List of foreign Saudi Professional League players

This is a list of foreign players in the Saudi Pro League, which commenced play in 2008. The following players must meet both of the following two criteria:

  1. Have played at least one Pro League game. Players who were signed by Pro League clubs, but only played in cup and/or Asian games, or did not play in any competitive games at all, are not included.
  2. Are considered foreign, i.e., outside Saudi Arabia determined by the following:
A player is considered foreign if his allegiance is not to play for the national team of Saudi Arabia.

More specifically,

  • If a player has been capped on international level, the national team is used; if he has been capped by more than one country, the highest level (or the most recent) team is used.
  • If a player has not been capped on international level, his country of birth is used, except those who clearly indicated to have switched his nationality to another nation.

Clubs listed are those for which the player has played at least one Pro game and seasons are those in which the player has played at least one Pro League game. Note that seasons, not calendar years, are used. For example, "2008–11" indicates that the player has played in every season from 2008–09 to 2010–11, but not necessarily every calendar year from 2008 to 2011. Therefore, a player should always have a listing under at least two years — for instance, a player making his debut in 2011, during the 2011–12 season, will have '2011–12' after his name. This follows general practice in expressing sporting seasons in Saudi Arabia.

99 of the 207 foreign FIFA-affiliated nations have been represented in the Pro League. On 18 October 2020, Estonia became the most recent country to be represented, with Karol Mets making his league debut for Al-Ettifaq against Al-Ittihad.

In bold: players who have played at least one Premier League game in the current season (2020–21), and are still at a club for which they have played. This does not include current players of a Pro League club who have not played a Pro League game in the current season.

Details correct as of 9 February 2021

Albania

Algeria

In September 2018, Raïs M'Bolhi became the first goalkeeper to win a Player of the Month award.

Angola

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Brad Jones won the Pro League with Al-Nassr in 2018–19

Bahrain

Belarus

Belgium

Benin

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brazil

Victor Simões was the joint top scorer in the 2011–12 season, with 21 goals.
Giuliano won the Pro League with Al-Nassr in 2018–19
Thiago Neves won two Pro League titles with Al-Hilal
Fernando Menegazzo won the Pro League with Al-Shabab in 2011–12
Marquinho won the Pro League with Al-Ahli in 2015–16. He also played for Al-Ittihad during the 2014–15 season.
Maicon won the Pro League with Al-Nassr in 2018–19

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

Ronnie Fernández was the top scorer in 2017–18 with 13 goals

Colombia

Comoros

Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia

Curaçao

Until 2010 Netherlands Antilles

Denmark

DR Congo

Ecuador

Egypt

Mohamed Abdel Shafy won the League once with Al-Ahli in 2015–16.
In June 2017, Essam El Hadary became the first foreign goalkeeper to sign for a Saudi Arabian club.

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

France

Former France international Bafétimbi Gomis joined Al-Hilal in July 2018

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Prince Tagoe spent two seasons with Al-Ettifaq

Greece

Giannis Fetfatzidis won the League once with Al-Ahli in 2015–16.

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Honduras

Hungary

Iraq

Italy

Former Italy international Sebastian Giovinco joined Al-Hilal in January 2019

Ivory Coast

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Korea Republic

Lee Young-pyo won two Pro League titles with Al-Hilal.

Kuwait

Lebanon

Liberia

Libya

Lithuania

Madagascar

Mali

Mauritania

Montenegro

Morocco

In 2018–19, Abderrazak Hamdallah won the Player of the Year award and was the top scorer with a record breaking 34 goals.
Hicham Aboucherouane was the joint-top goalscorer in the Pro League in 2008–09, scoring 12 goals for Al-Ittihad.

Netherlands

Niger

Nigeria

At €16.5 million, Ahmed Musa is the most expensive player in Pro League history.

North Macedonia

Until 2019 named Republic of Macedonia

Norway

Oman

In 2017–18, Ali Al-Habsi became the first foreign goalkeeper to win the Pro League.

Palestine

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Poland

Adrian Mierzejewski won the Pro League with Al-Nassr in 2014–15.

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Qatar

Romania

Mirel Rădoi won two Pro League titles with Al-Hilal.

São Tomé and Príncipe

Senegal

Serbia

Sierra Leone

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sudan

Sweden

Christian Wilhelmsson won two Pro League titles with Al-Hilal.

Syria

Omar Al Somah finished as top scorer three times in a row, and is the highest-scoring foreign player in Pro League history
Jehad Al-Hussain holds the record for most assists in Pro League history with 51.

Timor-Leste

Togo

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Farouk Ben Mustapha won the Golden Glove award in 2018–19

Turkey

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Server Djeparov won the Pro League with Al-Shabab in 2011–12

Venezuela

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Notes

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    Born in Argentina
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    Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Yugoslavia)
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    Born in Brazil
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    Born in Chad
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    Born in Croatia
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    Born in Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia)
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    Born in France
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    Born in The Gambia
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    Born in Georgia (then part of the Soviet Union)
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    Born in the Ivory Coast
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    Born in Kosovo (then part of Yugoslavia)
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    Born in Kuwait
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    Born in Mali
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    Born in Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia)
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    Born in the Netherlands
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    Born in Nigeria
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    Born in North Macedonia (then Macedonia, part of Yugoslavia)
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    Born in Portugal
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    Born in Saudi Arabia
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    Born in Serbia (then part of Yugoslavia)
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    Born in Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia)
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    Born in Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia)
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    Born in Somalia
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    Born in Spain
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    Born in Switzerland
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    Born in Togo
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    Born in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union)
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    Born in Uzbekistan (then part of the Soviet Union)
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    Capped for the Belgium national under-20 football team
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  • References

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