The competitions of the fifth edition of the Saudi Women’s Premier League will begin on Thursday with the participation of 8 clubs, with Nasrawiyya dominating the title since the launch of the competition in the 2022-2023 season.
Al-Nasr, Al-Ahly, Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Ula, NEOM and Esperance clubs participate, and will play 56 matches distributed over 14 rounds in a home-and-away system. “Yellow” will begin the campaign to defend its title by facing NEOM in Riyadh, while Esperance will meet with Al-Ahly, Al-Hilal will meet with Al-Ittihad, and Al-Ula will meet with Al-Qadisiyah.
Al-Nasr will play against NEOM in Riyadh, Esperance will host Al-Ahly, while Al-Hilal will play against Al-Ittihad in the Senior Clasico, and the first round will conclude on Saturday with a confrontation between Al-Ula and Al-Qadisiyah.
The first edition of the league was launched in October 2022 after a number of women’s teams moved to official clubs, as Al-Nasr took over the Kingdom team, Al-Hilal took over the Challenge team, Al-Ittihad took over the Jeddah Eagles, Al-Ahly took over the Meraas team, and Al-Shabab took over the Storm team.
The defending champion entered the tournament amidst stable conditions, led by Saudi coach Abdulaziz Al-Alouni, to gain an early advantage over teams that were restructuring their rosters in conjunction with the start of the competition.
“Yellow” achieved the title of the first season after collecting 35 points, 3 points behind Al Hilal, and in the second season it maintained the championship with 37 points before ending the 2024-2025 season in the lead with 51 points from 17 victories and one loss, scoring 70 goals compared to 17 goals conceded.
When the tournament returned to the 8-club system in the fourth season, the title remained in the coffers of the capital team after it topped the standings with 39 points from 13 wins and losses, a difference of 12 points from Al-Ahly. The champion was distinguished during the four seasons by the continuity of his project and the stability of his members, in addition to his possession of multiple options in attack and his balance between scoring and solid defense.
Al-Nasr’s presence extended to foreign competitions, as it became the first Saudi representative in the AFC Women’s Champions League before winning the West Asian Women’s Club Championship title last August, after defeating Al-Hilal of Syria by 4 goals to no score in the final match.
In conjunction with the stability of the name of Al-Nasr Club, the scorers’ lists witnessed a decline in the appearance of Saudi female players. In the 2022-2023 season, Dalia Abu Laban, the Al-Shabab player at the time, came in fifth place with 11 goals, to be the highest scoring Saudi woman, while Saba Tawfiq, the Al-Ittihad player, came in eighth with nine goals.
However, the list of top ten places was devoid of Saudi women in the second, third and fourth seasons, so Dalia’s tally remained the highest tally for a Saudi player during one season. The disparity in attendance also appeared in the Federation Cup, as Sheikha Ghaleb came seventh in the first edition with four goals, Al-Bandari Mubarak eighth with three, while Lana Abdel Razzaq came seventh in the second edition with three goals, and Al-Bandari came tenth with two goals.
The decline in the local presence in the top scorer race is linked to the recent experience of Saudi female players compared to professionals who have previous experience from foreign leagues and national teams, in addition to the clubs’ reliance on foreign women in the position of outright striker, while Saudi women participate more in the positions of midfield, defense, and flanks. Only Al-Hilal Al-Bandari Mubarak player fills the striker slot on the team.
In Jeddah, Al-Ahly enters the season with a major change at the level of the technical staff after ending its association with Jordanian coach Manar Freij after four years and contracting with Icelandic coach Thor Arnason for one season.
Arnason has previously won the Icelandic League twice and won the Best Coach Award in Iceland in 2025.
Al-Ahly supported its technical staff with Portuguese Miguel Patrão as strength and physical preparation coach, benefiting from his previous experience with the Benfica women’s team and his specialization in injury prevention and load measurement. At the level of female players, the club did not announce new deals during the summer registration period, while Moroccan Ibtissam Jaradi and Saudi Dalia Abu Laban left its roster.
The team is betting on the stability and experience of its group after finishing runner-up in the league in the past three seasons, in addition to winning the first two editions of the Saudi Women’s Federation Cup. Al-Ahly finished last season in second place with 27 points, achieved through 8 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats.
For its part, Esperance, the newly promoted first division champion, is looking for a different appearance, after renewing the contract of its Bahraini coach, Issa Al-Ainawi, who succeeded in leading the team to the Premier League twice. The first after winning runner-up in the 2023-2024 season, and the second after being crowned champion of the last edition.
Esperance strengthened its ranks with Arwa Omar, Rand Al-Rashed, goalkeeper Maria Al-Najjar from Al-Nahda, Mashael Al-Harbi from Al-Qadisiyah, Fajr Saad, Nadia Muhammad, and Mayar Omar from Shoal Al-Sharqiya. It also retained a group of its most prominent players, led by Tunisian top scorer Wafaa Masoud, Wafi Al-Harbi and Douha Mohamed.
The defending champion enters the season with the experience of 4 consecutive crowns, while the rest of the teams, led by Al-Ahly and Esperance, are looking to change the competition map. The list of top scorers will also be monitored to see if the fifth edition will see a Saudi name return to the top ten for the first time since the inaugural season.
