The Kuwait Premier League (), known as STC Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961,

Al-Arabi Al-Arabi may refer to: Companies *Al-Arabi Group, a holding company in the Kuwait Stock Exchange#Services * Al Arabi Investment Group (AB Invest), a subsidiary of Arab Bank * Al Arabi Investment Group Company, a subsidiary of Arab Bank Media *'' ...

, Qadsia and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

both hold the best record in the competition, having won 17 times.

History

The Kuwaiti league officially began in the 1961/62 season, after playing unofficially for eight years (played with group of clubs: "Ahli - Al Jazeera - Arabism - Gulf - Solidarity - Al-Qubali, Al-Nahda, Al-Sharqai, Al-Merqab, Al-Mawalim and Al-Taawon). National companies and ministries were club's first sponsors.

1960s

In the 1961/1962 season, several new clubs joined (

, Qadsia, Kuwait SC, Kifan High School, Shuwaikh Secondary School, Industrial College and Police Team). Al-Arabi won the league title without losing, and winning 7 points ahead of Qadsia, scoring 42 goals and conceding 10. In the following season, the number of teams was reduced to 7. Al-Arabi managed to win the second title in a row after winning 18 points ahead of Qadsia, scoring 45 goals and conceding 6. The third season of the league almost witnessed the end of Arabi monopoly, after fierce competition from Qadsia and other teams. Arabi and Qadsia were equal on points before the decisive match. Arabi managed to maintain the title after defeating Qadsia 2-0, scoring overall 42 goals and conceding nine. In the fourth season, school teams were removed from participating and league saw participation of 3 new clubs (

Salmiya Salmiya (Arabic السالمية; transliterated As-Sālmīya(h)) is a city in Hawalli Governorate in Kuwait. Salmiya is administratively divided into 12 blocks. The blocks located closer to the interior of the district tend to be mostly resid ...

, Fahaheel and Al-Shabab). The Kuwait Club managed to end the Arabi monopoly to achieve its first title, after winning the competition without any defeat. The 1960s witnessed a sweep of the Arabi club when it won six titles against two titles for Kuwait and a title for Qadsia.

1970s

The 1970 era began with Qadsia's winning the 1971/1970 season, for the second time in its history. Al-Arabi lost its championship in a strange way during ten years. They did not win any title during this period until the end of the 1979/1980 season.

1980s

The eighties witnessed three new league champions, namely Al-Salmiya who won its first title in the 1980/81 season, and Kazma club which won the titles of 1985/86 and 1986/87, as well as Jahra club, which ended the 1980s by winning the title.

1990s

The league championship was not held in the 1990–91 season because of

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...

. Competition began again in the 1991–92 season, which was held as group system with qualification. Old format returned with participation of 14 teams in the 1994–95 season. Era of the nineties witnessed a parity between clubs, where both Al-Arabi and Al-Salmiya won 3 titles, and Qadsia and Kazma two.

2000s

At the beginning of a new millennium, Kuwait SC achieved the league championship after a long absence of 22 years, followed by victory of Al-Arabi for the sixteenth time in its history in the 2001–02 season. Since then until 2020–21 season, Qadsia has won nine titles while Kuwait Club won five. Al-Arabi was able to break their dominance and win the mentioned season title.

KPL clubs (2022–23)

* Al-Fahaheel * Al-Jahra * Kazma * Al-Kuwait *

Al-Nasr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yellow ...

Al-Qadsia Al-Qadsiah Football Club ( ar, نادي القادسية) is a Saudi Arabian professional football club that competes in the Saudi First Division League. They are based in Khobar and their home ground is the Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium. ...

* Al-Salmiyah * Al-Sahel * Al-Tadamon Source:

Previous winners

Source:

By season

* 1961–62 :

* 1962–63 :

* 1963–64 :

* 1964–65 : Al-Kuwait * 1965–66 :

* 1966–67 :

* 1967–68 : Al-Kuwait * 1968–69 : Al-Qadisiya * 1969–70 :

* 1970–71 : Al-Qadisiya * 1971–72 : Al-Kuwait * 1972–73 : Al-Qadisiya * 1973–74 : Al-Kuwait * 1974–75 : Al-Qadisiya * 1975–76 : Al-Qadisiya * 1976–77 : Al-Kuwait * 1977–78 : Al-Qadisiya * 1978–79 : Al-Kuwait * 1979–80 :

* 1980–81 : Al-Salmiya * 1981–82 :

* 1982–83 :

* 1983–84 :

* 1984–85 :

* 1985–86 : Kazma * 1986–87 : Kazma * 1987–88 :

* 1988–89 :

* 1989–90 : Al-Jahra *1990–91 : ''No championship due to

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

'' * 1991–92 : Qadsia SC * 1992–93 : Al-Arabi SC * 1993–94 :

Kazma SC Kazma Sporting Club ( ar, نادي كاظمة الرياضي) is a Kuwaiti professional association football club. Founded in 1964, the club competes in the Kuwaiti Premier League. Club history Naming The club is named after the area of Kathma ...

* 1994–95 :

Al-Salmiya SC Al-Salmiya Sporting Club ( ar, نادي السالمية الرياضي) is a Kuwaiti professional football and sports club in Salmiya. They have won the Kuwaiti Premier League four times, most recently in 2000. They were founded in 1964 and ...

* 1995–96 :

* 1996–97 : Al-Arabi SC * 1997–98 :

* 1998–99 : Qadsia SC * 1999–2000 :

* 2000–01 : Kuwait SC * 2001–02 : Al-Arabi SC * 2002–03 : Qadsia SC * 2003–04 : Qadsia SC * 2004–05 : Qadsia SC * 2005–06 : Kuwait SC * 2006–07 : Kuwait SC * 2007–08 : Kuwait SC * 2008–09 : Qadsia SC * 2009–10 : Qadsia SC * 2010–11 : Qadsia SC * 2011–12 : Qadsia SC * 2012–13 : Kuwait SC * 2013–14 : Qadsia SC * 2014–15 : Kuwait SC * 2015–16 : Qadsia SC * 2016–17 : Kuwait SC * 2017–18 : Kuwait SC * 2018–19 : Kuwait SC * 2019–20 : Kuwait SC *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: Al-Arabi SC * 2021–22 : Kuwait SC

Most titles

Total titles won by Governorate

Topscorers

Participation by the years

Notes: *1979–80 to 1984–85:

Kuwaiti Division One The Kuwaiti Division One is a second-tier professional Kuwaiti football league. Winners of the league are promoted to the Kuwait Premier League. Kuwaiti Division One was introduced for the 2006–07 season, when the bottom 6 clubs in the Premie ...

was Stopped. *1991–92: all Clubs participated after the

*1994–95:

was Stopped. *1996–97: Qadsia SC Withdrew. *2013–14 to 2014–15:

was Stopped. *2015–16:

Al Tadhamon SC Al Tadhamon SC, or Al Tadamon is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Al Farwaniya. Honours *Kuwaiti Division One The Kuwaiti Division One is a second-tier professional Kuwaiti football league. Winners of the league are promoted t ...

Withdrew.

References

External links

Kuwait: VIVA Premier League Fixtures and Results at FIFAxscores.com Kuwait Premier Leaguegoalzz.com - Kuwaiti League
{{UAFA Football 1 Top level football leagues in Asia Sports leagues established in 1961 1961 establishments in Kuwait 1