Najran SC

Najran SC

Full name	Najran Sport Club
Nickname(s)	Mared Al-Janoub (Giant of the South)
Founded	23 June 1980 (1980-06-23)
Ground	Prince Hathloul bin Abdulaziz Sports City Najran, Saudi Arabia
Capacity	10,000
Chairman	Saleh Al Haidar
Manager	Moncef Mcharek
League	Second Division
2022–23	First Division, 16th of 18 (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

Najran Sport Club (Arabic: نادي نجران الرياضي) is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Najran Province, that competes in the Saudi Second Division.

Najran SC achieved promotion to the Saudi Premier League by finishing 2nd in the Saudi First Division during the 2006–07 season.

The beginning

Najran Club is a new club compared to other Saudi clubs. The idea of establishing the club was first born in 1980 when a group of Najranis raised a request to the Youth Welfare office expressing their desire in establishing a club that carried the name of their city. Efforts were harnessed to achieve this quest that was just an idea till the approval of the general president of the Youth Welfare at that time, his royal highness prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdulaziz was issued. Accordingly, the founders of the club held a meeting to form and elect the first board of directors.

Achievements

The Najran team was able to reach the final match of the prince Faisal Bin Fahad cup 2005–06 for the first division.

The Najran team was finally able to qualify to the Saudi Premier League in the 2007–08 season.

They were able to reach the final four in the 2009–10 Saudi Crown Prince Cup after defeating some of the strongest teams in Saudi football such as Al-Ittihad, but lost to Al-Hilal 1–2 after an impressive display.

Current squad

As of 21 June 2023:

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	KSA	Ahmed Al-Awwad
2	DF	KSA	Saud Al-Bawardi
3	DF	KSA	Hussein Hawsawi
7	FW	KSA	Saleh Al Jomhoor
8	MF	CIV	Alfa Diané
9	FW	BEN	Marcellin Koukpo
10	MF	ANG	Aneel Bakaki
11	MF	KSA	Mohammed Al Zubarah
12	DF	GHA	Samuel Sarfo
13	DF	KSA	Ali Al-Makrami
14	FW	KSA	Faisal Al Abbas
16	GK	KSA	Hamad Hawsawi
20	FW	KSA	Ali Hajjas
24	MF	KSA	Ali Al-Shaikhi

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
25	MF	KSA	Bakhit Al Faraj
26	MF	KSA	Bandar Al-Ahmari
27	FW	KSA	Motaz Gharwi
28	MF	KSA	Abdulkareem Maghrabi
29	MF	KSA	Rawaf Mutair
33	GK	KSA	Saleh Al Faraj
35	MF	KSA	Mansour Hashel
44	MF	KSA	Ibrahim Al Aqeel
70	DF	KSA	Awadh Al-Faqieh
77	MF	KSA	Anas Al-Hajori
78	DF	KSA	Mohammed Al Hatrash
80	MF	KSA	Mohammed Al-Sakrani
99	FW	KSA	Faisal Al-Samrani
—	MF	KSA	Rihan Hamsal

Managers

• Mourad Okbi (August 1, 2002 – April 30, 2004)
• Rashed ben Ammar (September 25, 2004 – May 30, 2005)
• Fathi Al-Jabal (August 7, 2005 – March 12, 2007)
• Yahya Khuraim (caretaker) (March 12, 2007 – March 23, 2007)
• Samir Sellimi (March 23, 2007 – May 30, 2007)
• Lotfi Benzarti (May 28, 2007 – December 21, 2007)
• Ivica Todorov (December 23, 2007 – May 1, 2008)
• Costică Ștefănescu (July 1, 2008 – December 21, 2008)
• Mokhtar Tlili (January 9, 2009 – May 1, 2009)
• Marcelo Zuleta (July 22, 2009 – October 6, 2009)
• Samir Jouili (October 6, 2009 – January 11, 2010)
• Mourad Okbi (January 11, 2010 – October 30, 2010)
• José Rachão (October 30, 2010 – June 30, 2011)
• Gjoko Hadžievski (July 1, 2011 – May 6, 2012)
• Miodrag Ješić (May 31, 2012 – January 2, 2013)
• Khemais Labidi (January 6, 2013 – March 1, 2013)
• Al Hasan Al-Yami (caretaker) (March 1, 2013 – March 6, 2013)
• Gjoko Hadžievski (March 6, 2013 – January 9, 2014)
• Nizar Mahrous (January 10, 2014 – June 1, 2014)
• Denis Lavagne (June 8, 2014 – August 24, 2014)
• Marc Brys (August 25, 2014 – September 24, 2014)
• Abdelhay Laatiri (caretaker) (September 24, 2014 – October 8, 2014)
• Fouad Bouali (October 8, 2014 – May 19, 2015)
• Fathi Al-Jabal (June 27, 2015 – December 17, 2015)
• Al Hasan Al-Yami (caretaker) (December 17, 2015 – December 28, 2015)
• Hélio dos Anjos (December 28, 2015 – May 23, 2016)
• Ahmed Hafez (July 15, 2016 – September 25, 2016)
• Mohammed Al-Ayari (September 25, 2016 – February 8, 2018)
• Adel Latrach (February 9, 2018 – March 23, 2018)
• Ramzy El Morsy (March 23, 2018 – May 4, 2018)
• Hamood Al-Saiari (May 8, 2018 – May 31, 2018)
• Zvezdan Milošević (June 13, 2018 – September 21, 2018)
• Ramzy El Morsy (caretaker) (September 21, 2018 – October 3, 2018)
• Habib Ben Romdhane (October 3, 2018 – June 1, 2019)
• Heron Ferreira (June 22, 2019 – November 8, 2019)
• Ramzy El Morsy (caretaker) (November 8, 2019 – November 14, 2019)
• Chokri Khatoui (November 14, 2019 – June 23, 2020)
• Abdullah Al Haidar (June 23, 2020 – September 21, 2020)
• Paulo Gomes (October 18, 2020 – February 5, 2021)
• Bandar Basraih (February 5, 2021 – June 1, 2021)
• Saïd Saïbi (June 21, 2021 – October 21, 2021)
• Abdullah Al Haidar (caretaker) (October 21, 2021 – November 5, 2021)
• Afouène Gharbi (November 6, 2021 – September 19, 2022)
• Laurent Hagist (September 22, 2022 – February 3, 2023)
• Gjoko Hadžievski (February 3, 2023 – May 31, 2023)
• Moncef Mcharek (June 18, 2023 – December 3, 2023)
• Abdelwahab Elharaby (December 3, 2023 – )

See also

• List of football clubs in Saudi Arabia

External links

• Official website (in Arabic) (archived)