Private sports centres and gyms in Saudi Arabia have sixteen days left. From 18 November 2026, corresponding to 8 Jumada II 1448, every men's and women's sports centre or gym in the private sector with four or more workers in 12 targeted coaching and supervision roles must fill 15% of those roles with Saudi nationals.
The decision was announced on 24 November 2025 by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) in partnership with the Ministry of Sport, with a one-year lead time. That year is now almost gone, and the one-year window is the only grace the ministry announced.
Key Highlights
- The rate is 15% of workers in the targeted professions.
- Effective 18 November 2026 (8/6/1448 AH).
- It covers private men's and women's sports centres and gyms with four or more workers in the targeted roles, counted per licensed centre.
- Twelve professions are targeted, from personal trainer to equestrian coach.
- A procedural guide on the HRSD website sets out the professions, the rate and the counting rules.
- The Ministry of Sport follows up implementation alongside HRSD.
- Non-compliance carries statutory penalties, which for occupational localization decisions include suspension of the establishment's services with the ministry.
The 12 Targeted Professions
The ministry's announcement names five roles. The full list of twelve is table 2 of the procedural guide (Ministerial Decision 72002 of 27/05/1447 AH), and matches the list in the immigration law firm Fragomen's 8 January 2026 alert:
- Sports coach
- Professional football coach
- Professional aquatic sports coach
- Sports supervisor
- Professional ice sports coach
- Professional self-defense coach
- Fitness trainer
- Professional racket sports coach
- Personal trainer
- Professional athletics coach
- Professional equestrian coach
- Professional coach (ball sports)
What counts is the occupation registered on the worker's contract in Qiwa, not the title on the gym floor. A "head coach" registered as a sports supervisor is counted as a sports supervisor.
How the 15% Is Counted
The formula is Saudis in the targeted professions divided by all workers in those professions. Three points decide whether a gym is compliant:
Which "four workers" triggers the rule. The ministry and the Saudi press describe the threshold as establishments employing four or more workers. The procedural guide settles it: the decision applies where four or more workers are in the twelve targeted roles, which is also how Fragomen read it. A gym with two trainers, a receptionist and a cleaner is out of scope. The guide also applies the decision by actual activity, so a gym floor run under a retail or other licence is covered.
Rounding is to the nearest whole number. The guide rounds 0.49 and below down and 0.50 and above up, and prints the result: four to nine workers in these roles need one Saudi, ten to sixteen need two, seventeen to twenty-three need three. A studio with seven trainers needs one (7 x 15% = 1.05).
This is not Nitaqat. An occupational localization decision is computed inside the targeted professions only, and sits on top of the entity-wide Saudization rate measured by Nitaqat. A gym can hold a green Nitaqat band and still breach this decision, or the reverse. Our Nitaqat calculator shows where the entity-wide rate lands; the profession quota has to be checked separately, and a Saudization certificate refused in Qiwa is usually the first place either breach shows up.
Impact on Gym Operators
Sixteen days is not a hiring cycle, so the first steps are about knowing the gap rather than closing it:
- Export the registered occupations from Qiwa for every coach and trainer, and match them against the twelve professions.
- Count the gap both ways: replacing a non-Saudi with a Saudi raises the numerator only, while a net new Saudi hire raises both numerator and denominator.
- Count each branch separately. Unlike some other occupational decisions, the guide treats every centre or gym with its own Ministry of Sport licence as a separate outlet, so a chain can pass on its total and fail at individual branches.
- Use the support programmes. HRSD lists support for recruitment, training, qualification, employment and retention, plus priority access to Saudization support schemes and the Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf) programmes.
Penalties for occupational localization breaches include suspension of the establishment's electronic services, according to Fragomen, among them employee transfers and work permit renewals.
Background
The gym decision is one of a series of occupational localization rulings that HRSD has issued with sector ministries. Recent ones include project management at 70% from February 2027, accounting at 50% in its second phase and administrative support roles at 100%. The gym rate is low by comparison, but it lands on a sector of small establishments where one hire moves the percentage by a large step.
What's Next
The procedural guide on the HRSD website is the operative document from 18 November. Operators running several branches, or a mix of employed and freelance trainers, will want the count done from Qiwa data rather than a spreadsheet; teams that build that in code can follow our per-outlet gym Saudization engine in TypeScript. If you want your HR data connected to Qiwa so the rate is checked before each hire, contact us and we will review your setup.
Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD), Okaz, Fragomen