The First Division League (FDL; ), known as Yelo league for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of professional football in Saudi Arabia. The First Division League is ranked below the Saudi Pro League and above the Saudi Second Division League in the Saudi Arabian football league system.

History

The league was founded in 1976 along side the Premier League Which is now known as the Saudi Pro League. being the second tier league it allows the first tier league clubs to either discover talents or send players on loan so they can develop. Hajer, Al-Wehda and Al-Qadsiah hold the record number of championships in the league with four. While Ohod holds the record for number of promotions from the First Division to the Pro League, nine.

Competition format

There are 18 clubs in the FD League. During the course of a season (usually from August to May) each club plays the other clubs twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for 34 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. The top two teams are promoted to the Saudi Pro League directly, a play-off system to determine the third team to be promoted along side the two. Teams placed between third and sixth position took part in the promotion play-offs. The fifth-placed would face the fourth, while the sixth-placed team would face the third. The final would be single-legged, hosted by the higher-placed team, while the bottom three teams are relegated to the SD League. Since the 2018–19 season the number of foreign players in the league was increased from 3 to 7, Seven substitutes are permitted to be selected, from which three can be used in the duration of the game.

Current clubs

For details on the FD League 2024–25 season, see here.

Stadium and locations

Champions

Champions and Runners-up

Performance by club

Top scorers

season

Sponsorship