Football in Saudi Arabia

Football is the most popular sport in Saudi Arabia. Football in Saudi Arabia is governed by Saudi Arabia Football Federation (Arabic: الاتحاد السعودي لكرة القدم‎‎). It was founded in the year of 1956. It performs the function of administering both the club competitions and the national football team of Saudi Arabia.

The founder of Saudi Arabia Football Federation is Prince Abdullah bin Faisal al Saud.

The Saudi Arabia national football team (Arabic: منتخب السعودية لكرة القدم‎‎), known to its fans as Al-Saqour which means The Falcons. Saudi Arabia is one of the most successful football teams in Asia. Saudi Arabia has won the Asian Championship 3 times and has qualified for the FIFA World Cup four times, the first of which was in 1994.

Saudi Arabia has a major rivalry with Iran.

The Saudi Professional League is the highest level of competition in the country. In the 1970s, football was organized on a regional basis across Saudi Arabia. Since 2013, the Saudi Pro League has been sponsored by the Abdul Latif Jameel company.

In 1976–77, with the improvement of transportation links as well as local football, the Saudi Professional League was launched on a national basis. 8 clubs participated in the first season of the tournament.

In 1981, a decision was taken by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation to increase the number of clubs, thereby increasing the league to 18 clubs, 8 of which take part in the 1st League, with another 10 competing in the 2nd League. In the 1985–85 season the number of clubs in the 1st League was increased to 12 clubs.

In 1990, a new league championship was also introduced, known as The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques League Cup. It was a 2-stage competition – round robin and knockout-phase. The top 4 teams (knowns as the Golden Square) from the round robin moved to the knock-out phase to compete for the final championship.