Posts Tagged ‘Saudi Pro League’

Al Ittihad v Al Hilal, Saturday 22nd February 2025, 9.15pm

March 3, 2025

Foundation Day is a public holiday in the KSA and meant a three-day weekend. I took the opportunity to fly down to Jeddah for the top of the table clash between leaders Al Ittihad and second-placed visitors Al Hilal. The fixture is apparently known as the ‘Saudi Clasico’. Al Hilal is undeniably the most successful Saudi club, whilst Al Ittihad’s claim to ‘top-two’ status probably relies more on their crowds than trophies.

On matchday morning I took a stroll along the seafront. It was a popular way to spend Foundation Day and families were out in force, bathing, sitting on the sand or, like me, simply going for a walk. One couple had brought a parrot in a cage out with them. Hopefully for its conversational skills.

Others had hired boats from the Marina and were cruising back and forward, invariably with a large green Saudi flag flying. Those people who didn’t want to leave their air-conditioned cars went up and down the coast road to the Corniche area. A lot of those cars sported large flags too with many of them being waved by a small kid stood on the back seat and with his or her torso sticking out of the sunroof.

My hotel, which was the closest one that I could find to the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, was about an hour’s walk from the ground. I’d picked it so that if I struggled to get a taxi after the game, I’d be able to get back regardless. The match didn’t kick off until 9.15pm, but with little else to occupy my time I set off for the ground early in the evening.

However, with the stadium in sight, I realised that there wasn’t a walking route other than along a three-lane flyover without a pavement. I retraced my steps to a place where an Uber would be able to find me and booked a ride.

I’d bought my ticket around a month ahead of the game from Viagogo. It had cost me fifty quid, but I hadn’t wanted to risk general sale, particularly if it also involved registering Al Ittihad’s ticket app.

The area outside the stadium was busy, despite me being two hours early. I was searched on the way in and the steward was keen to confiscate my notebook. He called his boss over, no doubt hoping for some Brownie points, only for his boss to tell him not to be a dick. When he grudgingly returned the book, I should have asked him his name and wrote it down. Next time.

I had a wander around the concourse area and a young lad came over for a chat. He looked to be around eleven years old and told me that he had lived in Lancaster for seven years. It was great to hear a Saudi kid speak with a Northern English accent.

Once in my seat, I was able to watch a horse race on the big screen. The Boro should do that. Or maybe show one of the early kick-off games. It’s something that I’d like to see at tournaments such as the Euros and the World Cup. It gets people to the stadiums early which would minimise the queues and would likely increase food and drink sales.

Immediately prior to kick-off the home fans held up plastic sheeting in club colours. Both sides had large displays behind the goals that covered almost all of the fans in those sections. It was a passionate atmosphere, worthy of the ‘clasico’ label and if anyone doubted the sincerity of the support in this part of the world, it showed that Saudi fans, or at least those Saudi fans, are as committed to their team as any other supporters elsewhere.

Initial pressure came from Al Hilal and they took the lead midway through the first half. Al Ittihad hit back though and went in at the break two-one up.

A third goal early in second half put the home side well in control and when it looked like they’d added a fourth the fella to my left cleared off in the belief the points were in the bag. A VAR intervention saw the effort chalked off and it took a cool finish from Benzema five minutes from time to finally kill off any thoughts of an away comeback.

I was lucky enough to flag down a taxi after the game, but the traffic management roadblocks meant that we still had the ground in sight half an hour after setting off. I eventually got back to my hotel close to midnight, for what will likely be my final Saudi game for a while. It was a decent occasion to bow out on.

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Al-Shabab v Al Nassr, Friday 18th October 2024, 9pm

November 29, 2024

My taxi from the Kingdom Arena dropped me outside of Al Shabab Club Stadium with twenty minutes to go to kick-off. I’d already bought my ticket online for forty riyals, which is around eight quid.

I was welcomed by just about everyone who caught my eye. Maybe I stand out as an elderly Brit. I was also asked at least twice if I was there ‘to watch Ronaldo’. Truth is, I’ve little interest in him. If anything, his presence just makes it harder for me to get tickets and clogs the pavement up with people who might only go to a game once or twice a year.

