The Saudi First Division League (), currently known as the Yelo League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of

professional football Professional football may refer to: *Professionalism in association football *Professional gridiron football *National Football League *Canadian Football League *Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-emine ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. It ranks below the

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

and above the

Saudi Second Division League The Saudi Second Division League, also known as the Second Division League (SDL), is a football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), ...

in the Saudi Arabian football league system.

History

Match between Al-Najma and Al-Riyadh - Saudi First Division

The league was founded in 1976 alongside the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

which is now known as the Saudi Pro League. Being the second-tier league it allows the first tier league clubs to either discover talents or send players on loan so they can develop. Hajer, Al-Wehda and Al-Qadsiah hold the record number of championships in the league with four. While Ohod holds the record for number of promotions from the First Division to the top Division with nine.

Competition format

Since 2024, there are 18 clubs in the Saudi First Division League. During the course of a season (usually from August to May) each club plays the other clubs twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for 34 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. The top two teams are promoted to the

directly, a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eith ...

system to determine the third team to be promoted alongside the two. Teams placed between third and sixth position took part in the promotion play-offs. The fifth-placed would face the fourth, while the sixth-placed team would face the third. The final would be single-legged, hosted by the higher-placed team, while the bottom three teams are relegated to the

. Each club can have a maximum of 25 players and a minimum of 16. The list can include up to 4 foreign players and 1 player born in Saudi Arabia, with the remaining players being all Saudi. Additionally, the goalkeeper position will be exclusive to Saudi players starting from the 2025–26 season.

Current clubs

''For details on the FD League 2024–25 season, see

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

.''

Stadium and locations

:''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.''

Champions

Champions and Runners-up

Performance by club

Top scorers

Sponsorship

Sponsorship Names * No sponsorship (1976–2011) * Rakaa league (2012–2013) * No sponsorship (2014–2020) * Yelo league (

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

–present)

Notes

References

External links

Saudi Arabia Football Federation
* (Arabic) * {{AFC second leagues 2 Second level football leagues in Asia Sports leagues established in 1976