Saudi Arabian national soccer team

Saudi Arabia

Nickname (s)	الصقور الخضراء / as-suqūr al-ḫaḍrāʾ  / 'Green Falcons'
Association	SAFF
confederacy	AFC
Technical sponsor	Nike
Head coach	Hervé Renard (since 2019)
Record scorer	Majid Abdullah (67)
Record player	Mohammad ad-Daʿayyaʿ (178)
Home stadium	King Fahd Stadium
FIFA code	KSA
FIFA rank	67th (1351 points) (as of July 16, 2020)
First jersey Second jersey
statistics
First international match Saudi Arabia 3-1 Syria ( Beirut , Lebanon ; October 20, 1957 )
Biggest win East Timor 0:10 Saudi Arabia ( Dili , East Timor ; November 17, 2015 )
Biggest defeat Egypt 13-0 Saudi Arabia ( Casablanca , Morocco ; September 3, 1961 )
Successes in tournaments
World Championship
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1994 )
Best results	Round of 16 1994
Asian Championship
Participation in the finals	10 ( first : 1984 )
Best results	Winner 1984 , 1988 , 1996
(As of October 8, 2019)

The Saudi Arabian national soccer team ( Arabic منتخب المملكة العربية السعودية لكرة القدم, DMG muntaǧab al-mamlaka al-ʿarabiyya as-saʿūdiyya li-kurat al-qadam ) has been one of the strongest Asian national teams since the mid- 1980s . After winning the Asian Cup twice in 1984 and 1988 , the national team of Saudi Arabia qualified for a World Cup finals for the first time in 1994 . In the course of this tournament, reaching the round of 16 (after victories against Morocco and Belgium ) was the greatest success at world championships so far. In 1996 the Asian Cup was won again. The team has qualified for the World Cup finals a total of five times.

The team has been coached by Frenchman Hervé Renard since September 2019 , making him the 40th coach in the past 30 years. The former international Mohammad ad-Daʿayyaʿ is the goalkeeper with the most international appearances.

Participation in the Olympic Games

1900 to 1972	not participated
1976 in Montreal	not qualified
1980 in Moscow	not participated
1984 in Los Angeles	Preliminary round
1988 in Seoul	not qualified
1992 in Barcelona	not participated
1996 in Atlanta	Preliminary round

After 1996, the senior national team stopped taking part in the Olympic Games and the qualifying games.

Participation in Saudi Arabia in the World Cup (five times)

→ Main article : Saudi Arabian national soccer team / World Cups

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				State foundation only in 1932
1934	Italy	not participated				First international match only in 1957
1938	France	not participated				First international match only in 1957
1950	Brazil	not participated				First international match only in 1957
1954	Switzerland	not participated				First international match only in 1957
1958	Sweden	not participated
1962	Chile	not participated
1966	England	not participated
1970	Mexico	not participated
1974	Germany	not participated
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualifiers in the first round on Iran have failed.
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification in the finals of New Zealand and Kuwait failed.
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification in the West Asia group stage to the UAE failed, which also could not qualify.
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification in the final round of South Korea and the UAE failed.
1994	United States	Round of 16	Sweden	12.	Jorge Solari	The group phase was survived with the same point and goal behind the Netherlands as runners-up in the group, the poorer placement resulted from the direct comparison that was lost. In the last sixteen the end came against the later third.
1998	France	Preliminary round	Denmark , France , South Africa	28.	Carlos Alberto Parreira	After defeats against Denmark and the hosts and eventual world champions France and a draw against South Africa, they were eliminated as bottom group.
2002	South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round	Germany , Cameroon , Ireland	32.	Nasser Al-Johar	After three defeats and without a goal, knocked out last in the group. The 8-0 defeat against Germany is the highest World Cup defeat for Saudi Arabia and the highest World Cup victory for Germany.
2006	Germany	Preliminary round	Tunisia , Ukraine , Spain	28.	Marcos Paquetá	After a draw against Tunisia and defeats against Ukraine and Spain, they were eliminated as bottom group.
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualifying in the 5th round of Bahrain failed, which also failed to qualify.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualifying in the third round of Australia and Oman failed.
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	Uruguay , Egypt , Russia		Juan Antonio Pizzi	After defeats against Russia and Uruguay as well as a win against Egypt, eliminated in third place in the group.
2022	Qatar