The morning competitions for the “Al-Jadaa (General) Category” within the activities of the “Crown Prince Camel Festival 2026” were concluded on Wednesday, amid strong competition and a record participation of 651 camels, which competed in 15 races over a distance of 5 kilometers.
The runs witnessed the setting of distinguished records, as the mount “Sharara” owned by Saeed Manana succeeded in grabbing the “best time” by finishing the 9th run in a time of 7:42.063 minutes, achieving first place and recording a speed of 38.956 km/hour.
The general average timing of the camels participating in this period was 8:17.469 minutes, and the 15 rounds witnessed the crowning of 15 winners, representing 2.3 percent of the total participating camels, which reflects the extent of the fierce competition to secure the first places in this major sporting event.
The Saudi camels won first place and won titles for 7 out of 15 rounds, the Emirati camels won 5 rounds, the Qatari camels won two rounds, and the Kuwaiti camels won one round.
In the Al-Mazayen races allocated to the “Single Mafared (Bakkar) and Qadan) category for the Asayel and Al-Majahim camels, the reel “Balsha Salem” owned by its Saudi owner, Saeed Al-Marri, took first place in the “Single Mafared (Bakkar) Asayel” race, leaving second place for the reel “Sasco Nawader Camel” for its Saudi owner, Saleh Al-Qahtani, while “Al-Dhabi, Ghazayel Camel” came. Najd, owned by Misfer Al Saad, is in third place.
The camels of Al-Majahim imposed their strong presence. In the “Individual Mafarid (Qa’dan) Lun (Majahim)” round, Al-Qa’ud “Al-Nawi” owned by its Saudi owner Mubarak Dahim Abyan Al-Dosari snatched the first place and the title, Hamad Al Hanish came in second place, and “Wahidan Banat Wahidan” for its owner Salem Al-Marri came in third place.
In the “Individual Mafarid (Bakkar) Loon (Majahim)” round, the reel, “Hawashat Al-Qauda Hawashat,” owned by Qatari owner Ali Freej, won first place, “Al-Sarma,” owned by Qatari owner Ali Al-Marri, came in second place, then “Hakam,” owned by Saudi Bandar Al-Tamimi, came third.
On the other hand, the financial value of the most prominent market for horse transfers held on the sidelines of the “Crown Prince Camel Festival” recorded an exceptional jump, and its value exceeded 60 million Saudi riyals, thanks to the completion of dozens of announced and unannounced deals, according to participants and specialists in the festival.
Raed Al-Ward, a specialist in camel sports, stressed that “the leap witnessed by the festival with the completion of deals exceeding the barrier of 60 million riyals proves beyond a doubt that the festival has gone beyond being a major heritage and sporting phenomenon, to become the first and strongest economic engine for the camel system in the region.”
The market witnessed a wide movement to strengthen the front lines of investors. The list was topped by Qaoud Musa Al-Mousa “Al-Zaeem”, the winner of the “Crown Prince Festival” Cup for the “Lhaqayeq” category after being sold for 3 million riyals, and a deal was concluded to sell the horse “Sultans Al-Rafada” to its Saudi owner Amer Al-Marri for 2 million riyals, to be joined by the horse “Waad”, crowned “Saudi Production Race” and whose ownership was transferred from Muhammad Al-Dahasi, for a similar value of 1 million.
Owner Riyad Al-Saadoun also entered strongly on the map of deals by attracting the horse “Important” from owner Anzan Al-Naimi for the same amount (two million riyals), confirming the intensity of plans to prepare for the upcoming competitions.
Purchasing power continued to rise with additional decades; The owner, Ayed bin Rafaan, completed the deal to purchase the mount “Al-Jazi” for 1.5 million riyals, and the sales witnessed the completion of the transfer of the mount “Laqqa” for 1.1 million riyals, in addition to the sale of the reel “Samha” to its owner, Hammad Al-Huwaiti, for the amount of 1 million riyals.
Al-Ward added: “The movement taking place in the Mataya transfer market reflects a deep investment awareness among major owners and major sports institutions. The strong polarizations, such as Qaoud Al-Mousa and Al-Matayya: (Mahim), (Sultans Al-Rafada) and (Waad), confirm that the owners are no longer looking for mere participation, but rather are developing precise strategies and supporting their front lines with strong battlefields capable of decisiveness against (the major symbols).”
For his part, Khaled Al-Dajani, one of the owners and investors in the “Parents and Grandparents Sector,” confirmed that “the most prominent and significant feature of this festival is the million-dollar offers that were rejected,” and added: “The price for (the quadruple) reached 6 million riyals, and the request to buy (Turf) for 3 million riyals and its owners stuck to it... This adherence is not just emotion, but rather a smart economic and artistic bet; The owners realize that the market and moral value of obtaining (the Crown Prince’s Sword) at the festival, or grabbing the cups and symbols, far exceeds the monetary value currently offered, due to the historical glory it entails and the crazy future rise in the market value of producing these authentic mounts.”
