Al-Ahli in the dock: half of the Saudi league's matches are devoid of football

The ball was in play for just 51 minutes and 24 seconds on average across each of the 306 matches in the Saudi League last season, the report revealed.

That figure comes despite matches lasting an average of 100 minutes and 6 seconds. Only around 51% of that time is actually played. The rest, 48 minutes and 42 seconds, is lost to stoppages.

The full-season figures tell the same story. Last season's matches ran to a combined 30,630 minutes and 11 seconds, of which just 15,727 minutes and 35 seconds saw the ball in play. Roughly half.

Put another way, the ball sat out of play for a total of 14,902 minutes and 36 seconds. That is the equivalent of the original playing time of 165 matches, plus a further 52 minutes.

The strange thing is that actual playing time in last season's Saudi league fell well short of the previous 2024-2025 campaign, when it hit 54 minutes and 47 seconds. That marks a drop of a full 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

Such a decline is baffling, especially when FIFA keep bringing in new rules designed to claw back the playing minutes lost during matches.

Al-Ahli produced the least actual playing time of any side in the Saudi league last season, an oddity given they chased the title into the closing rounds.

The ball was in play for just 47 minutes and 15 seconds per match on average, more than four minutes below the Roshn League average.

That gap looks stranger still when you consider the total time of Al-Ahli's matches averaged 102 minutes and 13 seconds, the highest figure in the Saudi league last season.

Three of the five worst matches for actual playing time across the Roshn League featured Al-Ahli: against Al-Shabab (40 minutes and 16 seconds), Al-Khaleej (40 minutes and 34 seconds) and Al-Nassr (39 minutes and 28 seconds).

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