The 2019/20 Saudi Professional League is set for a thrilling five-week sprint to the finish after authorities set a return date of August 4.

An overnight meeting determined the Middle East’s premier club competition’s fate, ruling out cancellation and moving kick-off forwards from last month’s provisional proposal of August 20. It was indefinitely suspended on March 14, a week after fans were banned from the stands, amid increasing measures to curb coronavirus’ spread.

An announcement from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in the early hours of Friday morning added the season should finish on September 9. Supporters will still not be allowed in stadiums, substitutions shall rise from three to five per game in line with temporary FIFA regulations and training can resume from June 21 – courtesy of the Ministry of Sports’ earlier declaration – in adherence to stringent health measures.

Burgeoning excitement about the announcement was illustrated by the hashtag عودة_الدوري_السعودي# (“The return of the Saudi League”) swiftly becoming the top trend on the Kingdom’s Twitter, with more than 30,000 tweets sent within an hour. Leading marksman Abderrazak Hamdallah, of Al Nassr, posted a jubilant picture on Instagram Stories of his team-mates celebrating in front of fans and wrote “Hey, hey, hey” to his 574,000 followers.

Al Hilal hold a six-point lead over champions Nassr, with eight matches in arrears. Al Fateh, Damac and Al Adalah reside in the relegation zone.

Many of the competition’s foreign stars now face a complex return trip after special dispensation was granted in April to return to their home countries.

The new dates were selected in line with AFC measures to finish the suspended 2020 Champions League before December’s Club World Cup and October’s restart of second-round World Cup 2022 qualifiers.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health has reported 116,021 cases, 80,019 recoveries and 857 deaths related to COVID-19.