The 2015–16 Saudi Professional League (known as the Abdul Latif Jameel Professional League for sponsorship reasons) was the 40th season of the Saudi Pro League, the top Saudi professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1976. The season began on 19 August 2015 and ended on 14 May 2016. Al-Nassr were the two time defending champions, having won their eighth title the season before. The league was contested by the 12 teams from the 2014–15 season as well as Al-Qadsiah and Al-Wehda, who joined as the promoted clubs from the 2014–15 First Division. They replace Al-Orobah and Al-Shoulla who were relegated to the 2015–16 First Division.
On 24 April, Al-Ahli secured their third league title and first since 1984 with two games to spare after defeating second-placed Al-Hilal 3–1 at home.
Hajer were the first team to be relegated following a 1–0 home defeat to Al-Ahli on 17 April. Najran became the second and final team to be relegated following a 3–3 draw with Al-Raed on the final matchday.
Teams Fourteen teams competed in the league – the twelve teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the First Division. The promoted teams were Al-Qadsiah (returning to the top flight after three years) and Al-Wehda (returning to the top flight after two years). They replaced Al-Orobah (ending their two-year top-flight spell) and Al-Shoulla (ending their three-year top-flight spell).
Stadiums and locations
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order. Team Location Stadium Capacity Al-Ahli Jeddah King Abdullah Sports City Al-Faisaly Harmah Prince Salman Sport City Stadium Al-Fateh Hofuf Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium Al-Hilal Riyadh King Fahd International StadiumPrince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium Al-Ittihad Jeddah King Abdullah Sports City Al-Khaleej Saihat Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium (Dammam) Al-Nassr Riyadh King Fahd International StadiumPrince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium Al-Qadsiah Khobar Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium Al-Raed Buraidah King Abdullah Sport City Stadium Al-Shabab Riyadh King Fahd International StadiumPrince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium Al-Taawoun Buraidah King Abdullah Sport City Stadium Al-Wehda Mecca King Abdul Aziz Stadium Hajer Al-Hasa Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium Najran Najran King Abdullah Sports City Reserve Stadium (Jeddah)
Personnel and kits Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor 1 On the back of the strip. 2 On the right sleeve of the strip.
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Al-Shabab Adel Abdel RahmanEnd of contract 15 May 2015 Pre-season Álvaro Gutiérrez 21 May 2015 Al-Raed Ammar Souayah 19 May 2015 Abdelkader Amrani 8 June 2015 Najran Fouad Bouali 19 May 2015 Fathi Al-Jabal 27 June 2015 Al-Faisaly Toni ConceiçãoSacked 22 May 2015 Liviu Ciobotariu 6 June 2015 Al-Ittihad Victor Pițurcă 11 June 2015 László Bölöni 22 July 2015 Al-Raed Abdelkader Amrani 29 August 2015 13th Takis Lemonis 3 September 2015Al-Nassr Jorge da Silva 24 October 2015 7th René Higuita (caretaker) 24 October 2015 René Higuita (caretaker) End of caretaker period 28 October 2015 6th Fabio Cannavaro 28 October 2015 Al-Qadsiah Jameel QassemSacked 30 October 2015 9th Alexandre Gallo 30 October 2015 Al-Wehda Juan Jacinto Rodríguez 30 October 2015 