Al-Hilal FC

Al-Hilal

Full name	Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club
Nickname(s)	Al-Za'eem (The Boss), Mooj Al-Azraq (The Blue Wave)
Founded	16 October 1957 (1957-10-16)
Ground	King Fahd Stadium
Ground Capacity	68,752 [1]
President	Mohammad Al-Homaidani
Manager	Giorgos Donis
League	Saudi Premier League
2013–14	Saudi Premier League, 2nd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club (Arabic: نادي الهلال‎; The Crescent), also known simply as Al-Hilal, is a Saudi Arabian professional football team based in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. It plays at the Saudi Premier League and holds 51 official titles. Founded in 1957, it has obtained a record of 40 domestic titles as well as a record 6 trophies in various Asian championships, and a record 7 Arab championships.^[2]

The club's nicknames are "The Boss" and "The Blue Waves". The IFFHS ranked Al-Hilal as the Asian Club of the 20th Century.^[3]

Among the club's most famous players were Yousuf Al-Thunayan and Sami Al-Jaber of the Saudi Arabian national football team, and goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Deayea. The club's current manager is Giorgos Donis and is captained by Yasser Al-Qahtani.

History

Al-Hilal Club was originally known as the Olympic Club during its founding by Abdul Rahman Bin Saeed on 16 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 ten times and finished runners-up on 11 occasions in the space of 32 years. Al-Hilal also have six King's Cup, eight Crown Prince Cup and seven 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 Asian Club Championship, which they recaptured eight years later. 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-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] In the second leg, held at the King Fahd Stadium, only 14 Western Sydney Wanderers fans were provided with travel visas, for a match in which there was 65,000 Al-Hilal spectators present.^[7][8][9] During the match, laser pointers were shone into the eyes of Western Sydney players and a fight broke out between the two teams.^[10][11]

Stadiums

Al-Hilal plays their home games at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. The stadium was constructed in 1987 with a capacity of 67,000 people. The club's reserve team stadium, Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, was used in 2011–12 when King Fahd Stadium was under renovation.

Rivalries

Al-Hilal has long-standing rival with Al-Ittihad. From the start of national competition the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival cities: Riyadh and Jeddah. After the success of Al Hilal in Asia when they won two AFC Champions League in years 1991 and 1999, Al Ittihad has won it for two times in a row, in 2004 and 2005.

Al-Hilal won the clasico for 59 times, while Al-Ittihad won it 50 times and two sides drew 34 times. The biggest win is for Al-Hilal when they defeated Al-Ittihad 5–0 in 2009–10 season.

Finance and sponsorship

Sponsorship

Mobily is the main sponsor of Al-Hilal, and as part of the sponsorship deal, their logo is displayed on the front of the club's shirts and a plethora of other merchandise. The Mobily deal was announced by the club's 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).

If the team wins any trophy, they will get SAR 3 million for each one (USD 800,000). Al-Hilal will get 60% of any other sponsor that want to sponsor the team, with Mobily's agreement, 20% of football match tickets sold, 50% of Mobily Al-Hilal txt message service profit. Al-Hilal will get SAR 10 million if the number of subscribers in Mobily's Al-Hilal service reaches 200,000 and another 10 million if they reach 400,000 subscribers. Al-Hilal will get 10% of each mobile package sold under the Al-Hilal name (such as blue wave package) and 40% of the club membership fees. The minimum net income from Mobily deal is SAR 75 million per year (USD 20 million/year).

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

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.

