Hilal Club Crest
The crescent moon of Saudi football, crowned with continental glory.
Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club, commonly known simply as Al-Hilal, is a Saudi Arabian professional multi-sports club based in Riyadh. Its football team competes in the Saudi Pro League. The name "Al-Hilal" is Arabic for "the crescent moon". Founded on 16 October 1957, the club is one of three teams to have participated in every season of the Saudi Pro League since its establishment in 1976.
Lore & Background
In the 1980s, the club hired Saudi Arabian players such as the figurehead defender Saleh Al-Nu'eimeh who captained both Al Hilal and the Saudi National Football Team, and promoted the playmaker Yousuf Al-Thunayan and the young forward Sami Al-Jaber. The club went on to win four league titles as well as four King's Cup titles in ten years, two of those being season doubles. Al Hilal were the runners-up in the Asian Club Championship twice. They were second after the round-robin in the final round in 1986. They reached the final the following year in 1987, but Yomiuri were crowned the champion automatically as Al Hilal were unable to field a team for the final due to nine of the starting players being chosen for the Saudi team's preparation camp that clashed with the date fixed for the first leg.
Reader's Guide
The club's name was changed to its current name on 3 December 1958 by King Saud.
Did You Know?
- Al-Hilal was awarded Greatest Asian Club of the 20th Century by the IFFHS in September 2009.
- The club has a market value of €242.5 million as of 2024, the highest in Saudi Arabia.
- Al-Hilal were runners-up in the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, becoming the first Asian club from outside the host nation to reach the final.
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