13th Badreldin Hamed (caretaker) 30 October 2015Hajer Nebojša Jovović 30 October 2015 11th Abdullah Al-Janoubi (caretaker) 30 October 2015 Abdullah Al-Janoubi (caretaker)End of caretaker period 5 November 2015 12th Stéphane Demol 5 November 2015 Al-Wehda Badreldin Hamed (caretaker) 6 November 2015 10th Kheïreddine Madoui 6 November 2015Al-Ittihad László Bölöni Sacked 24 November 2015 3rd Adel Abdel Rahman (caretaker) 24 November 2015 Adel Abdel Rahman (caretaker) End of caretaker period 9 December 2015 3rd Victor Pițurcă 9 December 2015Najran Fathi Al-Jabal Sacked 17 December 2015 13th Al Hasan Al-Yami (caretaker) 17 December 2015 Al Hasan Al-Yami (caretaker) End of caretaker period 25 December 2015 13th Hélio dos Anjos 25 December 2015 Al-Shabab Álvaro Gutiérrez Sacked 3 January 2016 6th Fathi Al-Jabal 3 January 2016 Al-Qadsiah Alexandre Gallo Mutual consent 29 January 2016 11th Hamad Al-Dossari 30 January 2016Al-Raed Takis Lemonis Sacked 1 February 2016 12th Reda Hakam (caretaker) 1 February 2016 Reda Hakam (caretaker) End of caretaker period 4 February 2016 12th Aleksandar Ilić 4 February 2016Al-Nassr Fabio Cannavaro Sacked 12 February 2016 6th René Higuita (caretaker) 12 February 2016 René Higuita (caretaker) End of caretaker period 19 February 2016 7th Raúl Caneda 19 February 2016 Hajer Stéphane Demol Sacked 8 March 2016 14th Abdullah Al-Janoubi 8 March 2016
Foreign players The number of foreign players is limited to 4 per team, and should not be a goalkeeper.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window. Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Former players Al-Ahli Marquinho Mohamed Abdel Shafy Giannis Fetfatzidis Omar Al Somah Nabil Bahoui Al-Faisaly Adriano Pardal Javi Balboa Abel Camará Sadat Ouro-Akoriko Fernando Gabriel André Ndame Ndame Hamza Al-Dardour Ifeanyi Onyilo Al-Fateh Élton Arábia Salam Shaker Patrick Gbala Juan Falcón Josimar Marko Stanojević Al-Hilal Aílton Carlos Eduardo Digão Kwak Tae-hwi Al-Ittihad Sulley Muntari Lucian Sânmărtean Gelmin Rivas James Troisi Al-Khaleej Aminou Bouba Aboubacar Sylla Abdoulaye Koffi Ibrahim Al-Zawahreh Marwan Hussein Al-Nassr Mohamed Husain Marquinhos Gabriel Modibo Maïga Adrian Mierzejewski Youness Mokhtar Fabián Estoyanoff Al-Qadsiah Gilberto Macena Jandson Vitor Júnior Saad Abdul-Amir Farid Mellouli Diego Maurício Jhon Cley Rubinho Héctor Ramos Al-Raed Marcos Pizzelli Boubacar Kébé Ismaël Bangoura Eid Al-Farsi Kamil Zayatte Amjad Radhi Oussama Darragi Al-Shabab Mohamed Benyettou Camilo Rafinha Diego Arismendi Saif Al Hashan Mauricio Affonso Al-Taawoun Sandro Manoel Paul Alo'o Ricardo Machado Jehad Al-Hussain Al-Wehda Anderson Ernest Webnje Nfor Jehad Al Baour Adolfo Lima Łukasz Gikiewicz Zouheir Dhaouadi Hajer Bruno Lopes André Ndame Ndame Ashraf Nu'man Adama François Sene Gualberto Mojica Saif Salman Dragan Ćeran Nemanja Tubić Najran Adriano Alves Bismark Eric Tozin Mamadou Wagué Winful Cobbinah Faisal Zayid Aboubacar Tambadou Malick Mané David Simbo
League table
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 afterwards. 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 progress
Relegation play-offs Al-Raed who finished 12th faced Al-Batin who finished 3rd in the 2015–16 Saudi First Division for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score would take part in the 2016–17 Saudi Professional League. Al-Raed won 5–3 on aggregate and secured their place in the next season.
