Saudi Arabia national football team

The Saudi Arabia national football team (in Arabic: لكرة القدم‎‎) is the country's representative team in official competitions. It is organized by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, which belongs to the AFC.

It can be said that it is one of the strongest teams in Asia, since it has won the Asian Cup three times. His country had organized the first FIFA Confederations Cup in 1992. They became runners-up, losing to Argentina. Its best international performance was in the 1994 Soccer World Cup when it qualified for the round of 16, being until now the only Asian Arab country to reach that stage and along with Morocco and Algeria, among the Arabs in general. But in subsequent editions they only had a disappointing performance, falling in the first round as in the 2002 Soccer World Cup, in their opening match they lost 0-8 with Germany, being the beginning of what ultimately was the last place in the World Cup. World Cup, without scoring a single goal.

During the qualifiers for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, they faced Bahrain in the play-offs, having tied the first match 0-0, the pass to play against New Zealand was defined in the last match between both teams. In the 90th minute the game was tied 1-1, 1 minute later Hamad Al-Montashari's goal would place him in the play-off against New Zealand but only 2 minutes later, in the 90th minute +3 Abdullatif of the Bahrain team would make it 2-2 and would benefit from the away goal rule and in this way Saudi Arabia does not obtain the pass for the play-off against the first of the OFC.

In the 2022 Soccer World Cup, in its first game of the group stage, it had the most important victory in its history, by unexpectedly beating the Argentina team (which was undefeated in 36 matches and which later she would be the champion of that Cup) by 2-1. Despite the good start, they did not overcome this phase after losing to Poland and Mexico.

History

Their first international match was played on October 20, 1957 against Syria, in a match that ended 3-1 for Saudi Arabia. But despite this, he did not manage to participate in the continental cup until 1984.

In the 1984 Asian Cup they participated for the first time in the sporting event, and to everyone's surprise, they were champions after beating China 2-0 in the final.

Four years later they would win the Asian Cup again. After overcoming the first round as leader of group B, then in the semifinals they defeated Iran 1-0 and in the final they defeated South Korea 5-4 on penalties, after a 0-0 draw.

During 1993 he managed to qualify for the World Cup in the United States. It should be noted that they had been runners-up in the 1992 Asian Cup and in 1993 they achieved their biggest win until 2015, an 8-0 against Macau. Once in the World Cup they managed to get through the first round after a 1-2 defeat against the Netherlands, beat Morocco 2-1 and then beat Belgium 1-0. In the round of 16 they were eliminated after a 1-3 defeat against Sweden.

Two years later, in 1996, they would once again be champions of the Asian Cup, defeating the United Arab Emirates 4-2 on penalties in the final, after a 0-0 draw.

Being champions of Asia, they qualified for the 1998 Soccer World Cup where they failed to advance after losing to Denmark and France and tying with South Africa. With the frustration of the quick elimination, Saudi Arabia once again qualified for the 2000 Asian Cup where they finished runners-up after losing to Japan by a narrow margin.

Saudi Arabia manages to qualify again for the 2002 Soccer World Cup where they are again in the first round after losing 8-0 against Germany, narrowly against Cameroon and with Ireland, losing all three of their games. The Arabs once again qualified for the 2004 Asian Cup where they performed poorly, losing to Uzbekistan and Iraq and drawing against Turkmenistan.

Already accustomed to being in the first stage, they qualified again for the 2006 Soccer World Cup only to finish last in the group by tying against Tunisia, losing badly against Ukraine 4-0 and ending up losing to Spain for the minimum. Since then, the Arabs were not able to qualify for a World Cup until they qualified for the 2018 Soccer World Cup.

Over the next few years, the sons of the desert qualified for all the remaining Asian Cups and finished runners-up in 2007, losing surprisingly narrowly to Iraq. And they stayed in the first round in the 2011 and 2015 editions.

Brazil 2014 Qualifiers

Saudi Arabia was drawn into group D, along with Australia, Oman, and Thailand.

On the first date they faced Oman, who tied without goals. Already on the second date, they lost 1-3 against Australia, with 2 goals from Joshua Kennedy and Luke Wilkshire from a penalty for Australia, while Nasser Al Shamrani scored the only goal for the country of Saudi Arabia. On the third date, they drew again without goals, this time against Thailand. On the fourth date they faced Thailand again, and this time they won, and by a 3-0 win. The goals were scored by Naif Hazazi, Ahmed Al Fraidi, and Mohammed Noor, from a penalty. It is worth noting that the Thai player, Theeratorn Bunmathan. On the fifth round, they tied again 0-0 with Oman. On the sixth and last date they lost 4-2 against Australia, a double from Alex Brosque, and goals from Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton for the Australian team, and Salem Al Dawsari and Nasser Al Shamrani scored for Saudi Arabia.

