Until last year, the Saudi Pro League, which is already being called ‘Sauditão’ by fans, never had reason to draw attention. Betfair, specialist in sports odds, calculated each team’s chances to take the Saudi title, as well as who should be the top scorer this season.
The 2023/2024 season, which will be the 47th edition of the tournament, features several international stars such as Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Mané, Kanté, Firmino, among others.
With Benzema and Romarinho, Al Ittihad is the big favorite on Betfair
So far, two of the 34 rounds have been played in the Arab League. For the first time in 48 years of history, the competition will have 18 participating teams. Al Ittihad, Al Ahli and Al-Ettifaq have 100% success, with two wins each.
According to an analysis by Betfair, Al Ittihad, current champions and seeking their tenth Saudi Pro League title with the participation of Karim Benzema, Kanté and the Brazilians Romarinho, Marcelo Grohe and Fabinho, has 31% (odd of 2.63) of chances of taking Saudi 23/24.
This means that for every R$1.00 bet on the team, the person receives R$2.63 in return if the result is achieved.
Al Hilal, who signed a contract with the number 10 of the Brazilian national team, Neymar, appears in second with a 22% chance (odd of 3.75).
The Brazilian’s team is the biggest champion of the competition, accumulating 18 national tournament titles.
Al Nassr, by Cristiano Ronaldo appears with 15% (odd of 5.5) and is also in search of his tenth title of the competition.
Check out the full list of title favorites
- Al Ittihad – 31% chance of being champion;
- Al Hilal – 22%;
- Al Nassr – 15%;
- Al Ahli – 11%;
- Al Ettifaq – 6%;
- Al Shabab – 4%;
- Al Taawon – 2%;
- Al Fateh, Al Tai, Damak, Al Feiha, Abha, Al Riyadh and Al Wehda – 1%;
- Al Akhdoud, Al Hazm, Al Khaleej and Al Raed – less than 1%.
Malcom and Firmino start well, but Benzema is the favorite in the artillery
Betfair also calculated the odds for the top scorer in the competition. After two games, the Brazilians Malcom (Al Hilal) and Roberto Firmino (Al Ahli) share the artillery with 3 goals each.
However, according to the bookmaker, the French striker chosen as the best player of 2022, Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad), is the favorite to finish with more goals in his first year playing in Saudi, with a 40% probability (odd of 2.5 ).
Benzema is closely followed by former Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo at 31% (odd 3.25).
Recovering from injury, Neymar is third in the artillery race, with 27% (odd of 3.75). This means that for every real bet on the Brazilian, the bettor will receive R$3.75 if Neymar gets the top scorer in the Saudi Championship.
Firmino appears with 10% (odd 10.0), followed by Sadio Mané with 7.7% (odd 13.0).
The list still has other names like Malcom, Abderrazak Hamdallah (both with 4%), Moussa Dembele, Riyad Mahrez (3%), Allan Saint-Maximin, Anderson Talisca, Romarinho and Carlos Junior (2%) and João Pedro Jota ( 1%).
Even though he only has a 4% chance of taking the artillery, Abderrazak Hamdallah is a name to keep an eye on in the competition.
A player for the Morocco national team, ranked fourth in the World Cup in Qatar and a striker for Al Ittihad, the 32-year-old Moroccan has already been top scorer in the competition in three seasons (2018/19, 2019/20 and 2022/23).
Hamdallah still has two impressive marks within Saudi Arabia, the fifth highest scorer (with 113 goals scored, 7 less than fourth-placed Fahd Al-Hamdan) and the highest number of goals in a single season, with 34 in 2018/19 .
