Kuwaiti Premier League

The Kuwaiti Premier League is the top division of the Kuwait Football Association league pyramid system. It was created in 1961. Al Arabi holds the best record in the competition, winning it 16 times. The current Kuwaiti Premier League champions are Al Qadisiya Kuwait.

History & timeline

The Kuwaiti football league pyramid system was first established in season 1961/1962, under the supervision of the Kuwaiti Football Association, and therefore in full recognition and accordance with the Asian Football Confederation as well as FIFA - the world governing body of the most popular version of association football - and its laws of the game. At that time, the Kuwaiti football league pyramid system consisted of only one division, with the inclusion of several high school football teams as well as teams officially sponsored by the state university and police. Inevitably, however, many of these state-owned, non-sports-specific, football teams were liquidated and removed from the league, leaving only the well-established sports-specific football clubs behind. This was mainly attributed to the teams' poor run of performances and consequent losing streaks, thereby ending their financial and moral abilities to continue. Moreover, many Kuwaiti football fans preferred supporting sports-specific club establishments, that were specifically established as sporting entities, instead of teams which were owned by non-sports-specific bodies or organizations such as police departments, high schools and colleges. Season 1963/1964 saw the last of the remaining non-sports-specific football clubs compete in the football league.

The 60's - Dawn of a green era

The 60's marked the beginning of the green machine, an English nickname commonly given to Al Arabi Football Club (formerly Al-Orouba SC). Al-Arabi were the first team to win the league championship in season 1961/1962 with a massive 12/12 wins in all their match fixtures, thus making them the first perfect team to go through a season undefeated and getting all 24 out of potential 24 points (at that time, the standard FIFA points system awarded 2 points per win compared to 3 nowadays). Al Arabi was also the first team to defend their title by winning it a second time in 1962/1963. Yet again, Al Arabi had a second consecutive perfect season winning 8 matches and drawing 2, having only conceded 6 goals in all 10 league matches. Their closest rivals, Al-Qadsiya, came in second position. Al Arabi won the season double in 1962, 63 and 64, having won both the League championship and Prince Cup in all 3 football seasons. In season 1963/1964, Al-Arabi won their third consecutive title but this time with a twist in competition format changes. The team in first and second played each other in a final matchup, with the deciding winner being crowned as league champions. Al Arabi met Al-Qadsia in the final, defeating them 2-1. This is the second time Al-Qadsia come close to winning the league, thus marking the beginning of the Qadsia-vs-Arabi derby.

Season 1964/1965 - A devastating blow

This season marked Al Arabi's first slump in league football. The team finished third place, following Al-Qadsiya in their third consecutive 2nd place spot, with Al-Kuwait winning their first trophy and becoming the second team to win the league and also the second team with a perfect undefeated season of 7 wins and 3 draws. Al-Qadsiya also became the first team to win the Prince Cup, therefore stealing Al Arabi from winning any major trophy that year. It was known as the drought season by most Al-Arabi historians.

1965-1967: The coil effect

Al Arabi recovered from a disappointing season by winning back-to-back titles from 1965 to 1967, as well as securing doubles by winning the Prince Cup trophy in 1966. In 1966, Al Arabi finished the league with 9 wins, 1 draw and only 5 goals conceded, a record for Al Arabi club. However, the team failed to defend its title for a third time, and in 1967/1968 Al-Kuwait won its second major trophy. Al-Qadsiya went on to win the league in 1968/1969, making it its first ever league win. The team won 5 games, drew 5 and lost 0. This was the first time Al Arabi goes two seasons without winning a single league trophy, however, this all changed in season 1969/1970 when Al Arabi secured its 6th league title.

Therefore the sixties marked an era for Al-Arabi's glory years.

• Al Arabi = 6 Trophies
• Al Kuwait = 2 Trophies
• Al Qadsiya = 1 Trophy

The Magical 70s - Dream teams & rivalries

The seventies marked an era of more intense rivalries in the league. With Al-Arabi facing turbulent times ahead and failing to win a single league trophy during that decade, except season 1979/1980 where they finished first, it offered other teams a chance to shine as league leaders for many years to come.

During the course of all 10 seasons, the trophy tallies were shared as follows:

• Al Qadsiya = 5 Trophies
• Al Kuwait = 4 Trophies
• Al Arabi = 1 Trophy

The 70s also marked the beginning of the end to Al Arabi's 60s dominance. Additionally, it set the scene for the rise and fall of Al-Qadsiya's "dream team", which had legendary national football team players such as Jassem Al Yaqoub, Hammad Bu Hammad, Faisal Al Dakheel, etc. Al-Kuwait also had its own fair share of greats including Abdulaziz Al-Anberi and Ahmed Al-Tarabulsi. These players were often regarded as national team regular starlets, and were labeled as Kuwait's "golden generation" of footballers who managed to appear in the 1976 Asian Cup final, only losing by a goal to Iran. Most national football team players came from Al-Qadsiya, and much of Kuwaits international success in the early 80s came from their experience, including winning the 1980 Asian Cup final (defeating Korea 3-0), qualifying to the 1980 Summer Olympics and 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. This, and countless of other Gulf Cup trophies, was also reflected in the club level with Al-Qadsiya and Al-Kuwait dominating the ranks of football at that time.