Asian Cup 2015

In this edition of the Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia was paired in group B along with China, North Korea and Uzbekistan. In their first match, they would lose 1-0 against China. They would then obtain a 4-1 victory against North Korea, although Saudi Arabia then had to beat Uzbekistan to qualify for the quarterfinals. The Uzbek team ended up winning 3-1, knocking Saudi Arabia out of the cup in the first round.

Qualification for the 2018 Russia World Cup

The Saudis were drawn in Group A of the second round of the 2018 AFC World Cup Qualifiers with the United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Malaysia and East Timor. Saudi Arabia won 6 matches, including a 10-0 win over East Timor, their best result in an international match, and drew 2 matches.

In the second round of qualifying they were paired in group B with Japan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Thailand. They won six games, tied one and lost three, finishing second in the group, qualifying for a World Cup for the first time since 2006.

Asian Cup 2019

In the Asian Cup edition, the green falcons were second in group E along with Qatar, Lebanon and North Korea. In their first match, they would win by a 4-0 victory over North Korea. On the second date, they would defeat Lebanon 1-0 and on their last date they would lose to Qatar 2-0. In the round of 16, they lost to Japan with a goal from Takehiro Tomiyasu, which meant the end of coach Juan Antonio Pizzi's era.

2022 Soccer World Cup

He played in the 2022 Soccer World Cup held in Qatar in which he shared Group C with the Argentine National Team, the Mexican National Team and the Polish National Soccer Team where he achieved a historic 2-1 victory against Argentina, cutting thus a streak of 36 games that the albiceleste team had without knowing defeat. King Salmán decreed a holiday for this event the day after the match to celebrate the victory. However, the two subsequent consecutive defeats against the Polish and Mexican teams left them with no chance of accessing the next round, being eliminated.

Uniform

1957

(See Evolution)

2023-act.

Statistics

Soccer World Cup

World Cup Soccer
Year	Round	J	G	E	P	GF	GC
1930	There was no selection
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958	No.
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978	He didn't qualify.
1982
1986
1990
1994	Final Octavos	4	2	0	2	5	6
1998	Group phase	3	0	1	2	2	7
2002	Group phase	3	0	0	3	0	12
2006	Group phase	3	0	1	2	2	7
2010	He didn't qualify.
2014
2018	Group phase	3	1	0	2	2	7
2022	Group phase	3	1	0	2	3	5
2026	To dispute
Total	6/22	19	4	2	13	14	44

FIFA Confederations Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup
Year	Round	J	G	E	P	GF	GC
1992	Subfield	2	1	0	1	4	3
1995	Group phase	2	0	0	2	0	4
1997	Group phase	3	1	0	2	1	8
1999	Fourth place	5	1	1	3	8	16
2001 - 2017	He didn't qualify.
Total	4/10	12	3	1	8	13	31

Asian Cup

Asian Cup
Year	Round	J	G	E	P	GF	GC
1956	There was no selection
1960 - 1972	No.
1976	Withdrawal
1980
1984	Champion	6	3	3	0	7	3
1988	Champion	6	3	3	0	5	1
1992	Subfield	5	2	2	1	8	3
1996	Champion	6	3	2	1	11	6
2000	Subfield	6	3	1	2	11	8
2004	Group phase	3	0	1	2	3	5
2007	Subfield	6	4	1	1	12	6
2011	Group phase	3	0	0	3	1	8
2015	Group phase	3	1	0	2	5	5
2019	Final Octavos	4	2	0	2	6	3
2023	Classified
Total	11/18	48	21	13	14	69	48

Afro-Asian Nations Cup

African-Asian Nations Cup
Year	Round	J	G	E	P	GF	GC
1985 - 1995	He didn't qualify.
1997	Subfield	2	0	1	1	0	1
2007	He didn't qualify.
Total	1/7	2	0	1	1	0	1

Regional tournaments

WAFF Championship

WAFF Championship
Year	Round	J	G	E	P	GF	GC
2000 - 2010	Group phase	2	1	0	1	2	3
2012	Group phase	3	1	1	1	1	1
2014	Group phase	2	0	1	1	1	4
2019	Group phase	3	0	1	2	1	5
2023	Classified
Total	3/10	8	1	3	4	3	10

Arab Nations Cup

Arab Nations Cup
Year	Round	J	G	E	P	GF	GC
1963	No.
1964
1966
1985	Third place	4	2	1	1	7	3
1988	Group phase	4	0	2	2	1	4
1992	Subfield	4	2	1	1	7	5
1998	Champion	4	4	0	0	12	3
2002	Champion	6	5	1	0	11	3
2012	Fourth place	4	1	1	2	6	5
FIFA Arab Cup
2021	Group phase	3	1	0	2	1	3
Total	7/10	29	15	6	8	45	26

