Al-Faisaly	Guilherme	Igor Rossi	Raphael Silva	Julio Tavares	Romain Amalfitano	Alexander Merkel	Hicham Faik
Al-Fateh	Sofiane Bendebka	Hillal Soudani	Mourad Batna	Marwane Saâdane	Mitchell te Vrede	Christian Cueva	Maksym Koval	Gustav Wikheim Saša Jovanović
Al-Hilal	Luciano Vietto	Gustavo Cuéllar	Bafétimbi Gomis	Sebastian Giovinco	Jang Hyun-soo	André Carrillo		Omar Kharbin
Al-Ittihad	Bruno Henrique	Marcelo Grohe	Romarinho	Garry Rodrigues	Ahmed Hegazi	Karim El Ahmadi	Aleksandar Prijović	Bruno Uvini
Al-Nassr	Pity Martínez	Brad Jones	Maicon	Petros	Kim Jin-su	Nordin Amrabat	Abderrazak Hamdallah	Ahmed Musa
Al-Qadsiah	Rhys Williams	Edson da Cruz	Danilo Asprilla	Carolus Andria	Leke James	Stanley Ohawuchi	Uroš Vitas	Mihai Bordeianu
Al-Raed	Azzedine Doukha	Ronnie Fernández	Arnaud Djoum	Marko Marin	Karim El Berkaoui	Mohamed Fouzair	Nemanja Miletić	Jalal Daoudi Nemanja Nikolić Jehad Al-Hussain
Al-Shabab	Éver Banega	Cristian Guanca	Sebá	Igor Lichnovsky	Odion Ighalo	Fábio Martins	Alfred N'Diaye	Giedrius Arlauskis Makhete Diop
Al-Taawoun	Cássio	Iago Santos	Sandro Manoel	Cédric Amissi	Léandre Tawamba	Kaku	Abdoulaye Sané	Mitchell Duke
Al-Wehda	Dimitri Petratos	Anselmo	Luis Gustavo	Pedro Henrique	Youssouf Niakaté	Hernâni	Alberto Botía
Damac	Farouk Chafaï	Moustapha Zeghba	Sergio Vittor	Emilio Zelaya	Domagoj Antolić	Amahl Pellegrino	Constantin Budescu	Ibrahim Chenihi Cristian Lema Bilel Saidani

League table

1. Al-Ittihad cannot qualify for Asian Football Confederation competitions as they did not obtain an AFC license.
2. ^ Positions determined by head-to-head points: Al-Taawoun 4 pts; Al-Ettifaq 1 pt.
3. ^ Positions determined by head-to-head points: Al-Faisaly: 16 pts; Al-Raed: 15 pts; Damac: 13 pts; Al-Batin: 12 pts; Abha: 3 pts.
4. Al-Faisaly qualified for the Champions League group stage as 2020–21 King Cup winners.

Positions by round

The following table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve the chronological evolution, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled but added to the full round they were played immediately afterward. If a club from the Saudi Professional League wins the King Cup, they will qualify for the AFC Champions League, unless they have already qualified for it through their league position. In this case, an additional AFC Champions League group stage berth will be given to the 3rd placed team, and the AFC Champions League play-off round spot will be given to 4th.

Results

Season statistics

As of 30 May 2021

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bafétimbi Gomis	Al-Hilal	24
2	Emilio Zelaya	Damac	19
3	Cristian Guanca	Al-Shabab	17
	Fabio Abreu	Al-Batin
5	Carlos Strandberg	Abha	16
	Romarinho	Al-Ittihad
7	Karim El Berkaoui	Al-Raed	15
	Júlio Tavares	Al-Faisaly
9	Mitchell te Vrede	Al-Fateh	13
	Léandre Tawamba	Al-Taawoun

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Omar Al Somah	Al-Ahli	Al-Ain	4–3 (A)	7 November 2020
Dimitri Petratos	Al-Wehda	Al-Batin	3–2 (H)	29 November 2020
Carlos Strandberg	Abha	Al-Ain	4–2 (A)	1 January 2021
Léandre Tawamba	Al-Taawoun	Damac	3–1 (H)	25 January 2021
Karim El Berkaoui	Al-Raed	Damac	4–2 (H)	31 January 2021
Bafétimbi Gomis	Al-Hilal	Al-Ain	5–0 (A)	9 February 2021
Youssouf Niakaté	Al-Wehda	Al-Faisaly	4–2 (A)	12 February 2021
Mitchell te Vrede	Al-Fateh	Al-Ain	3–2 (H)	13 February 2021
Abdullah Al-Mogren	Al-Raed	Al-Ain	4–0 (H)	28 February 2021
Aleksandar Prijović	Al-Ittihad	Al-Qadsiah	4–1 (A)	28 February 2021
Romarinho	Al-Ittihad	Al-Wehda	4–2 (H)	5 March 2021
Bafétimbi Gomis	Al-Hilal	Al-Wehda	4–2 (A)	11 March 2021
Farouk Chafaï	Damac	Abha	4–3 (A)	21 March 2021
Danilo Asprilla	Al-Qadsiah	Al-Ettifaq	3–1 (A)	10 April 2021

Notes

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

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Cássio	Al-Taawoun	11
2	Azzedine Doukha	Al-Raed	7
	Abdullah Al-Mayouf	Al-Hilal
4	Marcelo Grohe	Al-Ittihad	6
5	Brad Jones	Al-Nassr	5
	Amin Bukhari	Al-Ain
	Zaid Al-Bawardi	Al-Shabab
8	Mustafa Malayekah	Al-Faisaly	4
	Abdelali Mhamdi	Abha
	Mohammed Al-Rubeai	Al-Ahli
	Maksym Koval	Al-Fateh
	Moustapha Zeghba	Damac

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 12
  • Anselmo (Al-Wehda)

• Most red cards: 2
  • Mohamed Fouzair (Al-Raed)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 78
  • Al-Taawoun

• Most red cards: 7
  • Al-Qadsiah

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Goalkeeper of the Month		Rising Star of the Month		Reference
	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
October	Yannick Ferrera	Al-Fateh	Éver Banega	Al-Shabab	Abdullah Al-Mayouf	Al-Hilal	Saud Abdulhamid	Al-Ittihad
November	Răzvan Lucescu	Al-Hilal	Omar Al Somah	Al-Ahli	Amin Bukhari	Al-Ain	Abdulelah Al-Amri	Al-Nassr
December	Khaled Al-Atwi	Al-Ettifaq	Naïm Sliti	Al-Ettifaq	Marcelo Grohe	Al-Ittihad	Saud Abdulhamid	Al-Ittihad
January	Alen Horvat	Al-Nassr	Léandre Tawamba	Al-Taawoun	Cássio	Al-Taawoun	Abdullah Al-Hamdan	Al-Shabab
February	Carlos Inarejos	Al-Shabab	Éver Banega	Al-Shabab	Cássio	Al-Taawoun	Abdulrahman Ghareeb	Al-Ahli
March	Rogério Micale	Al-Hilal	Farouk Chafaï	Damac	Raïs M'Bolhi	Al-Ettifaq	Abdulelah Al-Amri	Al-Nassr
April & May	Fábio Carille	Al-Ittihad	Odion Ighalo	Al-Shabab	Marcelo Grohe	Al-Ittihad	Sami Al-Najei	Al-Nassr

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• 2020–21 in Saudi Arabian football
• Saudi Pro League seasons
• 2020–21 in Asian association football leagues
• Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic