Almost half of Saudi Pro League matches had limited ball-in-play time, Opta data shows

Nearly half of the matches played in the Saudi Pro League last season were affected by long periods when the ball was not in play, with Al Ahli identified as the club most closely associated with the problem.

A report by Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, based on figures from statistics provider Opta, examined the amount of time in which football was actively played during matches in the previous season of the Saudi Pro League.

The findings point to an exceptional situation in the competition, where around 50% of fixtures were played with the ball out of action for significant periods.

Al Ahli was described as the biggest contributor to what the report characterised as a damaging situation for the league. The figures placed the club at the centre of concerns about the amount of actual playing time produced in Saudi Pro League matches.

The report focused on “effective playing time” – the period during which the ball is actively in play rather than the full scheduled duration of a match.

That calculation excludes stoppages caused by fouls, injuries, substitutions, set-pieces, reviews by the video assistant referee and delays in restarting play.

As a result, the figures offer a different measure from the conventional match duration shown on a fixture list. A match may last the expected length, plus added time, while the amount of time in which the ball is moving and play is continuing is considerably lower.

Opta’s data, as presented by Asharq Al-Awsat, was used to assess that difference across last season’s Saudi Pro League fixtures. The report did not simply examine the final scores or the amount of football produced in attacking areas; instead, it concentrated on how long matches were actually played without interruption.

The reference to Al Ahli comes within that broader review of the competition’s playing conditions. The club was singled out as the main example in a season in which nearly half of the league’s matches were said to have been played with limited effective action.

The issue is not confined to one type of stoppage. Fouls, medical treatment, changes of players, dead-ball situations, VAR checks and slow restarts can all reduce the amount of time in which the ball is in play. Together, those interruptions form the basis of the effective-playing-time measurement used in the report.

The Opta figures therefore provide a numerical account of an issue that can be difficult to judge from a match’s official duration alone. They indicate that the Saudi Pro League’s previous campaign contained a substantial gap between the length of matches on paper and the time during which the ball was actively being contested.

The report’s central conclusion was that around half of the league’s matches were affected in this way, while Al Ahli emerged as the club most heavily implicated in the figures.