Although there weren't as many perfect seasons won in the seventies by either sides, with exception to season 1975/76 where Al-Qadsiya stayed undefeated, the 70s were generally regarded as more illustruous than the 1960s. Despite neither Al-Kuwait or Al-Qadsiya being able to break Al Arabi's number of perfect seasons, the 70s marked the beginning of total football, a football technique many Al-Qadsiya players of the "golden" Kuwaiti generation loved to use, and perhaps was the reason behind their success. Football was played more attractively, and was generally more dynamic and attack-oriented compared to Al-Arabi's aggressive style of play. It was labeled by many as 'beautiful' or 'sexy' football, as modern-day football specialists liken it to Arsenal's approach in the English Premier League (demonstrated by Arsene Wenger).

The 70s also saw the development of most sporting facilities in the country. Each of the big 3 sporting clubs (Al-Arabi, Al-Kuwait and Al-Qadsiya) had undergone major plans to build their own fenced sports cities, with different multi-use outdoor and indoor stadiums, including club headquarters and youth academies & training centres. Grass pitches were introduced to all sporting club stadiums, under accordance of new amendments to FIFA rules which stated that sand pitches were no longer permissible and were prohibited from being used.

Al-Qadsiya, with credit to their attacking play, have also scored more goals per season than any other team in the Kuwaiti league during the 70s, with exception to the 1979/1980 season. The team's attacking force was the reason behind its success, as opposed to Al-Kuwait who relied largely on their experienced goalkeeper Ahmad Al-Tarabulsi from keeping the ball going into the net.

During the 1970s, Al-Arabi saw many new faces come and go. The coaching staff was replaced many times and without success. Finally in 1978, the club was introduced with Dave Mackay. Dave Mackay was little known at that time, but he was soon proved vital for the re-transformation of Al-Arabi into a major football powerhouse in the country and region again. His decade of success with Al-Arabi was only about to unravel.

The Glamarous 80s - Al-Arabis resurrection

The 80s was filled with glamour, not just in football but in the whole country overall. Under the new managerialship of Dave Mackay, Al-Arabi won seven league trophies, 2 Prince Cups and 1 Gulf Club Championship. Al-Arabi became the first team to win a major international football event, in its debut season.

As a Scotsman, many modern-day football analysts look back at the 80s golden years and compare Dave Mackay to his compatriot Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United. Some even call him the "Sir Alex of Kuwait". Indeed, Dave Mackay became known as not only the most successful manager in Al-Arabi's history but also the most successful club manager in Kuwait's whole football history.

The 80s also saw Al-Arabi break their own record of winning 3 consecutive league titles by achieving a four league championship winning streak in the mid-80s. Al-Arabi dominated the 80s decade, and only gave away 3 seasons to Salmiya and Kazma. No team has genuinely challenged Al-Arabi for their title defending, as Al-Qadsiya and Al-Kuwait were mainly out of the picture and overshadowed by Kazma and Salmiya, two newly emerging sides which later became known as the "new big three" (Al-Arabi, Salmiya and Kazma). Today, however, Kazma and Salmiya are part of Kuwait's big five, which includes Al-Arabi, AlQadsiya and AlKuwait.

The 80s marked the beginning of a new competition league format. More teams were added to the stirr, therefore teams had to shift from playing a maximum of 14 league games throughout the 60s and 70s to almost double the number of matches in the 80s (a total of 26 matches per season). This made it harder for Al-Arabi or any other team to remain undefeated the whole season. Therefore winning perfect seasons was almost deemed impossible. However, Al-Arabi never stopped trying and in 1984/85 came close to being undefeated after winning 24 matches, drawing 4 and only losing 1. This season was also special since Al-Arabi managed to concede only 7 goals throughout the whole season, meaning they became the best defensive team in Kuwait's football history, as well as the first to have 19 clean sheets in one season (a record until today). Al-Arabi also went 7 games with consecutive wins and followed by 10 games with consecutive wins. The team also went 24 straight games undefeated, another record until today.

Towards the late 80s, the league went down from 26 matches played a season back to only 14. This came after the split of the league into a lower division and higher division (premier league). Therefore the number of teams went from 14 down to 8, and the format has been brought back to how it was in the 60s and 70s. However, this did not help end Al-Qadsiya's inconsistency as things became worst in the late 80s when Al-Qadsiya was nearly relegated for the first time in its football history in season 1987/1988 where they finished 7th out of 8 places. Al-Qadsiya only managed to finish in the top 2 once throughout the 80s, and that was two seasons earlier in 1985/1986. Al-Kuwait was also suffering and not its usual self.