Honours

Domestic

• Saudi Premier League

Winners (13): 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 (Record)

Runners-up (12): 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14

(* First ever winners)

• Saudi Crown Prince Cup

Winners (12): 1963–64, 1994–95, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 (Record)

Runners-up (3): 1998–99, 2013–14, 2014–15

• Saudi Federation Cup

Winners (7): 1986–87, 1989–90, 1992–93, 1995–96, 1999–00, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2013–14 (Record)

Runners-up (6): 1985–86, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2007-08, 2009–10, 2011–12

• King Cup of Champions ^{[12] [13]}

Winners (6): 1961, 1964, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1989

Runners-up (7): 1963, 1968, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1987, 2010

• Saudi Founder's Cup

Winners (1): 2000 (Record)

Asian

• AFC Champions League

Winners (2): 1991, 2000

Runners-up (3): 1986, 1987, 2014

• Asian Cup Winners Cup

Winners (2): 1997, 2002 (Record)

• Asian Super Cup

Winners (2): 1997, 2000 (Record)

Runners-up (1): 2002

Regional

• GCC Champions League

Winners (2): 1986, 1998

Runners-up (3): 1987, 1992, 2000

• Arab Champions League

Winners (2): 1994, 1995

Runners-up (1): 1989

• Arab Cup Winners' Cup

Winners (1): 2000

• Arab Super Cup

Winners (1): 2001

Runners-up (2): 1992, 1995

Others

• Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup

Winners (1): 2001

Recent seasons

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

Year	Division	Position	Crown Prince Cup	King Cup	ACL
1999–00	Premier League	5th	Champion	Not held	Champion
2000–01	Premier League	3rd	Semi-Final	Quarter-Final
2001–02	Premier League	1st	Round of 16	–
2002–03	Premier League	5th	Champion	Group Stage
2003–04	Premier League	4th	Semi-Final	Group Stage
2004–05	Premier League	1st	Champion	–
2005–06	Premier League	2nd	Champion	Group Stage
2006–07	Premier League	2nd	Semi-Final	Quarter-Final
2007–08	Premier League	1st	Champion	Semi-Final	–
2008–09	Pro League	2nd	Champion	Semi-Final	Round of 16
2009–10	Pro League	1st	Champion	Runners-up	Semi-Final
2010–11	Pro League	1st	Champion	Semi-Final	Round of 16
2011–12	Pro League	3rd	Champion	Semi-Final	Quarter-Final
2012–13	Pro League	2nd	Champion	Quarter-Final	Round of 16
2013–14	Pro League	2nd	Runners-up	Quarter-Final	Runners-up
2014–15	Pro League		Runners-up

Players

First-team squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Khalid Sharhili 22 GK Fahad Al Thunayan 28 GK Abdullah Al-Sudairy 32 GK Fayz Al-Sabiay 2 DF Sultan Al-Bishi 3 DF Yahya Al-Musalem 4 DF Abdullah Al-Zori 12 DF Yasser Al-Shahrani 17 DF Abdullah Al Hafith 23 DF Kwak Tae-Hwi 26 DF Digão 33 DF Sultan Al-Deayea 35 DF Ahmed Sharahily 49 DF Abdulla Al-Shamekh 70 DF Mohammed Jahfali 6 MF Mohammed Al-Qarni 7 MF Thiago Neves

No. Position Player 9 MF Hamad Al-Hamad 10 MF Mohammad Al-Shalhoub 11 MF Abdullaziz Al-Dosari 13 MF Salman Al-Faraj 14 MF Saud Kariri (vice captain) 18 MF Abdullah Otayf 24 MF Nawaf Al Abed 25 MF Faisel Darwish 29 MF Salem Al-Dossari 36 MF Abdulla Al-Ammar 39 MF Abdulellah Al-Fadhl 58 MF Abdulmajeed Al-Sawat 15 FW Nasser Al-Shamrani 16 FW Yousef Al-Salem 19 FW Khaled Al-Kaebi 20 FW Yasser Al-Qahtani (captain) 77 FW Georgios Samaras (on loan from West Bromwich Albion)

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player 8 MF Mihai Pintilii (at Pandurii Târgu Jiu until 30 June 2015) — GK Mohamed Al-Waked (at Al-Shoalah until 30 June 2015) — DF Mohamed Al-Buraik (at Al Raed until 30 June 2015)

