Al Hilal SFC

Al Hilal Saudi Football Club (Arabic: نادي الهلال السعودي لكرة القدم) is a Saudi professional multi-sports club based in Riyadh. The football team plays in the Saudi Professional League

Al-Hilal SFC
Full nameAl-Hilal Saudi Football Club
Founded16 October 1957 (1957-10-16),
as Al-Olempy Club
GroundKing Fahd International Stadium[1]
Capacity68,752
PresidentFahad Al Otaibi
ManagerRăzvan Lucescu
LeaguePro League
2019–20Pro League, 1st of 16 (champions)
WebsiteClub website

Founded on 15 October 1957, Al Hilal are one of four teams to have participated in all seasons of the Saudi Professional League since its establishment in 1976.

Overall, Al Hilal have won 61 official titles on the national and international stage, and 99 counting friendly trophies. In domestic competitions, they have won a record 16 Professional League titles, a record 13 Crown Prince Cup titles, a record 7 Saudi Federation Cup titles, 9 King Cup titles, a record 2 Super Cup title, and also the Saudi Founder's Cup an official Centennial football tournament, held every hundred years.

Internationally, Al Hilal has a record 7 Asian Football Confederation trophies – the AFC Champions League in 1991, 2000 and 2019, the Asian Cup Winners Cup in 1997 and 2002, and the Asian Super Cup in 1997, 2000. In September 2009, Al Hilal was awarded Best Asian Club of the 20th Century by the IFFHS.[2]

History

Roberto Rivelino (left) and Najeeb Al Imam (right) playing for Al Hilal in 1979 meo

Al Hilal Club was originally known as the Olympic Club during its founding by Abdul Rahman bin Saad bin Saeed on 15 October 1957 in Riyadh. The club's name lasted for only one year before it was changed to its current name on 3 December 1958 by King Saud. He changed the name after he attended a tournament that was contested between the Olympic Club, Al Nassr, Al Riyadh and El Kawkab clubs. As soon as the club's establishment, Al Hilal enjoyed not only grassroots support but also royal attention.[3]

After spending their formative years building a squad, the club made their first mark by lifting the King's Cup trophy in 1961. That began a period in which the club won 50 official competitions. Al Hilal recaptured the King's Cup in 1964, with a penalty shootout victory over two-time Asian champions Al-Ittihad.

The club were the inaugural winners when the Saudi Premier League came into existence in the 1976–77 season. Al Hilal won the title another 14 times and finished runners-up on 12 occasions in the space of 32 years. Al Hilal also have nine King's Cup, twelve Crown Prince Cup and eight Saudi Federation Cup titles.[4]

With the success, a number of players and coaches from outside Saudi Arabia joined the club in the 1970s, including Brazilian legends Mario Zagallo and Roberto Rivelino.

In 1991, they won the first Asian title, Asian Club Championship, beating Iranian club Esteghlal F.C. in penalties in the final. They won it again in 1999–2000, when they scored an equaliser in the 89th minute and won the match against Júbilo Iwata in the extra-time. Lastly, they won again in 2019. In the final, they played against the Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds, to whom they lost in the final 2 years before. They successfully took a revenge and won 3–0 in two legs.

Al Hilal were also the runners-up for four times. They were second after the round-robin in the final round in 1986. They reached the final in 1987, but Yomiuri FC were crown the champion automatically as Al-Hilal were unable to field a team for the final due to nine of the starting players being chosen for the Saudi team's preparation camp that clashed with the date fixed for the first leg. Al Hilal reached the final of AFC Champions League in 2014, 14 years after their last appearance in the final. This time they faced Western Sydney Wanderers. The Australian club won 1–0 on aggregate.[5] Al Hilal reached the final again in 2017 but they lost to the Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds.

Six titles in a season 2000[6]

In 1997 they captured the Asian Cup Winners Cup and the Asian Super Cup of that year, which they lifted again in 2002.

Stadiums

Al Hilal currently plays their home games at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, stadium that was constructed in 1987 with a capacity of 67,000 supporters. The club's reserve team stadium, Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, was used in 2011–12 when King Fahd Stadium was under renovation. When prince Abdulrahman bin Musa'ad became the President of the club in 2008, there was some serious idea of making Al-Hilal home avenue but it was shortly declined.