Al Shabab Club Stadium is nominally forty years old, but it was just about fully re-built a couple of years ago. The new version holds fifteen thousand, but even with Ronaldo making an appearance, the capacity wasn’t tested.

My seat was along the side, about level with the edge of the penalty area. We were all given a large plastic flag to wave and some of us also received a goody bag containing stickers and a badge. I gave mine to the very polite small kid behind me who I suspected might have appreciated them more than I would.

Al Nassr had a few hundred fans behind the goal to my left and probably a fair number dotted around the rest of the stadium. Their season has got off to a poor start, albeit unbeaten, but too many drawn games has seen them slip behind leaders Al-Hilal. Al-Shabab were still in touch at the top end, but realistically wouldn’t be challenging for the title.

For those with an interest in how Ronaldo got on, he was ok. Just ok. He didn’t move around much and left the pressing to others whilst trying to ignore the frequent and tiresome chants of ‘Messi, Messi’.

Nothing of note happened until twenty minutes from time when Laporte put Al-Nassr a goal up. The visitors thought that they had added a second six minutes from time, but with the home fans streaming out it was chalked off by a VAR check, causing a lot of those Al-Shabab fans to make an about-turn and head back to their seats.

Their return appeared justified on ninety minutes when an own goal levelled the score. It wasn’t to last though and Al-Nassr were awarded a penalty seven minutes into added time. Bizarrely, there were chants of ‘Ronaldo’ from many of the fans around me who to all intents had previously appeared to be supporting the home side.

Ronaldo made no mistake from the spot to move one nearer to his target of a thousand goals. You’d think that would have been it, but with twelve minutes of added time elapsed a VAR penalty was awarded to Al-Shabab for a challenge that had taken place a good two minutes earlier. With the home fans holding their breath, their penalty came back off the post and was hoofed away with the final kick of the game. I’m glad I didn’t leave early.

On the way out I struck up a conversation with a teenage Shabab fan. He was bemoaning the lack of investment in his team and the unfairness of only having seen his club win one league title. I pointed out that in fifty years of watching the Boro, I’d never seen my club win the top division and that even if I’d been a hundred years older it would have been no different.

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Al-Shabab v Al-Fayah, Thursday 9th March 2023, 8.30pm

March 21, 2023

There’s a couple of weeks to go before Ramadan starts and the decorations are already up in the hotel that I’m staying in. I’m curious as to whether there’s an acceptable date for putting up decorations and whether most people adhere to it. I’m also hoping to find out if some people feel Ramadany, in the way that some people in the UK feel more Christmassy than others.

The walk to the ground was busy with people, some going to the match, others just embracing the start of the weekend. Lots of families were picnicking outside of the park and their kids were running around in the way that small kids do. One of them was dragging a kite behind him. It had the shape and print of a bird of prey, hopefully an actual kite. When the kid got it airborne it caused one of the feral cats that lives in the area to freeze, unsure of whether it should pounce or was about to be pounced upon.

Al-Fayah were the team that I’d seen a month or so ago beating Al-Hilal here in some cup competition. I remembered them primarily because of their orange-clad fans. They hadn’t brought as many with them this time but those that did turn up kept up a constant racket, reminding me of a bunch of Hare Krishnas.

This game was in the league and of greater importance to Al-Shabab who were third in the table than Al-Fayah sitting in eighth place and with little to play for. Most eyes were on the first v second game in Jeddah between Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad and I suspect that many Al-Shabab fans would have hoped for a draw in that fixture. Some people may have stayed home to watch it as it looked like there were fewer than two thousand spectators in the ground.

Al-Shabab opened the scoring a quarter of an hour in and added two more before half-time. At that stage it looked like game over. A kid behind me attracted my attention by shouting “Inglesi, Inglesi” at me. I’m not sure how he’d worked out my nationality from the back of my head but he proudly told me that he was from Yemen, whilst his little mate was a Saudi. Whilst we were chatting Al-Fayah pulled one back with an own goal to go in at the break two down.

The visitors came out for the re-start all fired up and halved the deficit within minutes, setting up a nervy second half. With ten minutes to go attention turned to Jeddah where Al-Ittihad had gone a goal up against Ronaldo’s team. I could see the action on a telly in an executive box and was half expecting VAR to find a way to chalk it off. It stood though and with Al-Shabab managing to see out this game for a three-two win, it meant they had closed the gap to one of their title rivals.

