• #Saudi Pro League

Saudi Pro League 2026-27: Ronaldo Leaves Portugal Camp as Al Hilal Lead at the Break

Al Hilal of Riyadh lead the Saudi Pro League 2026-27 season with 18 points from seven matches, one ahead of Jeddah’s Al Ittihad. Those two clubs, Riyadh’s Al Nassr and Jeddah’s Al Ahli, make up the league’s Big Four. Al Hilal have scored 23 league goals, the most in the division, while Al Ahli’s Ivan Toney has netted 10 in seven matches.

Reigning champions Al Nassr sit third on 16 points, and their captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, left the Portugal camp in Copenhagen on 30 September. As of 6 October 2026, he has not said he has retired from international football, and the Portuguese Football Federation has not announced it either.

League matches have been on hold since 13 September because Saudi Arabia is hosting the Arabian Gulf Cup. The league resumes on 9 October, with Al Hilal hosting Al Ittihad the next day.

Statistics run to 30 September 2026, and the Ronaldo story is current to 6 October 2026.

Ronaldo Leaves the Portugal Camp

Ronaldo’s international window opened on 24 September, when he started Portugal’s 1-0 Nations League win over Wales at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, the first competitive match under head coach Jorge Jesus. VAR ruled out his goal for offside.

On 27 September, Portugal won 2-1 in Norway, and Ronaldo stayed on the bench. Jesus had told him he would come on, then chose not to use him. Ronaldo then worked in the gym rather than training on 28 and 29 September, although he was not injured.

At a news conference on 30 September, Jesus said Ronaldo had not refused to train and that there was no feud, while reports indicated that he also said Ronaldo would not start against Denmark. The federation confirmed that Ronaldo missed the final session.

Ronaldo then posted on Instagram that, after speaking with federation president Pedro Proença, he had decided to leave the camp. He said he would tell Portuguese fans “the truth about the reasons behind my departure” in due course. The federation said preparations would continue with the other 24 players, according to the Associated Press.

As of 6 October 2026, neither Ronaldo nor the Portuguese Football Federation has confirmed that he has retired from international football. The Portuguese newspaper O Jogo reported soon after he left that his decision was irreversible and that the Wales match was his last for Portugal. Ronaldo has not confirmed that report, nor has the federation.

Portugal then beat Denmark 4-2 on 1 October and Norway 2-1 on 4 October without him. After the Norway match, Jesus said Ronaldo can come back, telling reporters, “If he wants to, he’ll return to the national team.”

Jesus is Al Nassr’s former manager. He won the 2025-26 league title with Ronaldo, the club’s first since 2018-19, and left when his contract ended in May. Portugal appointed him on 10 July 2026, a week after Ange Postecoglou took over at Al Nassr.

Ronaldo’s September with the club has been uneven. Al Nassr lost 2-1 at Al Ittihad on 5 September, beat Abha 2-1 on 9 September and drew 1-1 with Al Khaleej on 12 September. Ronaldo headed the Abha opener, which Gulf News counted as his 979th career goal, 21 short of 1,000.

In the AFC Champions League Elite, Asia’s top club competition, where 16 West Asian clubs share one league table, Al Nassr lost 4-0 at Al Ain on 15 September. Ronaldo was still seeking career goal No. 980 after a late free kick was saved.

When the league resumes, Al Nassr host Al Diriyah on Friday 9 October and visit Al Ahli on 15 October. Al Nassr confirmed Ronaldo’s return to club training on 5 October by posting pictures of the session.

Al Hilal: The Run That Ended, and the Reply

Al Hilal’s 47-match unbeaten league run ended at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on 7 September with a 2-0 loss to Neom. The sequence held 35 wins and 12 draws, counted in league matches only, and dated back to the 2024-25 season. It was Simone Inzaghi’s first league defeat since he arrived from Inter Milan in June 2025, and it left Al Hilal four matches short of Al Ahli’s record of 51 league matches without defeat.

