Al Nassr FC

Al-Nassr Football Club, better known as Al-Nassr, is a Saudi Arabian football club based in the city of Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at Mrsool Park Stadium. Its main colors are yellow and blue.

Al Nassr was established in 1955 by the Al-Ja’ba brothers. Training took place in an old playground at Gashlat Al-Shortah west of Al-Fotah Garden where there was a small football field and a small room to store balls and shirts. In addition to the Al-Ja'ba brothers, Ali and Al-Owais. Prince Abdul Rahman bin Saud Al Saud became the head of Al Nassr, he spent more than 39 years as the president for 3 stints till his death. His love of the team made him accept the challenge of being the president of a second division club and turning it to a champion and for that reason he is known as Al Nassr's Godfather. They were promoted to the first division in 1963. During the 1970s and 1980s, the club won four Saudi Premier League titles, six King's Cups, three Crown Prince Cups, and three Federation Cups. The team's success was built around the "Saudi Golden Trio" of Majed Abdullah, Fahd Al-Herafy and Mohaisn Al-Jam'aan.

Majed Ahmed Abdullah is Al Nassr's all-time leader in goals scored and appearances.

In the 1990s (year), Al Nassr managed to win two further Saudi Premier League titles in 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 season, 1990 King's Cup and 1997-1998 Federation Cup. Towards the end of Majed Abdullah's career, he still wasn't able to lift the ultimate prize in UAFA region; the Arab Club Champions Cup while the other top clubs in Saudi already succeeded in doing this. Despite that, AFC Al Nassr managed triumph in the continental tournaments. 37 Years old striker Majed Abdullah at the time managed to win two GCC Club Cups, one Asian Cup Winners' Cup and one Asian Super Cup. Majed Abdullah announced his retirement on 12 April 1998 following Al-Nassr's win in the 1998 Asian Cup Winner's Cup against Suwon Samsung Bluewings from South Korea in front of 70,000 fans in Riyadh. Majed retired at 39 years old as the all-time top scorer of the Saudi League with 189 goals and is also Al-Nassr's all-time top scorer with 260 goals. A record that was considered untouchable until the coming of Abderrazak Hamdallah

After becoming champion of Asian Super Cup, Al Nassr were eligible to represent the AFC region in the first FIFA Club World Cup Brazil 2000. In that championship Al Nassr played against Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, Real Madrid and Raja Casablanca, and finished 3rd in the group. Al Nassr won the competition's Fair Play award.

After the Golden Trio's retirement, Al Nassr's fresh squad at the time made an impressive performance during their first run in the FIFA Club World Cup. The Club then went on to sign some internationally recognized players, such as Ivory Coast's Fadel Keïta and former Barcelona Attacking Midfielder Julio César Baldivieso.

Despite the expensive signings at the time, Al Nassr failed to keep their position in the league and soon got into some major setbacks. Things got worse as the next season went by. In 2006–07, the club only managed to avoid relegation on their last day of the season, which prompted honorary members including the legendary Majed Abdullah to intervene for the club. Their plan was to begin an effective long-term plan to restructure the new management.

After a major overhaul of playing staff, Al Nassr went on to win the Federation Cup 2008 against city rivals, Al-Hilal. In the next season, Al Nassr made a record breaking transfer by signing young Al Sahlawi from Al Qadsiah in 2009 for SR32 million ($8 million) fee, breaking Yasser Al-Qahtani's record from Al Hilal from the same team as Sahlawi. Yasser record transfer are $2,5 million fee, he is also regarded as the best player in Asia defeating Nashat Akram and Younis Mahmoud whose national team clinching victory at 2007 Asian Cup.

Newly reformed Al Nassr put lots of hope on their young striker's shoulders. In his first season with Al-Nassr, Al-Sahlawi scored 21 goals in 36 matches and received the Young Player of the Year award from STC. However, the club only finished third in 2009–10. Despite that, Al Nassr were elegible to secure a place in the Asian Champions League for the following season.