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Al-Hilal v Al Fateh, Monday 6th March 2023, 8.30pm

March 19, 2023

Al-Hilal hadn’t played a game at home for more than six weeks due to their involvement in Morocco in the World Club Championship, or whatever it’s called these days. This was swiftly followed by the latter stages of the Asian Champions League which were played on a tournament basis in Qatar. They did well in both competitions, going down to Real Madrid in the final of the first one and qualifying for the final in the second, which will take place at the back end of April.

Either the prolonged absence or the notable achievements, or more likely a combination of the two, meant that this was a much more popular occasion than usual. Tickets generally go on sale two days before the match and with routine sales of no more than  four thousand, I didn’t make it a priority. I got around to booking my seat the day before the game and by that time the main stand had sold out. I ended up buying a ticket in the smaller stand opposite, on the curve.

The ground is only around ten minute’s walk from where I’ve been staying and I decided to set off early and do a couple of laps of the adjoining park. Despite there being an hour and a half to go to kick-off, the streets were crowded and the queues were already forming at the gates. I cut my walk short and headed in with an hour still to go.

My section already had more people in it than it usually would. The stand opposite was filling up to and eventually had few empty seats. This was for a clash between the fifth and sixth placed teams in the league and whilst Al-Hilal had played three fewer games than all of their rivals, they had had an unlikely thirteen points to make up.

The attendance was eventually announced as just short of fourteen thousand, which is three and a half times busier than I’ve seen at their games so far. Sadly, it didn’t work out as planned with Al-Hilal starting off sloppily and focusing more on showboating than securing the points.

Al Fateh went in front late in the first half and clinched the points ten minutes from time, sparking a mass exodus and taking the attendance back to a more regular level. Al-Hilal notched a consolation in added time but when the final whistle went the homecoming heroes were loudly booed as they headed for the tunnel.

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Al-Nassr v Al-Batin, Friday 3rd March 2023, 8.30pm

March 15, 2023

I’m beginning to get the hang of taxis in Riyadh. Most of the drivers speak little English and my Arabic is non-existent, so I’ll suggest a destination, they will hand me their phone and I’ll enter it into google maps. Occasionally there will be a meter and even more occasionally they might turn it on.

More often than not the drivers originate from abroad, sometimes Pakistan or Afghanistan but frequently from Yemen, as was the case for my journey to Mrsool Park. Despite our lack of a common language, he rang his family back home and had me say hello and wave to them on a video call. He also stopped at a roadside vendor and got us each a bottle of water.

I’d set off early from the afternoon game I’d been at as I was mindful of the extent of the traffic last time I’d been to this stadium. The journey went well this time, perhaps partly because we approached from a different direction but mainly as I was at the ground a good hour and a half before kick-off.

I’d not had anything to eat since lunchtime and so I browsed the options on the concourse. As well as the usual burgers and hot dogs, different concessions sold cake, ice cream, popcorn, pastries, slushes and coffee. There was also a kebab place doing chicken shawarmas, which is what I went for. It was exceptionally good, way better than the ones that were sold at the World Cup.

I also got a coffee from one of the other concessions, but there’s a no drinks policy in the seats and so I had to stay down in the concourse for a while longer. The wi-fi worked fine though and I was able to keep myself occupied until nearer kick-off time.

The expectation around me was for an easy home win, which wasn’t surprising considering that Al-Nassr were top of the table with Al-Batin adrift at the bottom. It doesn’t always go to plan though and the visitors went a goal up early in the first half. The header had initially been disallowed by the ref for a push, but the decision was corrected by VAR. I say corrected, but the two fellas next to me scrutinized it on their phones and were adamant that it shouldn’t have counted.

Ronaldo could have levelled ten minutes before the break after rounding the keeper. His shot was weak though and easily cleared off the line. A-Nassr applied the pressure in the second half, but it seemed like it wouldn’t be their night. Ronaldo put a couple of free-kicks over the bar and then as the clock ran down missed with a header and then a scuffed shot.

