Al Hilal SFC
| AL HILAL FC LOGO | |||
| Full name | Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 16 October 1957 | ||
| Ground | King Fahd Stadium King Saud University Stadium[1] | ||
| Capacity | 67,000 25,000 | ||
| President | Mohammed bin Faisal[2] | ||
| Manager | Jorge Jesus | ||
| League | Professional League | ||
| 2017–18 | Professional League, 1st | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
|
| |||
Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club is a Saudi Arabian professional multi-sports club based in Riyadh. The football team plays in the Saudi Professional League.
Founded on 16 October 1957, it is one of four teams to have participated in all seasons of the Saudi Professional League since its establishment in 1976. Overall, they have won 58 official titles on the national and international stage, more than any other Saudi club. In domestic competitions, they have won 45 trophies: a record 15 Professional League titles, a record 13 Crown Prince Cup titles, a record 7 Federation Cup titles, 8 King Cup titles, 2 Super Cup title, and the title winner of Saudi Founder's Cup (a centennial football tournament held every 100 years).
Internationally, Al-Hilal have a record 6 Asian Football Confederation trophies – the AFC Champions League in 1991 and 2000, 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.[3]
History
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 Bin Abdul-Aziz. He changed the name after he attended a tournament that was contested between the Olympic Club, Al-Shabab, Al-Riyadh and El-Kawkab clubs. As soon as the club's establishment, Al-Hilal enjoyed not only grassroots support but also royal attention.[4]
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 12 times and finished runners-up on 12 occasions in the space of 32 years. Al-Hilal also have seven King's Cup, twelve Crown Prince Cup and eight Saudi Federation Cup titles.[5]
With the success, a number of players and coaches from outside Saudi Arabia joined the club in the 1970s, including Brazilians Mario Zagallo and Roberto Rivelino.
In 1991, they won the first Asian title, Asian Club Championship. They won it again in 1999–2000. In 1997 they captured the Asian Cup Winners Cup and the Asian Super Cup of that year, which they lifted again in 2002. The last time they got their hands on a continental trophy was in 2002, when they won the Asian Cup Winners' Cup.
Al Hilal is the only Asian team which achieves six Asian titles.
Al Hilal reached the final of the AFC Champions League in 2014, where they faced Western Sydney Wanderers. The Australian club won 1–0 on aggregate.[6]
Stadiums
Al-Hilal currently plays their home games at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh and rarely at King Fahd International Stadium a 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 owner of the club in 2008, there was some serious idea of making Al-Hilal home avenue but it was shortly declined. Later on, King Saud University had their new spectacular stadium offered for an annual contract and Al-Hilal was the club with the best offer.
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. After the success of Al Hilal in Asia when they won two Asian Club Championship in years 1991 and 1999–2000, 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 ties 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-Nassr 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 September 18, 2014.[citation needed]
| 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– | Kingdom Holding Company / Volkswagen / ABDUL SAMAD Al QURASHI / Sun & Sand Sports / Jawwy from STC / APSCO Mobil 1 |
Membership
Like most professional teams all over the world, Al-Hilal and Mobily have introduced a membership card (Hilali) for fans to connect with their club. Fans are now able to join the Hilal membership scheme for the clubs starting 2012–13 season onwards. Hilali membership benefits includes VIP tickets to all Al-Hilal home and away matches, using the club facilities, meeting with players monthly and discounts at Al-Hilal Mobily stores.
Al-Hilal stores
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Al-Hilal has a chain of luxury retail stores that sell the club's products. The first branch opened on 1 February 2011 on the most expensive commercial street in Riyadh at a cost of SAR 15 million (USD 4 million). It was the first store from any Saudi club, and the biggest club store in the Middle East. In the first week of opening, sales surpassed SAR 1 million (USD 266,000). Mobily plans to cover the kingdom's main cities with seven branches by the end of 2012. Khobar's branch has opened on 5 January 2012, which Jeddah branch opened on 5 April 2012. The stores offer thousands of high quality products including clothes, accessories, children toys and many other products.
The stores' profits currently go to Mobily only. After the investment cost is covered they will share the profit with the club.