Palmarés

• Asian Cup (3): 1984, 1988, 1996
• Arab Nations Cup (2): 1998, 2002
• Gulf Nations Cup (3)1994-2002

Players

Last call

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Apa.	Goles	Club
1	1BY	Mohammed Al Rubaie	14 August 1997 (26 years)	7	0	Al-Ahli
21	1BY	Mohammed Al-Owais	10 October 1991 (31 years)	42	0	Al-Hilal
22	1BY	Nawaf Al-Aqidi	10 May 2000 (23 years)	0	0	Al-Nassr
2	2DEF	Sultan Al-Ghannam	6 May 1994 (29 years)	24	0	Al-Nassr
3	2DEF	Abdullah Madu	15 July 1993 (30 years)	15	0	Al-Nassr
4	2DEF	Abdulelah Al-Amri	15 January 1997 (26 years)	20	1	Al-Nassr
5	2DEF	Ali Al-Bulaihi	21 November 1989 (33 years)	37	0	Al-Hilal
6	2DEF	Mohammed Al-Breik	15 September 1992 (31 years)	40	1	Al-Hilal
12	2DEF	Saud Abdulhamid	18 July 1999 (24 years)	23	1	Al-Hilal
13	2DEF	Yasser Al-Shahrani	25 May 1992 (31 years)	72	2	Al-Hilal
17	2DEF	Hassan Tambakti	9 February 1999 (24 years)	19	0	Al-Shabab
7	3MED	Salman Al-Faraj	1 August 1989 (34 years)	70	8	Al-Hilal
8	3MED	Abdulellah Al-Malki	11 October 1994 (28 years)	27	0	Al-Hilal
10	3MED	Salem Al-Dawsari	19 August 1991 (32 years)	71	17	Al-Hilal
14	3MED	Abdullah Otayf	3 August 1992 (31 years)	45	1	Al-Hilal
15	3MED	Ali Al-Hassan	4 March 1997 (26 years)	13	1	Al-Nassr
16	3MED	Sami Al-Najei	7 February 1997 (26 years)	17	2	Al-Nassr
18	3MED	Nawaf Al-Abed	26 January 1990 (33 years)	55	8	Al-Shabab
19	3MED	Hattan Bahebri	16 July 1992 (31 years)	41	4	Al-Shabab
20	3MED	Abdulrahman Al-Aboud	1 June 1995 (28 years)	3	0	Al-Ittihad
23	3MED	Mohamed Kanno	22 September 1994 (29 years)	38	1	Al-Hilal
24	3MED	Nasser Al-Dawsari	19 December 1998 (24 years)	10	0	Al-Hilal
26	3MED	Riyadh Sharahili	28 April 1993 (30 years)	5	0	Abha
9	4OF THE	Firas Al-Buraikan	14 May 2000 (23 years)	27	6	Al-Fateh
11	4OF THE	Saleh Al-Shehri	1 November 1993 (29 years)	20	10	Al-Hilal
25	4OF THE	Haitham Asiri	25 March 2001 (22 years)	8	1	Al-Ahli

Latest matches and upcoming matches

• Updated to the last game played on September 12, 2023.

Date	City	Local	Outcome	Visitor	Competition
22-11-2022	Lusail	ArgentinaARG	1:2	KSASaudi Arabia	FIFA World Cup 2022
26-11-2022	Rayán	Saudi ArabiaKSA	0:2	POLPoland	FIFA World Cup 2022
30-11-2022	Lusail	Saudi ArabiaKSA	1:2	MEXMexico	FIFA World Cup 2022
06-01-2023	Basra	Saudi ArabiaKSA	2:0	YEMYemen	Gulf Cup 2023
09-01-2023	Basra	IraqIRQ	2:0	KSASaudi Arabia	Gulf Cup 2023
12-01-2023	Basra	Saudi ArabiaKSA	1:2	OmanOman	Gulf Cup 2023
24-03-2023	Yeda	Saudi ArabiaKSA	1:2	VENVenezuela	Friendly Party
28-03-2023	Yeda	Saudi ArabiaKSA	1:2	BOLBolivia	Friendly Party
08-09-2023	Newcastle	Saudi ArabiaKSA	1:3	CRCCosta Rica	Friendly Party
12-09-2023	Newcastle	Saudi ArabiaKSA	0:1	KORSouth Korea	Friendly Party
13-10-2023	Portimão	Saudi ArabiaKSA	-:	NGANigeria	Friendly Party
17-10-2023	Portimão	Saudi ArabiaKSA	-:	MLIMali	Friendly Party
16-11-2023	TBD	Saudi ArabiaKSA	-:		World Cup 2026
21-11-2023	Aman	JordanJOR	-:	KSASaudi Arabia	World Cup 2026
16-01-2024	Rayán	Saudi ArabiaKSA	-:	OmanOman	Asian Cup 2024
21-01-2024	Jor	Saudi ArabiaKSA	-:	KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan	Asian Cup 2024
25-01-2024	Rayán	Saudi ArabiaKSA	-:	THAThailand	Asian Cup 2024

