The Saudi Pro League Has Increased the Quota for Foreign Players, But New Rules Will Start Applying in the Summer
On Friday, 29th December, the Saudi Pro League issued a joint statement alongside the Saudi Arabian Football Federation on the change in the rules to allow teams to register a higher proportion of foreign players. The new rules will take effect from the 2024/25 season.
Under the current rules, clubs can only register 8 foreign players, and with clubs such as Al Nassr, Al Hilal, Al Ittihad, and Al Ahli focusing on top European talent, they will appreciate the increase. Here’s the full breakdown of the new rules:
- Non-Saudi players (no age limit): 8
- Non-Saudi players (Under 21 years): 2
- Foreign players but born in Saudi Arabia (Under 26 years): 1
- Squad list for every Saudi Pro League match: 8 non-Saudi players max.
- Squad list for Cup competitions: all registered non-Saudi players can be included.
Teams like Al-Hilal will be excited to hear the news. It was reported earlier that the team wanted to deregister Neymar to free up their squad to sign a replacement. With Neymar, Yassine Bounou, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom, and Michael, Al Hilal has already exhausted its 8-foreign players limit. Since Neymar is expected to be out for a long time, deregistering him while injured was considered a possibility.
However, with the additional two slots, the team can recruit more foreign-born players, provided they are young players born after 2003. Additionally, since the new rules take effect in the summer, if any of the foreign players transfer to another club, the league leaders can revamp their squad with new blood.
Since the new rules take effect starting in the summer of 2024, they will not impact transfer activity in the January window. However, it will be interesting to see how the clubs utilize them come July.