Their first match in the 2011 Asia Champions League were against Pakhtakor FK, which resulted in a 2-2 draw with loaned player from Kuwaiti club Bader Al-Mutawa scoring the decisive goal and he is also part of Kuwaiti military. In the second match against Esteghlal, Al Nassr managed to secure their first 3 points by defeating them 2-1 with Hussein Abdulghani scoring. In the third match, Al Nassr saw defeat by Al Sadd with them scoring 1 goal by Lee Jung-Soo.

Once again Al Nassr are pitted against Al Sadd from Qatar with Abdulghani clutching 1 goal to force a draw result. In the fifth match however, Al Nassr secured a big victory against Pakhtakor with Saud Hamood and Sahlawi each scoring 1 goal, while the Kuwaiti soldier scored 2 goals. In the final group stage game, Al Nassr were beaten by Esteghlal 2-1 with Bader score for the club again. Al Nassr narrowly avoided elimination by getting 2nd position in their group.

In the round of sixteen however, Al Nassr's dream to win a continental competition again since the time of Majed Abdullah perished when Zob Ahan defeated Al Nassr 4-1 with Bader once again listing his name in goal chart. Shortly after the continental campaign was over, Bader choose to depart back to Kuwait to return into his club and resume military duties. In his short time in Al Nassr, he managed to make a good record by scoring 5 goals, one of the top ten highest scorers in AFC during 2011.

In 2011–12, Al Nassr saw itself in the King Cup's only to be beaten by their rival, Al Hilal 2-0 and fail to qualify for the Asia Champions League 2012. In 2012–13 season, Al Nassr coach from Colombia, Francisco Maturana aimed for the club to become the Saudi giant it once was. Once again Al Nassr were denied to become champion where in the final of the Crown Prince Cup match, Al-Hilal defeated them in a penalty shootout.

In 2013–14 season, the club coach was replaced with Jose Daniel Carreno. Al Nassr then went on a 22 game win streak without defeat and almost become the second club in Saudi to win a treble by winning against city rivals Al-Hilal in both league and Crown Prince cups. This secured their place for the 2015 AFC Champions League following the astonishing accomplishment.

The 2010s marked the growth of football in most of Asian countries both in league quality and its national team. The AFC Champions League also started to spark interest among football enthusiasts worldwide.

In the 2014–15 season, Al Nassr continued to defend their title as champions, by winning the league. However the team kept failing to get their treble after losing in the King's Cup final, as well as only reaching the Crown Prince's semi-final. Their hope of returning as champions they once were was still far under their grasp. Many fans felt let down by their club after losing in the group stage of the AFC Champions League against Bunyodkor from Uzbekistan, Al Duhail and Persepolis.

Al Sahlawi, who was 27 years old at the time was only able to score 25 goals from his 37 appearance that season. For these reasons, the coach was replaced by the former Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita. Even with the Trickster training the team, Al Nassr still failed to break through the AFC Chanpions League. After being defeated by Al Duhail and Zob Ahan, Al Nassr finally defeated their opponent in which they lost to in the previous championship Bunyodkor back to back.

The start of 2016-2017 season marked the transfers of two Croatian players into the club: Ivan Tomecak and Marin Tomasov, who were loaned to Al Nassr. Abdullah Madu, a new center-back at the time also started playing with the club. In this season however, the club only got 3rd position in Roshn Saudi League, behind their El Classico rival Al Ahli and city rival Al Hilal.

In that season Al Nassr only achieved runner up in the Crown Prince Cup again defeated by Al Hilal. They were also runner up to Al Ahli in the final of Kings Cup. Al Nassr failed to qualify for the AFC Champions League 2017 and the AFC Champions League 2018. In 2015-2016 season, Sahlawi score 10 goals in his 29 appearance. In the season 2016-2017, Sahlawi only scored 11 goals in his 27 appearance and for the next season 12 goals from 24 appearance. Sahlawi score 33 goal in span of 3 years.