Records

Updated on December 8, 2019

More Appearances

More Goals

Top scorers in tournaments

Soccer World Cup

Year	Shots	Year	Shots
1994	Fuad Amin (2)	1998	Al Jaber and Al-Thunayan (1)
2006	Al Qahtani and Al Jaber (1)	2018	Al-Faraj and Al-Dawsari (1)
2022	Al-Shehri and Al-Dawsari (1)

Confederations Cup

Year	Shots	Year	Shots
1992	Owairan, Al Bishi, Al Tunian and Al Mullawhid	1997	Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi (1)
1999	Marchuq Al-Otaibi (6)

Asian Cup

Year	Shots	Year	Shots
1984	Najed Abdullah (2)	1988	Al-Mutlaq, Al-Suwaiyed, Jazea'a, Al-Bishi and Abdullah (1)
1992	Fahad Al-Bishi (3)	1996	Fahad Al-Mehallel (4)
2000	Al-Shalhoub and Al-Tamyat (3)	2004	Yasser Al-Qahtani (2)
2007	Yasser Al-Qahtani (4)	2011	Taiseer Al Jassam (1)
2015	Mohammed Al-Sahlawi (3)	2019	Fahad Al-Muwallad (2)

Coaches

Coach	From	Till
Abdul-Rahman Fawzi	1957	1962
Ali Chaouach	1962	1970
Mohammed Sheita	1970	1972
Taha Ismail	1972	1974
Abdo Saleh Washash	1974	1974
Ferenc Puskás	1975	1975
Bill McGarry	1976	1977
Danny Allison	1978	1978
David Wallit	1979	1979
Rubens Minelli (internal)	1980	1980
Mário Zagallo	1981	1984
Khalil Ibrahim Al-Zayani	1984	1986
Kosia Tastilo	1986	1986
Osvaldo Brandao	1987	1987
Carlos Galletti	1988	1988
Omar Borrás	1988	1988
Carlos Alberto Parreira	1988	1990
Metin Türel	1990	1990
Caldinho García	1992	1992
Speed	1992	1992
Candinho	1993	1993
Leo Beenhakker	1993	1994
Mohammed Al-Kharashy	1994	1994
Ivo Wortmann	1994	1994
Jorge Solari	1994	1994
Mohammed Al-Kharashy	1995	1995
Zé Mario	1995	1996
Nelo Vingada	1996	1997
Hansel Waldem	1996	1997
Otto Pfister	1998	1998
Carlos Alberto Parreira	1998	1998
Mohammed Al-Kharashy	June 1998	December 1998
Otto Pfister	January 1999	May 1999
Milan Máčala	May 1999	2000
Nasser Al Johar (internal)	2000	2000
Slobodan Santrac	2001	2001
Nasser Al Johar	August 2001	July 2002
Gerard van der Lem	August 2002	June 2004
Martin Koopman (internal)	July 2004	August 2004
Nasser Al Johar (internal)	September 2004	November 2004
Gabriel Calderón	November 2004	December 2005
Marcos Paquetá	2006	2007
Helio dos Anjos	March 2007	June 2008
Nasser Al Johar	June 2008	February 2009
José peseiro	February 2009	June 2011
Nasser Al Johar	January 2011	February 2011
Rogério Lourenço	June 2011	July 2011
Frank Rijkaard	August 2011	January 2013
Cosmin Olăroiu (internal)	December 2014	January 2015
Faisal Al Baden	March 2015	August 2015
Bert van Marwijk	August 2015	September 2017
Edgardo Bauza	September 2017	November 2017
Krunoslav Jurcic (internal)	November 2017	December 2017
Juan Antonio Pizzi	December 2017	January 2019
Youssef Anbar	March 2019	July 2019
Hervé Renard	July 2019	March 2023
Saad Al-Shehri (internal)	January 2023	August 2023
Roberto Mancini	August 2023	present

Predecessor: KUWKuwait KSASaudi Arabia JPNJapan

Asian Champions Singapore 1984 Qatar 1988 United Arab Emirates 1996

Successor: KSASaudi Arabia JPNJapan JPNJapan