Saudi Arabia national football team

The idea of a Saudi national team first came about in 1951, when a Saudi XI team consisting of players from Al-Wehda and Al-Ahli took part in a friendly game against the Egyptian Ministry of Health on 27 June at the Al-Saban Stadium in Jeddah. The following day, the Egyptians took on a Saudi team made up of players from Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal in Al-Bahri in the same city. On 2 August, His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal organized a third friendly with the Egyptian team against Saudi Arabia with players from Al-Wehda, and Al-Ahli. By then, the idea of a national select team to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was already in full flow, and in 1953 the first-ever Saudi team traveled to play friendly matches abroad. The same year, a Saudi team traveled to Damascus to play friendly matches as part of then-Crown Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz's visit to the country in April.[6]

In 1957, the Saudi national team took part in their first international tournament at the 2nd Pan-Arab Games in Beirut, where King Saud was invited to attend the opening ceremony and the inauguration of the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium with Lebanese President Camille Chamoun on 18 October. Abdulmajeed Kayal scored for the Saudis while Levon Altonian netted for the home side.[7]

Though their football federation was established in 1956, the Saudi Arabia national team did not participate in a tournament until they qualified for the AFC Asian Cup in 1984, becoming Asian champions for the first time.[8] Since then, they reached the next four consecutive Asian Cup finals, winning two of them (1988 and 1996).[9][10] They have qualified for every AFC Asian Cup since, reaching the final in the 2007 edition.[11]

Saudi Arabia qualified for their first FIFA World Cup in 1994 under the leadership of Argentine manager Jorge Solari and talents like Saeed Al-Owairan and Sami Al-Jaber, reinforced by national veteran Majed Abdullah as team captain. Wins against Belgium and Morocco in the group stage led to a match-up against Sweden in the round of 16, a 3–1 loss.[12] Saudi Arabia qualified for the next three World Cups, but failed to win a match in any of them; in 1998, the team suffered an agonizing group stage elimination for the first time after only a draw was achieved, which occured against South Africa. The team placed last in 2002 without scoring a goal, while conceding 12, including eight against Germany, the most humiliating World Cup performance ever by an Asian team since 1954, and the team did no better in 2006 after winning only a single point against Arab rival Tunisia, and also squandered a 2–1 lead in the last minutes before losing to Ukraine.[13]

After the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia suffered even further setbacks. The Saudis failed to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in agonizing playoffs that saw them again squandered their 2–1 lead to a 2–2 draw to neighbor Bahrain.[14] In the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the Saudis went on to have their worst-ever Asian Cup performance in history, losing all three games in a shocking style to Syria, Jordan and Japan.[15] Later on, Saudi Arabia failed to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, failing in the third round to Australia and Oman. This embarrassing record kept following the Saudis into the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, as the Saudis suffered another group stage exit, this time losing to China and Uzbekistan. They only won against North Korea.

Saudi Arabia secured qualification for the 2018 World Cup, their first in 12 years,[16] ahead of Australia. In the opening match, Saudi Arabia were crushed by hosts Russia 5–0,[17] making this the second largest victory of any host.[18] Saudi Arabia then lost 1–0 to a Luis Suárez goal that put Uruguay as the eventual group winners.[19] Although they were already eliminated,[20] Saudi Arabia managed to salvage some pride by winning their final group stage match against Red Sea neighbours Egypt.[21]

After the 2018 World Cup, Saudi Arabia participated in the 2019 Asian Cup, held in the United Arab Emirates; the team finished second in the group stage, after falling to Qatar in the final game,[22] leading to a showdown against Japan in the round of 16. The Saudis dominated the whole game, but ultimately lost 1–0 due to poor finishing.[23]

On 15 October 2019, Saudi Arabia played its first-ever game with Palestine in the West Bank; the game marked a change in policy for Saudi Arabia, which has previously played matches against the Palestinian team in third-party countries. The visit was condemned by some Palestinian activists, who considered the game as a start of normalizing the relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but it was viewed by the Palestinian National Authority as a support for their sovereignty over the West Bank.[24] The game ended in a scoreless draw.[25]

Saudi Arabia qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the first to be held in the Middle East, by topping their qualifying group and were drawn against Argentina, Poland and Mexico.[26] In their opening game, they defeated Argentina 2–1 within the first five minutes of second half with goals from Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari, ending an Argentine unbeaten streak of 36 games dating back to 2019. The Saudi King declared a holiday after the win and Saudi fans celebrated with mocking words against Lionel Messi and the Argentine team.[27][28] They then lost their next match against Poland, 2–0. Piotr Zieliński broke Saudi hearts with a goal in the 39th minute and Robert Lewandowski scored his first World Cup goal; between these two goals also included a devastatingly missed opportunity on the penalty by the hero against Argentina, Salem Al-Dawsari as the Saudis could not capitalise from their domination.[29] This required a win against Mexico to advance to the Round of 16 regardless of the Argentina–Poland result. Fielding three strikers in front, Saudi Arabia however were unable to exert any domination over the energetic Mexican side, conceding two devastating early second half goals by Henry Martín and Luis Chávez, the second being a thunderous midfield free kick; late consolation by Salem Al-Dawsari only salvaged some little pride left as the Saudis fell 2–1 and were eliminated at the bottom of the table to end their most impressive yet bitter World Cup performance since 1994.[30]

Saudi Arabia, under new manager Roberto Mancini, entered the 2023 AFC Asian Cup with a sense of bitter pride from their 2022 FIFA World Cup performance, finding itself in Group F with Oman, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand. The Saudis started their campaign with a 2–1 comeback win over their rivalling neighbour Oman, where Abdulrahman Ghareeb scored from a solo before a late Ali Al-Bulaihi's header sealed the dramatic win.[31] The Saudis completed their group with a 2–0 win over Kyrgyzstan, where the Saudis were dominant from the beginning to the end and had two men advantage but only scored by goalkeeping mistakes.[32] The Saudis rested most of their best players as they held Thailand in a goalless draw to advance on top of the table, putting the Saudis against fellow Asian titan South Korea in the last sixteen.[33] Against South Korea, Abdullah Radif opened the scoring at the first minute of the second half, but failed to hold the score because of a late Cho Gue-sung's header; subsequently, the game reached the penalty shootout, where the Saudis could not hold the nerve and lost 4–2 on penalties and were eliminated.[34]

Notes

The following 31 players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification games against  Pakistan and  Jordan on 6 and 11 June 2024.[45]

Caps and goals are correct as of 11 June 2024, after the match against  Jordan, as recognized by SAFF.

The following players have also been called up to the Saudi Arabia squad within the last 12 months.

*Denotes draws and includes knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

• FIFA Confederations Cup:
  • Runner-up: (1) 1992
  • Fourth Place: (1) 1999
• Afro-Asian Cup of Nations:
  • Runner-up: (2) 1985, 1997

• AFC Asian Cup:
  • Winner (3) : 1984, 1988, 1996
  • Runner-up: (3) 1992, 2000, 2007
• Asian Games
  • Silver Medalists: 1986
  • Bronze Medalists: 1982

• Arabian Gulf Cup:
  • Winner: (3) 1994, 2002, 2003–04
  • Runner-up: (7) 1972, 1974, 1998, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2019
  • Third Place (8) : 1970, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2007

• Arab Cup:
  • Winner: (2) 1998, 2002
  • Runner-up: (1) 1992
  • Third Place (1) : 1985
  • Fourth Place (1) : 2012

• Arab Games

• • Silver Medalists: 1976
  • Bronze Medalists: 2007

• Islamic Solidarity Games
  • Gold Medalists: 2005