Rivalries

Al Hilal has a long-standing rivalry with Al-Ittihad. From the start of national competition the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival cities: Riyadh and Jeddah. Matches between the two are often called 'El Clasico's. While Al Hilal have won three Asian Club Championship in years 1991, 1999–2000 and 2019, Al Ittihad has won AFC Champions League two times in a row, in 2004 and 2005. Al Hilal won the clasico 62 times, while Al-Ittihad has won it 50 times and two sides have drawn 35 times. The biggest win was when Al Hilal defeated Al-Ittihad 5–0 in 2009–2010.[7]

Another rivalry is with their neighbors Al-Nassr, which is called Riyadh's Derby. They have met 148 times, Al Hilal has won 59 times, and lost 48 times, while 41 games have ended in a draw.[8] The biggest win is for Al Hilal when they defeated Al-Nassr 5–1 in 2016–17. The rivalry with Al-Nasser is violent between them more than the rivalry with Al-Ittihad. As an example, when Al Hilal reached the 2014 AFC Champions League Final, in 2nd leg Al-Nassr fans awaited Western Sydney Wanderers arrival at the airport to spur them on against Al Hilal and tried to sabotage Al Hilal's ticket plan.[9]

Finance and sponsorship

Sponsorship

Mobily was the main sponsor of Al Hilal, and as part of the sponsorship deal, their logo was displayed on the front of the club's shirts and a plethora of other merchandise. The Mobily deal was announced by the club's previous President Abdulrahman bin Musa'ad on 14 October 2008, and is worth a Saudi record SAR 517 million, to be paid over six years (SAR 69.1 million per year).

Also, the previous president Prince Abdulrahman bin Musa'ad made a contract with Omar Almady, CEO of Volkswagen Group in Saudi Arabia. the contract period is 6 years and was signed on 18 September 2014.

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor(s)
2004–2006 Adidas None
2006–2007 STC
2007–2013 Mobily
2013–2014 Nike
2014–2017 Mobily / Volkswagen / ABDUL SAMAD Al QURASHI / TASNEE / APSCO Mobil 1 / Bupa Arabia
2017–2019 Kingdom Holding Company / Volkswagen / ABDUL SAMAD Al QURASHI / Sun & Sand Sports / Jawwy from STC / APSCO Mobil 1
2019–2020 S Team Kingdom Holding Company / Emaar / Tawuniya / Flyin / Jahez / Tamkeen Technologies / Sayyar Shemagh / National Medical Care

Television match broadcasting rights

Al Hilal receives SR 4.5 million per year (US$1.2 million/year) from the Saudi Arabia Football Federation as the federation sell the complete matches' right in one package and all the clubs in the Saudi Professional League share the revenue equally. The income may increase dramatically in near future as clubs will have the rights to sell their own matches' broadcasting rights.

Other income sources

The club's president and other board members pay any extra money required to run the club as the total expenses of the club in recent seasons surpassed SR 140 million (US$38 million). This increase in expenses is due to the high level foreign and national players the club signed with such as Andre Carrillo, Bafétimbi Gomis, Gustavo Cuellar, Sebastian Giovinco and others.

Charity and philanthropy

Special seats have been allocated for the disabled to watch the training. Twenty-five percent of the income of tickets sold goes to charities. Players and board members arrange and attend social activities for charities during Eid and other holidays.

Club facilities

In 2009, the club opened a new camp in Riyadh. It contains 25 rooms, meeting rooms, smart room for lectures, library, eating room, living rooms, a big salon and a medical clinic. It also has entertainment corners for video games, table tennis, billiards, table football and many others. There are two training fields for the senior team.

Players

As of Saudi Professional League:

No Position Player Nation
1 Goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf  Saudi Arabia
2 Defender Mohammed Al-Breik  Saudi Arabia
5 Defender Ali Al Bulaihi  Saudi Arabia
6 Midfielder Gustavo Cuéllar  Colombia
7 Midfielder Salman Al-Faraj (Captain)  Saudi Arabia
8 Midfielder Abdullah Otayf  Saudi Arabia
9 Midfielder Sebastian Giovinco  Italy
10 Forward Luciano Vietto  Argentina
11 Forward Saleh Al-Shehri  Saudi Arabia
12 Defender Yasser Al-Shahrani  Saudi Arabia
16 Midfielder Nasser Al-Dawsari  Saudi Arabia
18 Forward Bafétimbi Gomis  France
19 Midfielder André Carrillo  Peru
20 Defender Jang Hyun-soo  South Korea
22 Defender Amiri Kurdi  Saudi Arabia
23 Defender Madallah Al-Olayan  Saudi Arabia
26 Midfielder Fawaz Al-Torais  Saudi Arabia
27 Midfielder Hattan Bahebri  Saudi Arabia
28 Midfielder Mohamed Kanno  Saudi Arabia
29 Midfielder Salem Al-Dawsari  Saudi Arabia
31 Goalkeeper Habib Al-Wotayan  Saudi Arabia
32 Defender Muteb Al-Mufarrij  Saudi Arabia
33 Goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Jadaani  Saudi Arabia
34 Forward Turki Al-Mutairi  Saudi Arabia
40 Goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Ghamdi  Saudi Arabia
44 Midfielder Saad Al-Nasser  Saudi Arabia
50 Goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Bishi  Saudi Arabia
55 Midfielder Hamad Al-Abdan  Saudi Arabia
66 Defender Mohammed Al Khaibari  Saudi Arabia
70 Defender Mohammed Jahfali  Saudi Arabia

