The Saudi Pro League 2023 has become a hotspot of the headlines since its very beginning. The recruitments made by the clubs of the European Superstars such as Ronaldo have completely changed the scenario and fight for the tournament. The Saudi Pro League for the 2023-24 season increased the number of participating teams from 16 to 18, thus making the competition much tighter than ever.
Each team will be playing 34 league matches to ultimately decide who shall go through the playoffs. Once the league stage matches are concluded the top 2 teams shall receive a direct entry AFC Champions League, meanwhile the team securing the third spot shall enter into the playoff. Finally, the bottom three teams of the tournament shall be demoted to the second tier.
TEAMS PARTICIPATING UNDER SAUDI PRO LEAGUE 2023-24
This season the number of participating teams had been increased up to 18, with all the teams facing 17 matches each throughout the league season. The teams participating in this season are:
- Abha
- Al Ahli
- Al Ettifaq
- Al Fateh
- Al Fayha
- Al Hazem
- Al Hilal
- Al Ittihad
- Al Khaleej
- Al Nassr
- Al Okhdood
- Al Raed
- Al Riyadh
- Al Shabab
- Al Taawoun
- Al Tai
- Al Wehda
- Damac
Among these teams, Al Ahli secured its spot after a time span of 2 years, along with the champions of the First Division which was held last year. Al Akhdoud will be debuting its Saudi Pro League season for the first time ever, after securing the second spot in the second tier which was held last year. Meanwhile, the changes made in the structure of the tournament had been most advantageous to the teams like Al Riyadh and Al Hazem who were able to compete in this prestigious tournament.
DETAILS AS TO WINNING AMOUNT OF THE SAUDI PRO LEAGUE – 2023-24
If focused on the previous year’s winning amount it could be observed that the winner of the tournament received the amount of SR5 million (£1.04m) approx. However, due to the increasing focus of the government authorities on the expansion of this tournament to a much larger level, this amount can be expected to rise for the current season. Depending upon all these circumstances, the prize money for the current season may be SR5.5 million (£1.2m) for the champion team. Meanwhile, the runner-up team is expected to receive an amount of SR4 million (£800,000).
PREDICTIONS FOR THE TOURNAMENT WINNER
The tournament shall witness its kick-off match which is going to be played between Al-Ahli Saudi vs Al-Hazem. Meanwhile, 3 teams i.e. Al Hazm, Al Akhdoud, and Al – Riyadh are about to face relegation. The top two teams i.e. Al – Ittihad and Al – Nassr are aiming towards winning the AFC Champions League group stage.
If we see the lineups of the teams it is quite evident that Al Ittihad and Al Nassr are the top and favorites to win the Saudi Pro League 2023-24 season. Being the champion of the previous season of 2022-23, Al Ittihad shall be trying to utilize its resources Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante. At the same time, Al-Nassr under the presence of the star player Cristiano Ronaldo will once again try their best to win the upcoming tournament which they hardly missed by one spot in the previous season.
The major factor that is giving a boost to Al Ittihad over all other teams and making them the tournament favorites once again is the presence of their star goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe who had a total of 19 clean sheets in the previous season. Along with it, the wrath made by Abderrazak Hamdallah in the previous season of 2022-23 by scoring the maximum goals i.e. 21, is always keeping the opponent’s teams on their feet throughout the match.
Meanwhile, the Al-Nassr shall once again have huge expectations with its star player Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 16 goals out of the 14 matches played in the last season. However, being a huge tournament, it’s never one-sided and easy to predict the winners of the tournament, and hence if focused on the statistics then Al-Taawoun and Al-Hilal could never be kept out of the competition.
The biggest asset for Al-Taawoun has been its star player Kaku who had the highest number of assists in the previous season of 2022-23 with the total being 15 assists. Making them a tough competitor against all the teams in the tournament. Along with it, the consistency shown by Al Hilal, by completing their hat-trick of titles during the seasons of 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22, might act as a great challenge for the Al-Ittihad as well as the Al-Nassr for the upcoming tournament.
Another surprise element, which might completely change the scenario of the tournament is the performance and lineup of Al-Shabab. Except for the last 6 matches of the previous season, the team had created havoc for the qualification of Al-Nassr during the initial stages of the tournament, to qualify under the top 2 teams.
All in all, the tournament is wide open in the perspective of who might be the champions. however, the answer to the question would totally rely upon the fact that how well the foreign players of each team are provided adequate chances and the prevention of any kind of grievous injuries to them during the span of the tournament.
WINNERS OF THE LAST 5 SEASONS
If we observe the track record of the last 5 seasons, then Al-Hilal is undoubtedly the most consistent team in the tournament, winning the title a total of 3 times out of the 5 seasons. Al-Hilal won the league by completing their hat-trick of titles in the seasons of 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22.
Meanwhile, the 2018-19 season saw Al-Nassr as the champions of the tournament. And finally, the ever-popular season of 2022-23 starring the world-class player Cristiano Ronaldo, as against all expectations saw Al-Ittihad have their champion team.
The major highlights of the previous five seasons of the tournament are as follows –
| SEASON | CHAMPIONS | RUNNER – UP |
| 2018-19 | Al-Nassr | Al-Hilal |
| 2019-20 | Al-Hilal | Al-Nassr |
| 2020-21 | Al-Hilal | Al-Shabab |
| 2021-22 | Al-Hilal | Al-Ittihad |
| 2022-23 | Al-Ittihad | Al-Nassr |