Al Nassr coach Gustavo Quinteros from Bolivia, decided to sign Wingback Sultan Al Ghannam on 12 march 2018 for a free transfer from Al Faisaly. Ghannam quickly proved his talent by becoming a key player for in the defence and offence. The club also signed arguably the two best Moroccan Player's at the time, Abderrazek Hamdallah and Nordin Amrabat. Both of them joined in the Saudi Professional League on 16 July and 23 August 2018. Hamdallah once play for Aalesund FK in Norwegian League and Guangzhou R&F in Chinese League.

The nicknamed executioner proved himself to be a menace when he made his debut against Al Qadsiah FC, making two assists. In his second match, he scored his first goal for the club against Al Taawoun FC. After this, Sahlawi's position as club favourite striker began to slowly shift into Hamdallah as the former Chinese League star player adapted with his teammates. By April 2019 Hamdallah had already scored 100 league goals even though he joined in Saudi League just one year prior. The Moroccan Forward broke the record since the league became professional in 2007 and carrying his team to qualify for 2019 AFC Champions League by defeating FK AGMK Olmaliq.

In the 2019 AFC Champions League, Al Nassr managed to secure 2nd position just below Zob Ahan and advancing past the round of sixteen with Hamdallah scoring. In the quarter final, Al Nassr were defeated by Al Sadd 4-3. Hamdallah scored 4 goals in the 2019 AFC Champions League.

Despite the bad start due to a previous ankle injury, Hamadallah was able to end his first season in the Saudi Professional League as the top scorer after impressively scoring 68 goals. By this time, Hamdalllah completely replaced Sahlawi as the main striker.

In the 2018–19 Season he won the league title with his team. He scored a record of 34 goals with his teammate Nordin Amrabat. He scored in the final match against Al Batin. On 3 January 2019, Hamdallah scored his first hat-trick for the club against Al Jandal SC in Round of 64 in the 2019 King Cup.

10 days later, he scored a super hat-trick against Al Ansar FC. He scored consecutive super hat-trick's against Al-Fayha FC in the Round of 16. On 27 April 2019, Hamdallah scored a double in a 4–2 loss in the semi-final against Al Ittihad of the 2019 King Cup. By the end of 2019, Hamdallah managed to beat several stars such as Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi as the world's top scorer after reaching 57 club goals. Al Sahlawi also left the club to join Al-Shabab.

On 4 January 2020, Hamdallah scored in a 1–1 draw against Al Taawoun FC to win the 2019 Saudi Super Cup. On 30 January 2021, Hamdallah scored in a 3–0 victory against Al Hilal SFC to win the 2020 Saudi Super Cup.

Al Nassr were eligible to join the 2020 AFC Champions after winning one of the domestic cup's and the league. As the Nassrawi enter the Group Stage, Al Nassr equalize in a 2–2 draw with Al Sadd SC from Qatar, with Hamdallah scoring one of the 2 goals. In the next match against Al Ain from UAE, Hamdallah scored again. In the third match, Hamdallah scored double in a 2–0 win against Sepahan S.C and in the next consecutive match against the same team, Hamdallah scored again and gave an assist to his fullback teammate Abdullah Madu.

In the later match against Al Sadd SC, the team drew 1-1, before a loss afterwards due to opponent forward Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba single goal for Al Ain. After reaching the knockout stage in the round of sixteen, Hamdallah scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory against Al Taawoun FC and the club dance to the next stage. Al Nassr meet their old rival, Al Ahli in the quarter finals of AFC Champions league. The Riyadh and Jeddah Club's have a long history of rivalry. Al Nassr win in their El Classico after Gonzalo Nicolas Martines and Abdulfatah Asiri each score a goal with Hamdallah creating key moments for both to score.

Al Nassr however lost in the semi-finals in after a dramatic penalty shootout against Persepolis F.C. ending their dream of lifting the Asian Champions League cup. Despite that, Hamdallah managed to lift the Asian Champions League golden boot, tying with Junior Negrao with 7 goals, but winning due to having more assists. Despite this, the manager was dissatisfied with Hamdallah's performance.

