Joao Felix, Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammate from Al Nassr and Portugal, has won the Saudi Pro League Player of the Season accolade.
On the last day of the season on Thursday, Ronaldo scored twice as Al Nassr defeated Damac 4-1. The £177 million-a-year forward won his first league trophy since joining the team over three years ago.
It seems the former Chelsea forward has been acknowledged for his all-around impact, even though he finished third in the scoring rankings with 28 goals, ahead of Felix’s 20 and behind Julian Quinones (33) and Ivan Toney (32).
The Riyadh team won its 11th league title and their first since 2018–19 thanks in large part to Felix’s 13 assists in the Saudi Pro League this season—more than any other player.
A week prior, Brazil goalkeeper Bento’s mistake in stoppage time had prevented Al Nassr from winning the title, resulting in a 1-1 draw with Al Hilal. Last weekend, they were shockingly defeated at home by Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League Two final.
But in the end, Jorge Jesus’ team defeated struggling Damac at the King Saud University Stadium, with Felix lined up alongside Ronaldo and former Liverpool winger Sadio Mane, who also scored.
After 33 goals in 33 games, Joao Felix was named Saudi Pro League Player of the Season, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, his teammate.
Felix was crucial as the Riyadh team won their 11th league championship, their first since 2018–19.
With 86 points, the victory secured the title, two more than record 21-time champion Al Hilal.
After a poor second stint, in which he made 20 appearances for Enzo Maresca’s team in the first half of the season and started just three Premier League games before going on loan to AC Milan in January 2025, Felix joined Al Nassr last summer.
He cost Atletico Madrid £113 million when he arrived from Benfica as a 19-year-old in 2019, making him the third most expensive transfer of all time at the time of his departure. Since Alexander Isak moved from Newcastle to Liverpool last summer for a British record £125 million, he has fallen to fourth.
Felix scored 20 goals in 43 appearances across all competitions to help secure the league title in his first season as a teenager at Benfica, when he became the youngest player to score a Europa League hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt in a quarterfinal.
Felix went on to play for major European teams like Chelsea, Barcelona, and AC Milan, but he never scored more than ten goals in a single season, giving the impression that he had not lived up to the enormous promise he had displayed early in his career.
After moving to Al Nassr at the age of 25, which many had considered an early step away from elite European football, there is now a growing sense that Felix is starting to fulfill that promise.
Felix was included in Portugal’s roster last week for his second World Cup, which will take place in less than three weeks in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Diogo Jota, who passed away in a vehicle accident last summer, was also honored in Portugal’s release. The national team said, “The 27+1 carrying the World Cup dream to the Americas.”
Felix was included in Portugal’s roster last week for his second World Cup, which will take place in the US, Canada, and Mexico in less than three weeks.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo, 41, is scheduled to participate in a record-breaking sixth World Cup.
“We manage the Cristiano Ronaldo that plays for the national team trying to get into the squad for 2026, not the iconic figure,” stated Portugal’s manager Roberto Martinez earlier this month. “Age is just a number.” You make the decisions for the following day, and we can measure exactly what’s happening in the national team. We have five substitutes now, but you never look past the following day. We seem to have a starting team and a finishing team. There’s no difference. Different roles exist, and Cristiano has consistently embraced his role.
After three years in command, Martinez is set to step down at the end of the competition. There have been rumors that Al Nassr is considering a move for the Spanish coach after Jorge Jesus left.