Al-Arabi did manage one perfect season in the 80s, that was during season 1988/1989 where Al-Arabi finished with 12 wins and 2 draws and 0 losses. However, this season had something more special to it. Al-Arabi spiced things up by conceding only one goal throughout their 14 match fixtures, a new record until this date. They also went 8 matches on a consecutive winning streak that same season.

The Kazma and Salmiya years

The 80s, however, didn't only belong to Al-Arabi. Prior to 1981, there were only 3 Big teams in Kuwait. Those were Al-Arabi, Al-Qadsiya and Al-Kuwait. However, with the turn of the 1980s, newer teams were added to the equation. The big 3 became big 5 after new giants Kazma and Salmiya forced their way into joining the elite winners of Kuwait's football league. Perhaps not as illustruous as the other big 3 teams, Kazma and Salmiya did have their own golden moments, albeit short lived and certainly not as long as the ones experienced by Dave Mackay's Al-Arabi side or Jassem Yacob's magical Qadsiya of the 70s. However, Kazma and Salmiya did become part of the "big 5" clubs nonetheless. Kazma's and Salmiya's success in the 80s diversified the number of DIFFERENT teams winning the Kuwaiti football league title. This, according to many analysts, mightve saved Kuwait's football image in the region. Had the dominance remained only within the big-3, some say, it couldve destroyed football and bored the average football spectators. Seeing a new team winning the title was always a good thing to some, and certainly a beacon of hope for other teams to follow the same model. "Change every once in a while is a good thing", was one of the local newspaper headlines back in the 80s newspaper sports columns. This referred to Kazma's back-to-back titles won in the late 80s. The addition of new teams winning the league and being included in the ever-expanding "winners trophy list" encouraged other hopefuls into trying to copy the Kazma and Salmiya "underdog" model. And in season 1989/1990, Jahra became the first team outside Kuwait City to win the league title. This certainly added more flavour to the league and spiced up the diversity of title challengers. The league's competitiveness was at its peak during the 1989/1990 season. Things were moving forward. Unfortunately, however, progress was halted one year later after the 1990 Gulf War and Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

The post Gulf War 90s: Reliving the dreams

The 90s marked the most diversified era in Kuwait's football league history, with Kazma winning 2 titles, Salmiya winning 3, Al Arabi and Al Qadsiya both winning an odd amount of times, as well as Al-Kuwait sharing the spoils. The formatting for the first couple of seasons after the war changed, with the league divided into two conferences, and the top 2 of each conference meeting at a final round-robin group stage event. It was more complicated, however, the team with most endurance came out of it alive and winner of the league. The rivalry between Al-Arabi and Al-Qadsia was short lived after the war. The scene then moved to Kazma who promised to relive their 80s memories by winning another 2 titles in the mid 90s. However this soon became part of history as Kazma failed to win a fifth league trophy since then. Although AlArabi and AlQadsiya had their own bit of success during the 90s, as well as Kuwait FC, the most remember team of the 90s was undoubtedly Salmiya. The decade belonged to their prestige and dominance. Though they only won it 3 times, it was one trophy more than any other winning team of the 90s decade. Additionally, no team ever came close to contesting their top spot. Salmiya won the league in seasons 94/95 finishing 7 points clear of second place Qadsiya, 97/98 finishing 9 points clear of second place Kazma and 99/00 finishing 3 points clear of second place Qadsiya in the final round group stages. The team was well remembered for having a number of dream strikers, including the duo Jassem Al Howaidi and Bashar Al Abdallah - who both played for the Kuwait national side between 1997-2002. It was the second golden generation of Kuwait's national football team, which won back-to-back gulf cup titles, came fourth in Asian Cup 96 and qualified for the 2000 Summer olympics in Sydney. The duo not only reflected their talents internationally, but they also set the record for winning 3 league championships in the 90s as well as winning the prince cup in 2000.

Kazma also had golden moments in the 90s by winning 2 league championships, a gulf club championship (becoming the 2nd Kuwaiti team to win it since Al-Arabi) in addition to 2 consecutive Prince Cups in the mid 90s. Although Kazma is more successful in the trophy titles than Salmiya, both teams are remembered to be part of the new "big 5", a concept introduced in the 80s after they joined the big-3 dominance and also became a major player in Kuwaiti football.

Now the question remains of who would join the big-six...

The 21st century and return of Al-Kuwait vs Al-Qadsiya rivalry

This decade marks the return of the glorious 70s. Though not as illustrious as before, Al-Kuwait has finally made a proper resurrection since the 1970s and won 3 consecutive league titles since season 2005/2006.

Kuwaiti Premier League clubs (2011–12)

• Al Arabi SC (Kuwait City)
• Al Jahra (Jahra)
• Al Kuwait SC (Kaifan)
• Al Naser SC (Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh)
• Al Qadsia SC (Hawalli)
• Al Salmiya SC (Salmiya)
• Al Shabab (Ahmadi)
• Kazma SC (Adiliya)

Previous winners

Total championships

The number of national championships that clubs in Kuwait have attained.

Participation list

Topscorers

External links

• Kuwaiti Premier League (Arabic)
• goalzz.com - Kuwaiti Premier League