Al Nassr FC officially terminated Hamdallah's contract on 23 November 2020, however Hamdallah was still allowed to play for his remaining time at club. Al Nassr went on to scout for the suitable club executioner replacement in which at the same time, many European player's who previously signed for the Chinese league were quitting due to outrageous policies for foreign players. It was seen by many other Asian Club's as a golden opportunity to snatch talented players for a cheap price.

Before joining Al Nassr, Talisca was the winner of 2019 Chinese Super League for his club Guangzhou Evergrande. The 27 Year old striker officialy joined Al Nassr on 17 May 2021 with a reported transfer fee of $9.5 Million. On 8 june 2021, Vincent Aboubakar, a player from Cameroon national team signed for Al Nassr for a reported transfer fee of $6 Million. Both of the new top players will play after the 2nd leg of the Saudi league season started.

Talisca and Vincent Aboubakar made their debut in the match against Damac FC on 13 August 2021, in which Aboubakar, Talisca and Hamdallah each scored 1 in a 4-1 victory. In the next match Talisca scored the sole goal against Al Faisaly, which further solidified Talisca's role for the club in the next matches. Hamdallah played his final match for the club in a 1–0 loss against Ettifaq FC in which Filip Kiss from Slovakia clinched the victory for his team.

Jalolidin Masharipov, who was previously loaned to Shabab Al Ahli from UAE returned to Al Nassr. The Uzbekistan national team Midfielder made his first appearance in a 0-1 victory against Al Fateh on 1 January 2022. Despite the team's best effort under the leadership of Miguel Ángel Russo, the team still don't manage to lift a single trophy in the season. For this reason the coach was replaced by Rudi Garcia.

Rudi implement a major overhaul and signed some new players, including prolific Villareal Fullback Alvaro Gonzalez Soberon, who at the time was a free agent. With a strong set of players, the coach aimed for a domestic treble, which so far only Ettifaq FC had done. Talisca scored his first hat-trick for the club in a league match, helping his side to a 4–1 away league victory against Al-Raed, and he become the League top scorer before Christiano Ronaldo's arrival.

Ronaldo (left) captaining Al Nassr in 2023

Ronaldo (left) playing for Al Nassr against Persepolis in 2023

Al Nassr supporters in a match against Al Raed

On 30 December 2022, Al Nassr signed Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese player left Manchester United by mutual agreement. Ronaldo's contract runs for two-and-a-half years until summer 2025, with a total salary of €200 million per year, thought to be the highest ever paid to a professional footballer. He made an immediate impact on the global following of the club, with their Instagram account growing from 860,000 followers before his move to over 10 million followers less than a week later.[4] Al Nassr finished in second place in the 2022–23 season.

Ronaldo's impact in Saudi Arabia helped the club sign players like Sadio Mané and Marcelo Brozović ahead of the 2023–24 season, and saw many other players like Neymar, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kanté join the league.

Arab Club Champions Cup is one of most prestigious tournaments in North Africa, East Africa and Middle East region. For a long time, players from the club were longing to lift the cup 40 years after its creation, including the club legend Majed Abdullah who, in his prime and later years, didn't have much success in doing so. Most of the winners from 2000s era were African Clubs.

On 28 July 2023, just one day after Al Nassr finished their Japan World Tour in a friendly match against Inter Milan, the Al Nassr main squad who were weary from their last match and journey faced their opponent, Al Shabab in the group stage of Arab Club Champions Cup which resulted in a draw. Al Nassr's success came later when facing US Monastir, in which Ronaldo scored a goal from a total of 4. In the final match in the group stage against Zamalek from Egypt, Ronaldo managed to equalize in the last minute securing the club their place in the next stage.

On 6 August 2023, Al Nassr faced Raja Casablanca in the first knockout game, in which they won 3–1 to reach the next round. In the semifinal on 9 August 2023, Ronaldo secured their position in the final for the first time in the championship history after scoring a penalty against Al Shorta from Iraq.