FIFA Confederations Cup

Saudi Arabia took part in the first three events as the organizer of the King Fahd Cup and won the 1996 AFC Asian Cup in 1999.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1992	Saudi Arabia	final	Argentina	Second	Nelsinho Rosa
1995	Saudi Arabia	Preliminary round	Denmark , Mexico	5.	Mohammed Al-Kharashy
1997	Saudi Arabia	Preliminary round	Australia , Brazil , Mexico	7th	Otto Pfister
1999	Mexico	3rd place match	United States	Fourth	Milan Máčala
2001	South Korea / Japan	not qualified
2003	France	not qualified
2005	Germany	not qualified
2009	South Africa	not qualified
2013	Brazil	not qualified
↑ According to the all-time ranking 1992–2009 [1] (PDF; 1.8 MB)

Participation of Saudi Arabia in the soccer Asian championship

• 1976 - no participation in the final round
• 1980 - did not participate
• 1984 - Asian champion
• 1988 - Asian champion
• 1992 - runner-up
• 1996 - Asian champion
• 2000 - runner-up
• 2004 - preliminary round
• 2007 - runner-up
• 2011 - preliminary round
• 2015 - preliminary round
• 2019 - round of 16

Participation of Saudi Arabia in the West Asian Football Championship

• 2000 to 2010 - did not participate
• 2012 - preliminary round
• 2013/14 - preliminary round
• 2019 - preliminary round
• 2021 - qualified

title

• Asian Champion (3) - 1984, 1988, 1996
• Golf Cup (3) - 1994, 2002, 2004
• Arab Cup (2) - 1998, 2002
• U-17 World Champion - 1989

International matches against German-speaking national soccer teams

	date	place	Home team	result	Visiting team
1.	02/22/1998	Riad	Saudi Arabia	0: 3	Germany
2.	06/01/2002	Sapporo ( )	Germany	8-0	Saudi Arabia
3.	04/30/2003	Vaduz	Liechtenstein	1-0	Saudi Arabia
4th	06/08/2018	Leverkusen	Germany	2: 1	Saudi Arabia

So far there have been no meetings against Switzerland and Austria.

statistics

Record player

Saudi Arabia, along with the US, has the largest number of players with at least 100 games .

Games	Surname	Period
173 (178)	Mohammad ad-Daʿayyaʿ	1990 to 2006
163	Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi	1992 to 2001
156	Sami al-Jabir	1992 to 2006
142 (141)	Abdullah Zubromawi	1993 to 2002
138	Osama Hawsawi	2006 to 2018
138	Hussein Suleimani	1996 to 2014
134	Taisir Al-Jassim	2004 to 2018
133	Saud Kariri	2001 to 2015
121	Mohamed Abdeljawid	1993 to 2002
118	Mohammad asch-Schalhub	2000 to 2012, 2018
116	Majid Mohammed Abdullah	1978 to 1994
116	Ahmed Jamil Madani	1986 to 1998
114	Khaled al-Muwallid	1988 to 1998
113	Ahmad ad-Duchi	1997 to 2006
112	Yassir al-Qahtani	2002 to 2013
105	Khamis Al-Dosari	1997 to 2006
103	Muhammad al-Jahani	1994 to 2002

Note: In August and September 2013, FIFA (numbers in brackets if different) and RSSSF added more Saudi Arabian players to the list of players with at least 100 games and changed the data of previously listed players. Sources: FIFA Hundred Club, Saudi Arabia - Record International Players