The holding up of the board signifying an additional ten minutes finally brought the league leaders and the crowd to life and four minutes into stoppage time Al-Nassr equalized. Twelve minutes in they scrambled the winner and with Al-Batin punch-drunk, immediately added a third. Those home fans who hadn’t slunk away with ninety minutes approaching went home very happy indeed.

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Al-Hilal v Al-Adalah, Sunday 15th January 2023, 6pm

January 30, 2023

It’s great having two Saudi Pro League teams staging their fixtures at the Prince Faisel bin Fahd Stadium as less than twenty-four hours after watching Al-Shabab, I was back, in just about the same seat, for Al-Hilal’s game against Al-Adalah.

There are a lot more women and children at the Al-Hilal games and maybe that’s because it’s more likely that the whole family will come along when the tickets are thirty riyals each rather than two-hundred.

Something I have noticed at these games is that I’m the only fella with white hair. I don’t know if Arabs like to slap on some Just For Men or whether the fellas wearing the headgear are doing it to hide the grey. Maybe they just keep their old people sat quietly in the house. Whatever the reason, I haven’t yet seen anyone with a head of white hair like mine.

Al-Adalah had been given the end to my left for their fans, which was probably a little excessive given that only one fella had turned up to support them. It’s over three hundred kilometres to Al-Hasa, where they are based but I’d have thought that they must have had some fans working in the Riyadh area.

Al-Hilal started the game in fourth place, no doubt still rueing the two dropped points in their previous home game. A win would move them up to second whilst Al-Adalah are in the lower reaches of the table and not likely to be involved in anything meaningful on their own part.

I knew none of the players turning out for Al-Adalah, but I dare say that might change in time. Ighalo was missing for the hosts and as chance after chance went begging it was clear how important he was to the team.

We were an hour into the game before Al-Hilal finally went ahead from a VAR awarded penalty that was initially saved, then retaken and eventually blasted into the top corner. Al-Hilal added a second goal on the counter to make the points safe, although I’d thought that in their game against Damac on New Year’s Eve and they ballsed that one up.

Al-Adalah’s chances of a comeback faded further when they had a bloke sent off in the dying minutes for a second yellow. He got a generous round of applause as he left the pitch to the extent that he may have been a former Al-Hilal player. If so, he played his part as the home team held on to take the points and moved up to second from top.

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Al-Shabab v Al-Ittihad, Monday 9th January 2023, 9.15pm

January 24, 2023

Ten days after my first visit to the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium to watch Al-Hilal, I was back to see the other tenants, Al-Shabab, in another top-tier Saudi Pro-League fixture. This time I’d bought a ticket online in advance, but at a cost of two hundred riyals, which is around forty-four quid and almost seven times the price that Al-Hilal charge. I’ve no idea why there’s such a difference but I dare say I’ll find out before long.

There were a lot of people milling around outside, perhaps equally baffled by the pricing. My ticket was in the open area opposite where I’d been sat the previous week. The segregation policy wasn’t enforced as there were a few women and kids in my section. The opposition, Al-Ittihad, had brought a decent away following and had a section at the other end of the ground. The ground was still only a quarter or so full though, with just under six and a half thousand fans in the twenty-odd thousand capacity stadium.

There was a bit of a scuffle near me in the first half, with a couple of blokes giving each other a slap. That’s actual slaps with a flat palm to the face. It turns out that there were a few away fans in our section and they were making their allegiance obvious. I don’t know why they didn’t just sit in the empty areas near to their allocated section, rather than plonking themselves in the middle of the seats occupied by the more vocal Al-Shabab supporters. The stewards did their best but were ignored and it took the arrival of a copper to restore order and lead the slappers to an exit.

I got chatting to Ahmed, who was a supporter of Al-Hilal and Arsenal, but like me was just keen to watch a game. He seemed surprised that I only followed the Boro and that I didn’t have a Premier League side as well. I was tempted to mention that I’d been looking out for Bournemouth’s results this season in the hope that Tav was doing well in his post-Boro career, but thought that would just make me look even odder.

Al-Shabab took the lead from a penalty on twenty minutes, but Al-Ittihad equalized soon after with a scrambled effort that they seemed to be doing their best to miss. The score stayed that way and with both the teams fighting it out with Al-Hilal in the top four, Ahmed was happy to see them both drop points.

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