First leg
Second leg
Season statistics
Scoring
Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Omar Al SomahAl-Ahli272 Gelmin RivasAl-Ittihad193 Carlos EduardoAl-Hilal144 Abdulmajeed Al-RuwailiAl-Taawoun135 Élton ArábiaAl-Fateh126 Ali AwajiAl-Wehda117 Paul Alo'oAl-Taawoun10 Adrian MierzejewskiAl-Nassr9 Javi BalboaAl-Faisaly8 Hamad Al-JuhaimAl-Fateh
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref Gelmin Rivas Al-Ittihad Al-Qadsiah 3–1 (A) Omar Al Somah Al-Ahli Al-Nassr 4–2 (H) Gelmin Rivas Al-Ittihad Hajer 5–0 (H) Omar Al Somah Al-Ahli Al-Raed 3–1 (H) Yasser Al-Qahtani4 Al-Hilal Hajer 4–1 (H) Omar Al Somah Al-Ahli Al-Raed 5–2 (A)
Notes (H) – Home; (A) – Away4 Player scored 4 goals
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Khalid SharahiliAl-Hilal10 Yasser Al-MosailemAl-Ahli3 Mohammed Al-OwaisAl-Shabab84 Faisel MasrahiAl-Shabab75 Abdullah Al-OwaishirAl-Fateh66 Assaf Al-QarniAl-Ittihad5 Fayz Al-SabiayAl-Taawoun Mansoor Al-NajaiAl-Faisaly Moslem Al FreejAl-Khaleej10 Fahad Al-ShammariAl-Raed4 Mutab SharahiliAl-Nassr
Discipline
Player Most yellow cards: 9 Adnan Fallatah (Al-Taawoun) Salman Hazazi (Al-Khaleej) Most red cards: 2 Aminou Bouba (Al-Khaleej) Mamadou Wagué (Najran) Mahmoud Muaaz (Al-Taawoun)
Club Most yellow cards: 61 Al-Khaleej Most red cards: 7 Najran Awards Annual awards Award Winner ClubSaudi Pro League Player of the Year Omar Al-SomahAl-AhliSaudi Pro League top scorer Omar Al-SomahAl-Ahli Team of the Season Team of the Season Goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais(Al-Shabab) Defenders Yasser Al-Shahrani(Al-Hilal) Motaz Hawsawi(Al-Ahli) Mohammed Jahfali(Al-Hilal) Abdullah Al-Zori(Al-Hilal) Midfielders Adrian Mierzejewski(Al-Nassr) Abdulmajeed Al-Ruwaili(Al-Taawoun) Taisir Al-Jassim(Al-Ahli) Carlos Eduardo(Al-Hilal) Forwards Omar Al-Somah(Al-Ahli) Paul Alo'o Efoulou(Al-Taawoun)
Attendances
By round + 2015–16 Professional League AttendanceRoundTotalAvg. Per Game Round 1 32,122 7 4,589 Round 2 29,840 7 4,263 Round 3 93,882 7 13,412 Round 4 53,701 7 7,672 Round 5 69,084 7 9,869 Round 6 39,156 7 5,594 Round 7 48,285 7 6,898 Round 8 57,644 7 8,235 Round 9 44,462 7 6,352 Round 10 72,727 7 10,390 Round 11 47,422 7 6,775 Round 12 43,783 7 6,255 Round 13 30,295 7 4,328 Round 14 63,279 7 9,040 Round 15 52,709 7 7,530 Round 16 28,518 7 4,074 Round 17 55,137 7 7,877 Round 18 38,551 7 5,507 Round 19 53,191 7 7,599 Round 20 56,595 7 8,085 Round 21 45,342 7 6,477 Round 22 18,184 7 2,598 Round 23 34,391 7 4,913 Round 24 67,870 7 9,696 Round 25 14,018 7 2,003 Round 26 66,622 7 9,517 Total 182 6,906
Source:
By team
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See also 2015–16 Saudi First Division 2015–16 Saudi Second Division 2016 King Cup 2015–16 Crown Prince Cup 2015 Super Cup
References
External links Saudi Pro League Statistics 2015/2016