Out on loan

No Position Player Nation
30 Goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Waked (on loan to Al-Qadsiah)  Saudi Arabia
35 Midfielder Mansor Al-Beshe (on loan to Al-Raed)  Saudi Arabia
38 Forward Khaled Al Gubaie (on loan to Al-Shoulla)  Saudi Arabia
39 Midfielder Nawaf Sharahili (on loan to Al-Diriyah)  Saudi Arabia
41 Midfielder Thaar Al-Otaibi (on loan to Abha)  Saudi Arabia
54 Defender Mohammed Al-Kunaydiri (on loan to Al-Adalah)  Saudi Arabia
Forward Riyadh Al-Ghamdi (on loan to Najran)  Saudi Arabia

Personnel

Coaching staff

Position Name
Head coach Razvan Lucescu
Assistant coach Longo Diego
Assistant coach Cristiano Bacci
Fitness coach Matteo Spatafora
Assistant fitness coach Milan Snjaric
Analyst Vedran Attias
Goalkeeping coach Miralem Ibrahimovic
Doctor Juan David Peña Duque
Team B coach Rodolfo Miguens
Director of Football Saud Kariri

Management

President Fahad bin Nafil Alotaibi
Vice President Ahmed Al Khames
Secretary General Sami Abu Khudair
Treasurer Thamer Al-Tasan
Director of Fans Supplies Rashid Al-Anzan
Director of Legal Affairs Thamer Al-Jasser
Director of Facilities Development and Maintenance Badr Al-Mayouf
Director of Other Sports Ibraheem Al-Youssef
Director of Youth Football Abdullateef Al-Hosainy
Director of Investments Area Abdullah Al-Abduljabbar
board member Abdullah Al-Jarbou

This is a list of Al Hilal SFC presidents and chairmen from its foundation in 1957.[10]

Name From To Championships (official)
Abdul Rahman bin Saeed 1957 1965 3
Abdulrahman Al Hamdan 1965 1966 ×
Abdul Rahman bin Saeed 1966 1970 ×
Faisal Al Shehail 1970 1972 ×
Abdullah bin Nasser 1972 1976 ×
Hazloul bin Abdulaziz Al Saud 1976 1978 1
Abdullah bin Nasser 1978 1982 2
Hazloul bin Abdulaziz Al Saud 1982 1983 1
Abdullah bin Saad 1983 1990 9
Abdul Rahman bin Saeed 1990 1992 1
Mohammed Mufti 1992 1993 1
Abdullah bin Saeed 1993 1994 ×
Khalid bin Mohammed 1994 1996 4
Bandar bin Mohammad 1997 2000 9
Saud bin Turki 2000 2003 6
Abdullah bin Musa'ad 2003 2004 1
Mohammed bin Faisal 2004 2008 7
Abdulrahman bin Musa'ad 2008 2015 7
Mohammad Al Homaidani (caretaker) 2015 2015 1
Nawaf bin Sa'ad 2015 2018 4
Sami Al-Jaber 2018 2018 1
Mohammed bin Faisal 2018 2019 ×
Abdullah Al-Jarbou (caretaker) 2019 2019 ×
Fahad bin Nafil Alotaibi 2019 Present 1

Honours

The club holds 61 official titles.

Domestic

Saudi Arabian competitions Titles Runners-up
Professional League (16/15) 1976–77*, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2019–20 (Record) 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2018–19
King Cup[11][12] (9/7) 1961, 1964, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1989, 2015, 2017, 2019–20 1963, 1968, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1987, 2010
Crown Prince Cup (13/4) 1963–64, 1994–95, 1999–00, 2003, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16 (Record) 1956–57, 1998–99, 2013–14, 2014–15
Super Cup (2/2) 2015, 2018 (Record) 2016, 2020
Federation Cup (7/5) 1986–87, 1989–90, 1992–93, 1995–96, 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2005–06 (Record) 1985–86, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2007–08, 2009–2010
Saudi Founder's Cup (1/0) 2000 (Record)

Confederation

Asian competitions Titles Runners-up
AFC Champions League (3/4) 1991, 2000, 2019 (Shared Record) 1986, 1987, 2014, 2017 (Record)
Asian Cup Winners Cup (2/0) 1997, 2002 (Shared Record)
Asian Super Cup (2/1) 1997, 2000 (Shared Record) 2002