Al Hilal fell behind after 15 minutes when Kalidou Koulibaly scored an own goal, conceded again to Amadou Koné just before half-time, and failed to score for the first time this season. Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was hurt in the warm-up, so Mohammed Al Owais played, and Gabriel Martinelli made his first start four days after signing. Inzaghi said Al Hilal created five first-half chances without scoring, and that he would “take full responsibility for the defeat.”

The reply came on 12 September, a 6-0 win at Al Taawoun that returned Al Hilal to first place. Martinelli, signed from Arsenal on 3 September, scored a hat-trick, his first goals for the club after two league appearances without scoring. Ollie Watkins, who joined from Aston Villa four days before Martinelli, scored twice. Watkins also set up Martinelli’s second goal. Crysencio Summerville, a July signing from West Ham, supplied the pass for his third, and Sultan Mandash scored the sixth. Watkins and Martinelli between them scored five of the six.

On 15 September, Al Hilal opened their AFC Champions League Elite campaign with a 2-1 home win over Al Gharafa of Qatar, without Watkins, who was receiving treatment for lower-back pain.

Saudi Pro League Standings

The top of the table is tight enough for one round to reshuffle the first five. Al Hilal, Al Ittihad, Al Nassr, Al Qadsiah, and Neom are separated by a single victory, and Al Nassr and Al Qadsiah are split only by goal difference.

Sixth-placed Al Ahli sit another win back, with the league’s top scorer in Toney and the heaviest goals-against column of the top six.

Al Hilal’s attack is the main reason they lead. Their 23 goals are seven more than any other club, and the 6-0 win at Al Taawoun supplied more than a quarter of them.

As of 30 September 2026. Form shows the latest result first.

Al Ittihad are the league’s only unbeaten club, with five wins and two draws under Jens Wissing. Their best result was a 2-1 win over the champions Al Nassr in Jeddah on 5 September, in front of 47,661, the season’s highest attendance so far. They briefly went top after a 3-1 win at Al Faisaly on 11 September, before Al Hilal’s win at Al Taawoun the next day.

The table has not changed since 13 September, when the last matches before the break were played. The Saudi Pro League and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation moved the next three rounds, originally due on 17 to 19 September, 9 to 11 October, and 15 to 17 October, to 9 to 11, 15 to 17, and 18 to 20 October. The change gave the national team longer to prepare for the Gulf Cup.

Among the leaders, Al Hilal host Al Ittihad at Kingdom Arena on 10 October and visit Al Qadsiah on 23 October. Al Nassr visit Al Ahli on 15 October and host Neom on 20 October. No club has a game in hand, as all 18 have played seven matches.

Golden Boot Race

Ivan Toney has scored 10 goals in seven league matches for Al Ahli, double the five scored by Neom’s Alexandre Lacazette in second place. Opta, quoted by Goal, said he matched Omar Al Somah, who also scored 10 in his first seven league games for Al Ahli in 2016-17, previously the only player to do so since 2009-10. The same report says Toney needed 13 matches to reach 10 league goals last season and 17 the season before.

Toney has taken 30 shots, 18 of them on target, according to the league’s own analysis, and his 33% conversion rate is the best in the division. He has support behind him. The same analysis credits Eduard Spertsyan, an Al Ahli summer signing, with creating more chances (23) than any other player in the league. At least two of his goals were penalties, against Abha on 22 August and Al Hazem on 11 September.

Last season’s race ended on the final day. Al Qadsiah’s Julián Quiñones scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Al Ittihad to reach 33 goals, one more than Toney’s 32.

Toney has never won the award. He finished second to Ronaldo two seasons ago and to Quiñones last season, so a 10-goal start that already puts him five clear of the nearest challenger is a different position from either of those races.

As of 30 September 2026. Four other players are also on four goals.

Transfer Window Closes

The summer window closed on Sunday 6 September 2026. Three moves stand out in deadline week.

Arsenal confirmed on 3 September that Martinelli had joined Al Hilal on a permanent transfer for a reported fee of £60 million ($81.2 million), and neither club has published a figure.