Reserve squad

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

No. Position Player GK Nawaf Al Muwallad GK Naif Al-Wail GK Mohammed Al-Otibi DF Fahad Ghazi DF Nawaf Al-Za'aqi DF Abdulaziz Al-Rokban DF Munif Al-Hazmi DF Mohammed Al-Baqaawi DF Nawaf Al-Grni MF Abdulkarim Al-Qahtani

No. Position Player MF Abdulaziz Al-Sherid MF Husain Al-Qahtani MF Mohammed Al-Hamdani MF Ibrahim Soufiani MF Abdullah Al-Jowai MF Mohammed A-Shorimi MF Ryan Al-Qarni FW Ahmed Al-Bargi FW Fahad Al-Ali

Personnel

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Giorgos Donis
Assistant Coach	Makis Angelinas
Second Assistant	Miodrag Medan
Fitness Coach	Grigoris Georgitsas
Goalkeeping Coach	Panagiotis Maliaritsis
Doctor	Jean-Marcel Ferret
Director of Football	Fahad Al-Mofarrej

Management

Position	Name
President	Mohammad Al-Homaidani
Secretary General	Sami Abu Khudair
Treasurer	Thamer Al-Tasan

Award winners

Asian Footballer of the Year

• Nawaf Al Temyat (2000)
• Yasser Al-Qahtani (2007)
• Nasser Al-Shamrani (2014)

Asia‘s best Goalkeeper of the Century by IFFHS

• Mohamed Al-Deayea (2000)

Arabian Footballer of the Year

• Sami Al-Jaber (2001)

See also

• 2009–10 Al-Hilal season

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al-Hilal.

External links

• Official website (Arabic)(English)
• AlHilal deal with Mobily

Al-Hilal related articles Al-Hilal FC – current squad 1 Sharahili 2 Al-Bishi 3 Al-Musalem 4 Al-Zori 5 Al-Ghanam 6 Al-Qarni 7 Neves 9 Al-Hamad 10 Al-Shalhoub 11 A. Al-Dosari 12 Al-Shahrani 13 Al-Faraj 14 Kariri 15 Al-Shamrani 16 Al-Salem 17 Al-Hafith 18 Otayf 20 Al-Qahtani 23 Kwak 24 Al-Abed 26 Digão 28 Al-Sudairy 29 Al-Dossari 30 Al-Sabiay Manager: Panait Al-Hilal FC – managers Sultan (1957–60) Jobarat (1960) Salem (1960–76) Smith (1976–78) Amaral (1978) Zagallo (1978–79) Filho (1981–82) Kubala (1982–86) Noagira (1986) Minelli (1986–87) Borrás (1987–88) Candinho (1988–89) Carlos (1989) Santana (1989–90) Tavares (1990–91) Cedinho (1991–92) Lazaroni (1992–93) Bernardi (1993) Baptist (1993–94) Lopes (1994) Bernardi (1994–95) Lazaroni (1995) van Hanegem (1995–96) Joubert (1996) Mirko Jozić (1996–97) Ferreira (1997) Bernardi (1997) Balaci (1997–98) Hollmann (1998–99) Al-Zayani (1999) Sandri (1999) Iordănescu (1999–2000) Balaci (2000–01) Sušić (2001) Jorge (2001–02) Maturana (2002) Balaci (2002–03) de Mos (2003–04) Al-Ajlani (2004) Bernardi (2004) Paquetá (2004–05) Cerezo (2005–06) Candinho (2006) Peseiro (2006–07) Paquetá (2007) Olăroiu (2007–09) Leekens (2009) Gerets (2009–10) Calderon (2010–11) Doll (2011–12) Hašek (2012) Kombouaré (2012–13) Dalić (2013) Al-Jaber (2013–14) Reghecampf (2014–15) Donis (2015–) Al-Hilal FC matches Crown Prince Cup Finals 1961 1963 1964 1968 1977 1980 1981 1984 1985 1987 1989 1995 1999 2000 2003 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Federation Cup Finals 1986 1987 1990 1993 1996 2000 2002 2004 2005 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 King Cup of Champions Finals 2010 Founder's Cup Finals 2000 AFC Champions League Finals 1986 1987 1991 2000 2014 Asian Cup Winner's Cup Finals 1997 2002 Asian Super Cup 1997 2000 2002 Other matches Saudi El Clasico GCC Champions League UAFA Club Cup Arab Cup Winners' Cup Arab Super Cup Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup

Saudi Professional League   Saudi Professional League clubs Current member clubs Ahli Jeddah Al-Faisaly Al-Fateh Al-Hilal Al-Khaleej Al-Nassr Al-Orobah Al-Raed Al-Taawon Al-Shabab Al-Shoalah Ittihad Jeddah Najran SC Hajer Former member clubs Abha Al-Arabi Al-Ansar Al-Nahda Al-Riyadh Al-Hazm Al Jabalain Al Kawkab Al-Najma Al Ohud Al Qadsiyah Al Rouda Al-Ta'ee Al-Wahda Al-Watani Ettifaq Sadous   Saudi Professional League seasons 1970s 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980s 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990s 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000s 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010s 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14

Football in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian Football Federation National teams Men's U-23 U-20 U-17 Women's League competitions Professional League First Division Second Division Cup competitions King Cup of Champions Crown Prince Cup Saudi Super Cup Prince Faisal Cup Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup (Defunct) Other Venues Clubs List of clubs and league structure List of venues

Asian Club Championship and AFC Champions League Asian Champion Club Tournament era, 1967–1971 Seasons 1967 1969 1970 1971 Finals 1967 1969 1970 1971 Asian Club Championship era, 1985–86–2002 Seasons 1985–86 1986 1987 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Finals 1967 1969 1970 1971 1986 1986 1987 1989 1990 1991 1991 1993 1994 1995 1995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Champions League era, 2002–present Seasons 2002–03 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Finals 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014   Other merges with the Champions League Asian Cup Winners' Cup, 1990–2002 Seasons 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Asian Super Cup, 1995–2002 Seasons 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 History Finals Records and statistics Winning managers

Asian Club Championship and AFC Champions League winners Asian Champion Club Tournament 1967: Hapoel Tel Aviv 1969: Maccabi Tel Aviv 1970: Taj 1971: Maccabi Tel Aviv Asian Club Championship 1985–86: Daewoo Royals 1986: Furukawa Electric 1987: Yomiuri 1988–89: Al-Sadd 1989–90: Liaoning 1990–91: Esteghlal 1991: Al-Hilal 1992–93: PAS Tehran 1993–94: Thai Farmers Bank 1994–95: Thai Farmers Bank 1995: Ilhwa Chunma 1996–97: Pohang Steelers 1997–98: Pohang Steelers 1998–99: Júbilo Iwata 1999–2000: Al-Hilal 2000–01: Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2001–02: Suwon Samsung Bluewings AFC Champions League 2002–03: Al-Ain 2004: Al-Ittihad 2005: Al-Ittihad 2006: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2007: Urawa Red Diamonds 2008: Gamba Osaka 2009: Pohang Steelers 2010: Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 2011: Al-Sadd 2012: Ulsan Hyundai 2013: Guangzhou Evergrande 2014: Western Sydney Wanderers

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International club football FIFA FIFA Club World Cup List of association football clubs Africa CAF – Champions League Confederation Cup Super Cup Top-division clubs Asia AFC – Champions League AFC Cup Top-division clubs Europe UEFA – Champions League Europa League Super Cup Top-division clubs North America, Central America and the Caribbean CONCACAF – Champions League Top-division clubs Oceania OFC – Champions League President's Cup Top-division clubs South America CONMEBOL – Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana Recopa Sudamericana Top-division clubs See also: International women's club football

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