Record goal scorers

Gates	Surname	Games	Quota	World Cup goals	AM gates
71	Majid Mohammed Abdullah	116	0.61	0	3
46	Sami al-Jabir	156	0.32	3	2
42	Yassir al-Qahtani	112	0.38	1	5
41	Ubaid ad-Dusari	094	0.44	0	0
32	Talal al-Meshal	060	0.53	NT	3
28	Khaled al-Muwallid	114	0.25	0	2
28	Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	043	0.65	0	3
26th	Fahad al-Mehalel	087	0.3	0	4th
24	Said al-Uwairan	075	0.32	1	?
24	Ibrahim al-Shahrani	084	0.29	0	?
20th	Youssef al-Tunayan	081	0.25	1	?

Note: NT = not participated

Source: Saudi Arabia - Record International Players

International matches

Games	opponent
36	Kuwait
35	Qatar
29	Bahrain
26th	United Arab Emirates
25th	Iraq

National coach

Trainer	from	to
Abdulrahman Fawzi	1957	1962
Ali Chaouach	1962	1970
Siktir Baba	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	1980	1980
Mario Zagallo	1981	1984
Khalil Ibrahim Al-Zayani	1984	1986
Kosia Tastilo	1986	1986
Osvaldo	1987	1987
Carlos Galletti	1988	1988
Omar Borras	1988	1988
Carlos Alberto Parreira	1988	1990
Metin Türel	1990	1990
Caldinho Garcia	1992	1992
Veloso	1992	1992
Candinho	1993	1993
Leo Beenhakker	1993	1994
Mohammed Al-Kharashy	1994	1994
Ivo Wortmann	1994	1994
Jorge Solari	1994	1994
Ian Porterfield	1994	1995
Mohammed Al-Kharashy	1995	1995
Zé Mario	1995	1996
Eduardo Vingada / Nelo Vingada	1996	1997
Otto Pfister	1998	1998
Carlos Alberto Parreira	1998	1998
Mohammed Al-Kharashy	06/1998	06/1998
Otto Pfister	1999	02/1999
Milan Máčala	05/1999	2000
Nasser Al Johar	2000	2000
Slobodan Santrač	08/2001	08/2001
Nasser Al Johar	08/2001	07/2002
Gerard van der Lem	08/2002	08/2004
Martin Koopman	2002	2002
Nasser Al Johar	09/2004	11/2004
Gabriel Calderon	11/2004	12/2005
Marcos Paquetá	12/2005	2007
Helio dos Anjos	03/2007	06/2008
Nasser Al Johar	06/2008	02/2009
José Peseiro	02/2009	01/2011
Nasser Al Johar	01/2011	02/2011
Rogério Lourenço	06/2011	06/2011
Frank Rijkaard	06/2011	01/2013
Juan Ramón López Caro	01/2013	12/2014
Cosmin Olăroiu	12/2014	01/2015
Faisal Al Baden	03/2015	08/2015
Bert van Marwijk	09/2015	09/2017
Edgardo Bauza	09/2017	11/2017
Juan Antonio Pizzi	11/2017	02/2019
Youssef Anbar	03/2019	09/2019
Hervé Renard	09/2019

Other national teams

At the 2006 World Cup for people with disabilities , the Saudi Arabian team won the title in front of 14,500 spectators in the Leverkus Bayarena.

See also

• Saudi Arabian National Football Team (U-17 Juniors)
• Saudi Arabian National Football Team (U-20 Men)
• List of national football teams (men)

Web links

• Website of the Saudi Arabian Football Association (arab.)
• All international matches of Saudi Arabia (as of May 31, 2006)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking. In: fifa.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 . 
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
3. ↑ FACT Sheet FIFA Century Club (as of December 4, 2019)
4. ↑ ^{a b} Naeim Albakr: Appearances for Saudi Arabia National Team ( English ) rsssf.com. December 20, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2020.