Worldwide

Intercontinental Competition Titles Runners-up Third Place Fourth Place
FIFA Club World Cup 0/0 2019
Afro-Asian Cup 0/1 1992

Regional

Arabian competitions Titles Runners-up
Arab Club Champions Cup (2/2) 1994, 1995 1989, 2018–19 (Record)
Arab Cup Winners' Cup (1/0) 2000
Arab Super Cup (1/2) 2001 1992, 1995 (Record)
Gulf Club Champions Cup (2/3) 1986, 1998 1987, 1992, 2000 (Record)

Others

Interfederations competition Titles Runners-up
Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup (King of Saudi Arabia Cup) (1/0) 2001[13]
Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup (President of Egypt Cup) (0/1) 2018

Recent seasons

The table below chronicles the achievements of Al Hilal in various competitions since 1999.

Key

Champions Runners-up 3rd Place, 4th Place or Losing semi-finalists
Season Division Pld W D L GF GA Pts Pos King Cup Crown Prince Cup Competition Result Competition Result
League AFC Competitions Other
1999–2000 Premier League 22 11 6 5 39 19 39 5th Not held W Asian Club Championship
W


W

RU

W
2000–01 Premier League 22 14 5 3 36 16 44 4th SF
W

QF
Federation Cup


QS
W

W

W
2001–02 Premier League 22 14 7 1 54 17 49 1st R16 Asian Cup Winners Cup
W

RU

SF
2002–03 Premier League 22 11 8 3 28 18 41 5th W
RU

QF

QS
3rd
2003–04 Premier League 22 12 4 6 40 18 40 4th SF AFC Champions League QS
RU

4th
2004–05 Premier League 22 13 6 3 41 21 45 1st W
W

3rd
2005–06 Premier League 22 13 5 4 41 21 44 2nd W AFC Champions League QS Federation Cup
W
2006–07 Premier League 22 17 2 3 38 15 53 2nd SF AFC Champions League QF
QS
QS
2007–08 Premier League 22 14 6 2 36 13 48 1st SF W
RU

SF
2008–09 Pro League 22 15 5 2 41 9 50 2nd SF W AFC Champions League R16 Federation Cup
SF
2009–10 Pro League 22 18 2 2 56 18 56 1st RU W AFC Champions League
SF
Federation Cup
RU
2010–11 Pro League 26 19 7 0 52 18 64 1st SF W AFC Champions League R16
2011–12 Pro League 26 18 6 2 58 22 60 3rd SF W AFC Champions League QF
2012–13 Pro League 26 17 5 4 62 26 56 2nd QF W AFC Champions League R16
2013–14 Pro League 26 20 3 3 60 24 63 2nd QF RU AFC Champions League
RU
2014–15 Pro League 26 16 6 4 46 17 54 3rd W RU AFC Champions League
SF
2015–16 Pro League 26 17 4 5 52 23 55 2nd SF W AFC Champions League R16 Saudi Super Cup
W
2016–17 Pro League 26 21 3 2 63 16 66 1st W SF AFC Champions League
RU
Saudi Super Cup
RU
2017–18 Pro League 26 16 8 2 47 23 56 1st R16 Cancelled AFC Champions League GS
2018–19 Pro League 30 21 6 3 66 33 69 2nd SF Not held AFC Champions League
W
Saudi Super Cup

W

RU

4th
2019–20 Pro League 30 22 6 2 74 26 72 1st W Not held AFC Champions League GS

References

  1. "Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium".
  2. "IFFHS – Asia's Club of the Century". Archived from the original on 18 March 2013.
  3. "The story of Al Hilal Foundation". Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  4. "Al Hilal, by royal approval".
  5. Cohen, Kate (2 November 2014). "Western Sydney Wanderers win Asian Champions League title". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  6. List of association football teams to have won four or more trophies in one season#Six titles in a season
  7. "Al Hilal vs Al Ittihad - Saudi Arabia Pro League Head to Head (H2H) Statistics and Match Preview". soccerpunter.com. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  8. "التاريخ يرجح كفة الهلال.. والنصر يتفوق بـ"النهائيات"". Al Arabiya. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  9. "Western Sydney Wanderers facing football in the kingdom". The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  10. "Presidents – Al Hilal Saudi Club: The Official Website". alhilal.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  11. "Saudi Arabia – List of Cup Winners". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  12. FIFA.com. "Live Scores - Clubs: Al Hilalclub_hint=Al Hilal - FIFA". FIFA. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  13. not official by Saudi FA nor Egyptian FA
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