On 12 August 2023, the Arab Club Champions Cup final was played. Even though Ronaldo was injured in the match, Al Nassr managed to secure their victory in their run of the tournament with Ronaldo scoring 2 goals to come back against Al Hilal in the final. Ronaldo was the top scorer of the tournament with 6 goals and won the golden boot while Nawaf Al-Aqidi won the golden glove.

As of 9 September 2023[5]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  KSA Sultan Al-Ghannam (vice-captain) 3 DF  KSA Abdullah Madu 4 DF  KSA Mohammed Al-Fatil 5 DF  KSA Abdulelah Al-Amri 6 MF  CIV Seko Fofana 7 FW  POR Cristiano Ronaldo (captain) 8 MF  KSA Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem 10 FW  SEN Sadio Mané 11 MF  KSA Khalid Al-Ghannam 12 DF  KSA Nawaf Boushal 14 MF  KSA Sami Al-Najei 15 DF  BRA Alex Telles 16 FW  KSA Mohammed Maran 17 MF  KSA Abdullah Al-Khaibari 19 MF  KSA Ali Al-Hassan 23 MF  KSA Ayman Yahya 24 DF  KSA Mohammed Qassem

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 MF  POR Otávio 27 DF  ESP Aymeric Laporte 29 MF  KSA Abdulrahman Ghareeb 30 FW  KSA Meshari Al-Nemer 31 MF  KSA Mohammed Sahlouli 33 GK  KSA Waleed Abdullah 36 GK  KSA Raghed Al-Najjar 41 GK  KSA Mohammed Al-Otaibi 44 GK  KSA Nawaf Al-Aqidi 46 MF  KSA Abdulaziz Al-Elewai 55 DF  KSA Abdulaziz Al-Faraj 66 DF  KSA Waleed Saber 69 DF  KSA Marzouq Tambakti 77 MF  CRO Marcelo Brozović 78 DF  KSA Ali Lajami 94 MF  BRA Talisca

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 53 MF  KSA Sultan Al-Anazi 57 FW  KSA Muhannad Barah 58 DF  KSA Aser Hawsawi

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  COL David Ospina — MF  KSA Fahad Al-Taleb — MF  KSA Khalid Haqawi

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  KSA Amin Bukhari (on loan to Al-Ettifaq) 13 DF  CIV Ghislain Konan (on loan to Al-Fayha) 20 DF  KSA Hamad Al Mansour (on loan to Al-Okhdood) 21 MF  KSA Mukhtar Ali (on loan to Al-Fateh)

No. Pos. Nation Player 42 DF  KSA Mansour Al-Shammari (on loan to Al-Hazem) 56 FW  KSA Fahad Al-Zubaidi (on loan to Al-Orobah) 59 DF  KSA Yousef Haqawi (on loan to Al-Fayha) — DF  KSA Majed Qasheesh (on loan to Al-Hazem)

• Professional League
  • Winners (9): 1974–75, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018–19
  • Runners-up (7): 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1990–91, 2000–01, 2019–20, 2022–23
• King's Cup
  • Winners (6): 1974, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1990
  • Runners-up (8): 1967, 1971, 1973, 1989, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2020
• Super Cup
  • Winners (2): 2019, 2020
  • Runners-up (2): 2014, 2015
• Crown Prince's Cup
  • Winners (3): 1972–73, 1973–74, 2013–14
  • Runners-up (4): 1990–91, 1995–96, 2012–13, 2016–17
• Federation Cup
  • Winners (3): 1975–76, 1997–98, 2007–08
  • Runners-up (3): 1993–94, 2000–01, 2008–09

• AFC Champions League
  • Runners-up (1): 1995
• Asian Cup Winners' Cup
  • Winners (1): 1997–98
  • Runners-up (1): 1991–92
• Asian Super Cup
  • Winners (1): 1998

• Arab Club Champions Cup
  • Winners (1): 2023
• Arab Cup Winners' Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2000
• Arab Super Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2001
• GCC Club Cup
  • Winners (2): 1996, 1997
  • Runners-up (1): 2008

