'The chapter ends... it hurts' - Al Raed relegation confirmed | OneFootball

Al Raed became the first club to be relegated from this season’s Roshn Saudi League, marking an end to their continuous stay in the division during the Saudi Pro League era.

The Buraidah side, rooted to the bottom of the table since Matchweek 25, were beaten 1-0 by Damac on Sunday night. The defeat sealed Al Raed’s fate since it left them on 21 points from 31 RSL matches – 11 points from safety with only three rounds of the 2024-25 campaign remaining.

Speaking after relegation was confirmed, midfielder Mehdi Abeid said: “It’s been a difficult season. I think we had quality, but a lot of things went against us - injuries and sometimes mistakes we made ourselves. Today, we made a mistake that cost us dearly; we lost the match.

"We simply deserve to go down. We haven’t picked up many points. We have three games left, [so] we’ll try to give our all - and then a chapter ends."

Al Raed are one of only five clubs to be ever-presents in the top flight since the SPL era began in the 2008-09 season. The others are current RSL leaders Al Ittihad, reigning champions Al Hilal, Al Nassr and Al Shabab.

"We knew it would be a very hard task," Al Raed goalkeeper Andre Moreira said. "But, in the end, it hurts obviously when you get to the moment, and you understand what’s going to happen.

“The guys gave everything out there; they fought until the last moment. It’s not an excuse, but not many teams had as many issues as we had during the season.

“I can speak for myself – I was [out injured] for some time. But this is football, we have to play on with it. And, yeah, it was not our time.”