Saudi Arabia national football team


The Saudi Arabia national football team represents Saudi Arabia in men's international football and The team's colours are green and white. Saudi Arabia are known as Al-Suqour and Al-Akhdhar, The team represents both FIFA and Asian Football Confederation.
Considered one of Asia's most successful national teams, Saudi Arabia have won the Asian Cup three times, reached a joint record six Asian Cup finals and have qualified for the World Cup on five occasions since debuting at the 1994 tournament.
In the 1994 World Cup under the leadership of Jorge Solari, Saudi Arabia beat both Belgium and Morocco in the group stage before falling to Sweden in the Round of 16. Thus Saudi Arabia became the second Arab national football team in history to reach the Round of 16 in a World Cup, after Morocco's Round of 16 elimination in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and one of the few Asian national football teams to accomplish such a feat to date.

History

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 June 27, 1951 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 Jeddah. On August 2, 1951, His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal organized a third friendly with the Egyptian team against a Saudi National XI 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 on April 1953. 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 October 18, 1957. The first game played at the stadium was between the national teams of Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Abdulmajeed Kayal scored for the Saudis while Levon Altonian netted for the home side. The Saudi players came from teams from Jeddah and Mecca, while the team was given support and encouragement from Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal for their trip to Beirut.
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, which they won. They subsequently became one of Asia's most successful national teams, reaching the next four consecutive Asian Cup finals and winning two of them. They have qualified for every Asian Cup since, but their best performance in that period was reaching the final in 2007.
Saudi Arabia qualified for their first FIFA World Cup in 1994. Under the leadership of Jorge Solari and with talents like Saeed Al-Owairan and Sami Al-Jaber, reinforced by national veteran Majed Abdullah as team captain, Saudi Arabia beat both Belgium and Morocco in the group stage before falling to Sweden in the Round of 16. Saudi Arabia qualified for the next three World Cups, but did not win a group stage match in any of them. They failed to qualify for the 2010 and 2014 tournaments.
Saudi Arabia secured qualification for the 2018 tournament, ahead of Australia. However, they started on a sour note by letting host Russia rout them 0–5 on the opening match, making this the second largest victory of any host nation at the FIFA World Cup. The record of the host's largest opening victory is still by Italy, beating the United States 7–1, in 1934. Once again, Saudi Arabia failed to reach the next round, after suffering another defeat, this time, losing 0–1 to Uruguay. Saudi Arabia's performance in the tournament was deemed to be their worst performance since 2002 World Cup, where they were beaten 8-0 by Germany in their opening game and finished 32nd and bottom in the final rankings. Although they were eliminated, they managed to salvage some pride by winning their final group stage match against Red Sea neighbours Egypt.
After the 2018 World Cup, Saudi Arabia participated in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup with a very high optimism after an acceptable performance in the World Cup, with the Saudis won its first World Cup game since 1994 edition. However, Saudi Arabia finished second in the group stage, after falling to Qatar in the final game, and had to face another giant, Japan, in the round of sixteen. The Saudis dominated the whole game, but ultimately lost 0–1 due to poor finishing and crashed out from the competition.
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. The game ended in a scoreless draw.

Honours

International

The Saudi Arabia national football team's first kit are traditionally white and the second kit are green.

Kit suppliers

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

AFC Asian Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup

Arabian Gulf Cup record

Asian Games

Arab Nations Cup

Pan Arab Games

West Asian Football Federation Championship record

All Time Results

The following table shows Saudi Arabia's all-time international record, correct as of 25 June 2018.
AgainstPlayedWonDrawnLost
Total631303140179978671

The following is a list of match results from the previous 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2019

2020

Players

Current squad

The following players have also been called up to the Saudi Arabia squad within the last 12 months.
Updated 29 July 2019.
ManagerFromTo
Abdul-Rahman Fawzi19571961
Ali Chaouach19671969
George Skinner19701970
Mohammed Sheita19701972
Taha Ismail19721974
Abdo Saleh El Wahsh19741974
Ferenc Puskás19751975
Bill McGarry19761977
Ronnie Allen19781978
Danny Allison19781978
David Woodfield19791979
Rubens Minelli19801980
Mario Zagallo19811984
Khalil Ibrahim Al-Zayani19841986
Castilho19861986
Osvaldo19871987
Carlos Galletti19881988
Omar Borras19881988
Carlos Alberto Parreira19881990
Metin Türel19901990
Claudinho Garcia19901992
Veloso19921992
Nélson Rosa19921992
Candinho19931993
Leo Beenhakker19931994
Mohammed Al-Kharashy19941994
Ivo Wortmann19941994
Jorge Solari19941994
Mohammed Al-Kharashy19951995
Zé Mário19951996
Nelo Vingada19961997
Otto Pfister19981998
Carlos Alberto Parreira19981998
Mohammed Al-KharashyJune 1998June 1998
Otto Pfister1999Feb 1999
Milan MáčalaMay 19992000
Nasser Al-Johar20002000
Slobodan SantracAug 2001Aug 2001
Nasser Al-JoharAug 2001July 2002
Gerard van der LemAug 2002Aug 2004
Martin Koopman20022002
Nasser Al-JoharSep 2004Nov 2004
Gabriel CalderonNov 2004Dec 2005
Marcos Paqueta20062007
Helio dos AnjosMarch 2007June 2008
Nasser Al-JoharJune 2008February 2009
José PeseiroFebruary 2009January 2011
Nasser Al-JoharJanuary 2011February 2011
Rogério LourençoJune 2011July 2011
Frank RijkaardAugust 2011January 2013
Juan Ramón López CaroJanuary 2013December 2014
Cosmin OlăroiuDecember 2014January 2015
Faisal Al BadenMarch 2015August 2015
Bert van MarwijkSeptember 2015September 2017
Edgardo BauzaSeptember 2017November 2017
Juan Antonio PizziNovember 2017January 2019
Youssef AnbarMarch 2019August 2019
Hervé RenardAugust 2019

Records

#PlayerCapsGoalsCareer
1Mohamed Al-Deayea17801993–2006
2Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi16331990–2001
3Sami Al-Jaber156461992–2006
4Abdullah Zubromawi14231993–2002
5Osama Hawsawi13872006–2018
5Hussein Abdulghani13851996–2018
7Taisir Al-Jassim134192004–2018
8Saud Kariri13372001–2015
9Mohamed Abd Al-Jawad12171981–1994
10Mohammad Al-Shalhoub118192000–2018

#PlayerGoalsCapsCareer
1Majed Abdullah711161978–1994
2Sami Al-Jaber461561992–2006
3Yasser Al-Qahtani421122002–2013
4Obeid Al-Dosari41941994–2002
5Talal Al-Meshal32601998–2006
6Khaled Al-Muwallid281141988–1998
6Mohammad Al-Sahlawi28422010–
8Fahad Al-Mehallel26871992–1999
8Hamzah Idris26661992–2000
9Saeed Al-Owairan24751992–1998
9Ibrahim Al-Shahrani24861997–2005

Titles