On 6 September, Al Qadsiah confirmed the signing of Al Nassr midfielder Abdulmalik Al Jaber on a season-long loan for a loan fee of SAR 6 million and an option to buy.

Al Ittihad’s Moussa Diaby left for Bayer Leverkusen in the final week.

Neom: How the Club from Tabuk Took Down Al Hilal

Neom Sports Club are based in Tabuk province in northwest Saudi Arabia and play at the 12,000-capacity King Khalid Sports City Stadium. They were founded in 1965 as Al Suqoor, a lower-league side, and were taken over by Neom Company, developer of the planned Neom region, in 2023 before being renamed in December that year.

They won the Second Division in 2023-24 and the First Division in 2024-25, and were promoted on 22 April 2025. Last season was their first in the top flight, and they finished eighth.

Alexandre Lacazette, 35, joined on a free transfer from Lyon on 1 July 2025 and scored 11 league goals last season. He has five this season and scored twice in Neom’s 4-2 home win over Al Fateh on 13 September.

Manager Christophe Galtier, the former Paris Saint-Germain manager in charge since 5 July 2025, had his best and worst moments of the season within six days. The high point was the win at Al Hilal on 7 September, after which he danced with his players.

The low point came on 13 September, when he was sent off in first-half stoppage time against Al Fateh for an offensive gesture at the Al Fateh bench. He apologised after the match, and a three-match ban from the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee has been reported. Neom are fifth on 15 points.

SPL Players on International Duty

Toney and Watkins Miss Out on England

Thomas Tuchel named his England squad on 18 September for Nations League matches against Spain, Czechia, and Croatia, and Toney, the league’s top scorer, was not in it.

Al Hilal’s Ollie Watkins was also left out, and Al Hilal’s official account confirmed on 14 September that he was receiving treatment for lower-back pain. Tuchel did not explain either omission in the news conference, but TNT reported that Toney was unavailable, having been charged with assault.

Toney pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm over an alleged incident at a Soho nightclub in December 2025. His spokesperson said he looks forward to clearing his name in court, and he next appears at Southwark Crown Court on 29 October.

SPL Scorers Carry the Hosts Through the Gulf Cup Group

Saudi Arabia, hosts of the Arabian Gulf Cup in Jeddah, won all three Group A matches without conceding.

A Kuwait own goal settled the opener on 23 September. Al Ahli’s Firas Al Buraikan scored twice, in the 11th and 34th minutes, in the 3-0 win over Oman on 26 September, and Hassan Kadesh added the other.

On 29 September, Abdullah Al Salem scored in the 54th minute and Al Nassr’s Abdullah Al Hamdan in the 69th, a 2-0 win over Iraq that sealed Saudi Arabia’s place at the top of the group.

This tournament is the reason the league paused.

Al Hilal Use the Break to Heal

The break gave Al Hilal’s medical staff time to prepare injured players for the 10 October meeting with Al Ittihad. Watkins has rejoined squad training, and Salem Al Dawsari is returning in phases from knee tendon surgery. Theo Hernández (hamstring) and Ali Lajami (thigh) continue treatment.

Looking Ahead

Statistics run to 30 September 2026, and the Ronaldo story is current to 6 October 2026. These fixtures follow:

• League restart: Al Nassr host Al Diriyah on 9 October, and Al Hilal host Al Ittihad on 10 October. Al Qadsiah visit Al Kholood on 9 October, and Neom visit Al Hazem on 10 October.
• AFC Champions League Elite, 12 and 13 October: Al Hilal won, and Al Qadsiah won on matchday one; Al Ahli and Al Ittihad drew, and Al Nassr lost. Al Nassr host Neftchi Fergana, and Al Hilal visit Al Sadd.
• Managers: Al Taawoun’s board named Jihad Al Hussein head coach on 12 September after dismissing Žarko Lazetić, and the club has not said whether the appointment is interim or permanent.

Read our Saudi Footie August 2026 monthly review for how the title race began and our guide to Al Hilal’s summer signings.