As of 26 April 2021

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1991–92	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Al-Ansar	2–1	2–1	4−2
		QF	Kazma		1–0	3−1
		SF	Al-Ramtha		1–0	3−1
		Final	Nissan	1–1	0–5	1−6
1995	Asian Club Championship	2R	Yelimay Semipalatinsk	1–0	3−0[A]	4−0
		QF	Al-Arabi	2–1		1st
			Saipa	0–0
			Köpetdag Aşgabat	1–0
		SF	Thai Farmers Bank			1–0
		Final	Ilhwa Chunma	0–1		0–1
1996–97		1R	Sharjah	–		w/o[B]
		2R	Al-Nejmeh	4–0	0−1	4−1
		QF	Al-Rayyan	1–2		3rd
			Persepolis	3–2
			Al-Zawraa	0–0
1997–98	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	2R	Al-Shabab	–		w/o[C]
		QF	Al-Ittihad	0–0	3–2	3−2
		SF	Köpetdag Aşgabat	2–1		2−1
		Final	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1–0		1−0
1998	Asian Super Cup		Pohang Steelers	0–0	1–1	1−1 (a)
1998–99	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	2R	Kazma	2–1	0–3	2−4
2011	AFC Champions League	Group B	Pakhtakor	4–0	2−2	2nd
			Esteghlal	2–1	1−2
			Al-Sadd	1–1	0−1
		R16	Zob Ahan	–	1−4	1−4
2015		Group A	Bunyodkor	1–1	1−0	3rd
			Lekhwiya	1–3	1−1
			Persepolis	3–0	0−1
2016		Group B	Bunyodkor	3–3	1−0	3rd
			Lekhwiya	1–1	0−4
			Zob Ahan	0–3	0−3
2019		PO	AGMK	4–0	–	4–0
		Group A	Al-Wasl	3–1	0−1	2nd
			Zob Ahan	2–3	0−0
			Al-Zawraa	4–1	2−1
		R16	Al-Wahda	1−1	3−2	4–3
		QF	Al-Sadd	2−1	1−3	3–4
2020		Group D	Al-Sadd	2–2	1–1	1st
			Al-Ain	0−1	2−1
			Sepahan	2−0	2−0
		R16	Al-Taawoun	1−0	–	1–0
		QF	Al-Ahli	2−0		2–0
		SF	Persepolis	1–1 (3–5 p)		1–1 (3–5 p)
2021		Group D	Al-Wehdat	1–2	0–0	1st
			Al-Sadd	3−1	2–1
			Foolad	2−0	1−1
		R16	Tractor	1−0	–	1–0
		QF	Al Wahda	−	5–1	5–1
		SF	Al Hilal	1–2	–	1–2

Key: PO – Play-off round; 1R/2R – First/Second round; R16 – Round of 16; QF – Quarter-final; SF – Semi-final;

Notes

Internationally, Al Nassr boasts many appearances, both in the Arab world and on the international scale. In 1996 and 1997, Al Nassr won the GCC Club Cup twice in a row, and ran for runners-up in 2008. Al Nassr appeared in Syria's international tournament, the Damascus International Championship in 2004, and won. Al Nassr also had successful appearances in Emirati international tournaments, such the Bani Yas International Tournament, winning it two times in 2011 and 2013, as well as winning Al-Wehda International Cup in 2012. Other UAFA participations include a single appearance in the Arab Cup Winners' Cup in the year 2000, as well as the Arab Super Cup in 2001. The club reached finals on both occasions, only to finish course as runners-up, with the two cups going defunct ever since.

Winning the Asian Super Cup in 1998 allowed Al Nassr to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup. In doing so, they became the first team to officially represent Asia in an international tournament, which was held in Brazil from 5 January till 14 January, in the year 2000. The nickname "The International Club" was obtained following their respective participation in the Club World Cup. Al Nassr won the FIFA Fair play award following the end of the Club World Cup, and were the first team in the world to win such an award.[8]

Al Nassr were drawn in Group A along with Corinthians (tournament champion), Real Madrid, and Raja Casablanca.