Television match broadcasting rights
Al-Hilal receives SR 4.5 million per year (USD 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 (USD 38 million). This increase in expenses is due to the high level foreign and national players the club signed with such as Thiago Neves, Mirel Rădoi, Christian Wilhelmsson, Osama Hawsawi, Youssef El-Arabi 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
[10]As of 19 January 2017:
First team squad
Other players under contract
|
Out on loan
|
Personnel
Coaching staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Jorge Jesus |
| Assistant Coach | Raul José |
| Assistant Coach | Miguel Quaresma |
| Fitness Coach | Mário Monteiro |
| Training Control | Márcio Sampaio |
| Technical Assistant | Gil Henriques |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Daniel Zdranca |
| Doctor | Aamar Mehdan |
| B team manager | Rodolfo Miguens |
| Director of Football | Fahed Al-Mofarij |
Management
| President | Mohammed Bin Faisal |
| 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 FC presidents and chairmen from its foundation in 1957.[11]
| 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 Abdul-Aziz Al Saud
|
1976 | 1978 | 1 |
| Abdullah Bin Nasser
|
1978 | 1982 | 2 |
| Hazloul bin Abdul-Aziz 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 | Present | × |
Honours
The club holds 58 official titles.
Domestic
- Winners (15) – record: 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
- Runners-up (13): 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
- Winners (8): 1961, 1964, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1989, 2015, 2017
- Runners-up (7): 1963, 1968, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1987, 2010
- Winners (13) – record: 1963–64, 1994–95, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16
- Runners-up (4): 1956–57, 1998–99, 2013–14, 2014–15
- Winners (7) – record: 1986–87, 1989–90, 1992–93, 1995–96, 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2005–06
- Runners-up (3): 1985–86, 2001–02, 2003–04
- Winners (1): 2000
Asian
Worldwide
- Runners-up (1): 1992
Regional
- Winners (1): 2000
Friendly
Recent seasons
The table below chronicles the achievements of Al-Hilal in various competitions since 1999.
Key
|
|
| Champions | Runners-up | 3rd Place or Losing semi-finalists |
| Season | Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | King Cup | Crown Prince Cup | Competition | Result | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | AFC Competitions | Other | |||||||||||||
| 1999–00 | 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 |
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 |
QS 3rd
| |||
| 2003–04 | Premier League | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 18 | 40 | 4th | SF | AFC Champions League | QS | RU | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 | — | — |
Award winners
Nawaf Al Temyat (2000)- Yasser Al-Qahtani (2007)
- Nasser Al-Shamrani (2014)
Omar Khribin (2017)
- Asia's best Goalkeeper of the Century by IFFHS
- Mohamed Al-Deayea (2000)
- Arabian Footballer of the Year
- Sami Al-Jaber (2001)
Asian clubs ranking
- As of 12 August 2018.[15]
| Current Rank | Country | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Jeonbuk FC |
| 2 |  |
Al-Duhail |
| 3 | |
Al-Ahli |
| 4 | |
Al Hilal |
| 5 |  |
Persepolis |
| 6 |  |
Al-Ain |
References
- ^ "King Saud University Stadium".
- ^ "The first comment of "Sami Al Jaber" after the presidency of the Saudi Crescent - TECH2".
- ^ "IFFHS – Asia's Club of the Century". Archived from the original on 18 March 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "The story of Al Hilal Foundation".
- ^ "Al Hilal, by royal approval".
- ^ Cohen, Kate (2 November 2014). "Western Sydney Wanderers win Asian Champions League title". theguardian.com. theguardian.com. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
- ^ "Al Hilal vs Al Ittihad - Saudi Arabia Pro League Head to Head (H2H) Statistics and Match Preview - SoccerPunter.com". www.soccerpunter.com. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
- ^ "التاريخ يرجح كفة الهلال.. والنصر يتفوق بـ"النهائيات"". alarabiya.net. Alarabiya. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ "Western Sydney Wanderers facing football in the kingdom". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ "Saudi Pro League Statistics 2017/2018".
- ^ "Presidents - Al Hilal Saudi Club : The Official Website". alhilal.com. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia - List of Cup Winners". rsssf.com. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ FIFA.com. "Live Scores - Clubs: Al Hilalclub_hint=Al Hilal - FIFA.com". fifa.com. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ not official by Saudi FA nor Egyptian FA
- ^ "Asia Football / Soccer Clubs Ranking". FootballDatabase.
External links
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