Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — After greater than a century of soccer within the Kingdom, Saudi Arabia lastly has its official, complete, and uncontested soccer document.
The Saudi Arabian Soccer Federation introduced on Sunday the completion of a landmark mission that has documented 123 years of the sport’s historical past, stretching from the Kingdom’s first kick-off within the early 1900s to the present period by which Saudi golf equipment dominate the worldwide stage.
The mission, the primary of its sort in scope and precision, strikes past mere documentation. It’s now the official nationwide reference for the historical past of Saudi soccer detailing competitions, trophies, organizational adjustments, and even definitions for phrases corresponding to “champion” and “match classification.”
It attracts from many years of information, reviewed and standardized between March 2024 and April 2025, and represents the clearest reply but to debates which have divided followers and golf equipment for generations.
The league: Al Hilal out in entrance
On the coronary heart of the mission sits the Saudi League, which has run for practically seven many years below varied names and codecs. Since its inception in 1957, 68 editions have been performed, although 4 have been both unfinished or not formally acknowledged.
Of the finished seasons, Al Hilal reign supreme with 21 league titles, greater than some other Saudi membership.
Al Ittihad comply with with 14, most just lately in 2025, whereas Al Nassr stand third with 10.
Al Ahli rank fourth with 9 championships, together with a few of the league’s earliest triumphs, and Al Shabab full the normal “Huge 5” with six.
Ettifaq, with two titles, and Al Wahda and Al Fateh, with one every, spherical out the record of league winners.
The official document additionally confirms the match’s different naming historical past, from the “First Division” to the “Crown Prince League” and finally the Saudi Professional League, but below one umbrella, Al Hilal’s dominance is evident.
King’s Cup: status and drama
Launched in 1966, the King’s Cup stays the Kingdom’s most prestigious knockout competitors.
Over practically 60 years and 38 editions, the match has produced excessive drama and occasional shocks.
Right here too, Al Hilal sit on prime with 9 victories, whereas Al Ahli, lengthy dubbed the “King’s Cup specialists,” path with eight.
Al Ittihad have lifted the trophy six instances, Al Nassr 5, and Al Shabab 4.
Ettifaq boast two titles, whereas Al Wahda famously received the inaugural version.
Latest years have seen new names etched onto the trophy, with Al Taawoun (2019), Al Faisaly (2021), and Al Fayha (2022) breaking by to assert historic triumphs. The 1975 version stays the one one by no means accomplished.
Crown Prince Cup: Al Hilal once more prepared the ground
From 1957 till its discontinuation in 2017, the Crown Prince Cup produced 37 thrilling editions of knockout soccer.
As with the league and the King’s Cup, Al Hilal once more dominate the roll of honor, with 13 triumphs.
Al Ittihad collected eight, Al Ahli six, and each Al Shabab and Al Nassr three apiece.
A handful of different golf equipment, together with Al Wahda, Al Riyadh, Al Ettifaq, and Al Qadsiah, lifted the cup as soon as, including to the competitors’s wealthy legacy earlier than its eventual closure.
The Tremendous Cup: a contemporary period prize
The Saudi Tremendous Cup, first launched in 2013, has been contested 13 instances with 12 editions accomplished and one canceled. Right here too, Al Hilal prepared the ground with 5 victories, underscoring their dominance throughout all codecs.
Al Nassr and Al Ahli comply with with two every, whereas Al Ittihad, Al Shabab, and Al Fateh have every claimed the trophy as soon as.
The document additionally acknowledges the one-off King Abdulaziz Cup (the Founder’s Cup) in 2000, received fittingly by Hilal to mark the centenary of the Kingdom’s basis.
How the mission was finished
The documentation was not merely about numbers. The federation outlined an eight-step methodology, together with gathering information from official and native sources, reviewing and verifying knowledge throughout historic durations, analyzing and categorizing competitions, together with unfinished or unofficial tournaments, and benchmarking the method in opposition to worldwide soccer documentation requirements.
The mission additionally examined the evolution of soccer governance within the Kingdom, from the Ministry of Inside’s early oversight to at present’s absolutely professionalized Saudi Arabian Soccer Federation.
A nationwide milestone
In whole, the mission catalogues greater than 3,400 home competitions, 251 nationwide group tournaments, 1,141 worldwide matches, and three,300 referee appointments, alongside greater than 300 laws and bylaws that formed the game.
It’s supported by a coalition of Saudi establishments, together with the Ministry of Sport, Saudi Broadcasting Authority, King Abdulaziz Basis for Analysis and Archives, the Saudi Professional League, and even FIFA.
Al Hilal’s unmatched legacy
Whereas the mission locations all golf equipment inside a unified historic body, it inevitably highlights one dominant thread: Al Hilal’s unmatched supremacy throughout Saudi soccer.
With probably the most league titles, probably the most King’s Cups, probably the most Crown Prince Cups, and probably the most Tremendous Cups, the Riyadh membership stands because the Kingdom’s most adorned group.
But, the document additionally displays the variety of Saudi soccer historical past, from Al Nassr’s golden eras within the Seventies and Nineties, to Al Ittihad’s continental triumphs, to the rise of shock winners who punctuated the story with unforgettable shocks.
For the primary time, Saudi Arabia’s soccer narrative is advised in a single, authoritative voice.
With Imaginative and prescient 2030 putting sport — and soccer particularly — on the coronary heart of the Kingdom’s future, this 123-year documentation serves not solely as a document of the previous, however as the inspiration upon which the following century of Saudi soccer will likely be constructed.
