Saudi Arabian National Football Team / World Championships

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
المملكة العربية السعودية
al-Mamlaka al-ʿarabiyya as-saʿūdiyya

World Cup record goalscorer:	Sami al-Jabir (3)
World Cup record players:	Mohammad ad-Daʿayyaʿ (10)
Rank :	44
Balance sheet
16 World Cup games 3 wins 2 draws 11 losses 11:39 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Saudi Arabia 1: 2 Netherlands Washington, DC ( USA ); June 20, 1994
Biggest World Cup victories Saudi Arabia 2: 1 Morocco East Rutherford ( USA ); June 25, 1994 Saudi Arabia 1-0 Belgium Washington, DC ( USA ); June 29, 1994 Saudi Arabia 2: 1 Egypt Volgograd ( RUS ); June 25, 2018
Biggest World Cup defeat Saudi Arabia 8-0 Germany Sapporo ( JPN ); June 1, 2002
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1994 )
Best results	Round of 16 1994
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 25, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Saudi Arabian national soccer team at world championships . Saudi Arabia has so far participated in soccer world championships five times. The best performance is reaching the last sixteen when they first participated in 1994. After that, the team was always eliminated in the preliminary round. In the all-time table of World Cup finalists, Saudi Arabia ranks 44th.

overview

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				Not a FIFA member
1938	France	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1950	Brazil	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1954	Switzerland	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1958	Sweden	not participated				First international match only in 1957 after the draw for qualifications
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	Russia , Uruguay , Egypt	26th	Juan Antonio Pizzi	After losing the first two games before the last game without a chance to reach the round of 16
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships)

• No participation: 10 × (48%; 1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970 and 1974)
• Unqualified: 6 × (29%; 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2010 and 2014)
• Athletic qualification: 5 × (24% or 45% of the attempts)
  • Round of 16: 1 × (5%; 1994)
  • Preliminary round: 4 × (19%; 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018)

World Cup tournaments

World Championships 1930 to 1974

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation was only founded in 1956 and accepted into FIFA in the same year, so Saudi Arabia was unable to take part in the first five World Cup tournaments, but the association also refrained from participating in the qualification five times after that.

World Championship 1978

Saudi Arabia wanted to qualify for the World Cup in Argentina for the first time . On November 12, 1976, the first World Cup qualifier was played in Jeddah and won against Syria 2-0. The second leg 14 days later in Damascus , however, was lost 2-1. Since both lost the games against the other group opponent Iran , both were eliminated and Iran was able to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time in the further course of the qualification.

World Championship 1982

In the first qualifying round for the World Cup in Spain , Saudi Arabia prevailed with four wins against Iraq , Qatar , Bahrain and Syria. In the final tournament, however, only managed a draw against New Zealand . The games against Kuwait , which qualified for the first time like New Zealand, and China were lost, leaving Saudi Arabia only in last place in the group.

1986 World Championship

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico , Saudi Arabia, which won the 1984 Asian Football Championship, failed in the first round against the United Arab Emirates . The other group opponent Oman had withdrawn after the draw, so that after just two games (0-0 and 0-1) the qualification for the Saudis was over. The United Arab Emirates then failed because of Iraq, which was the only time to qualify.

World Cup 1990

In the qualification for the second World Cup in Italy to Saudi Arabia was that 1988 had defended his title as Asian champions, in the first group stage against Syria and North Yemen prevail and there was only one point from. The third group opponent Bahrain had withdrawn after the draw. In the final round, which was held in Singapore and Malaysia , the Saudis finished in fifth place behind South Korea , the United Arab Emirates - which thus qualified for the only time so far - as well as Qatar and China and could only leave North Korea behind that succeeded the only victory.

World Championship 1994

Four years later, the qualification succeeded for the first time. In the first qualifying round for the World Cup in the USA , Saudi Arabia was initially able to prevail as group winners at tournaments in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia against Kuwait , Malaysia and Macau - Nepal decided not to participate after the draw. It succeeded on May 14, 1993 with the 8-0 win against Macau, the highest international game and none of the games were lost. In the final group with South Korea , Japan , Iraq , Iran and North Korea , Saudi Arabia took first place and was able to qualify for the World Cup finals together with South Korea.

In the US, the Saudis were drawn into a group with the Netherlands , Belgium and Morocco and were considered outsiders. In their first World Cup game, the Saudis lost 2-1 against the Netherlands, with Fuad Amin giving the Saudis the lead after 18 minutes with the first World Cup goal for the Saudis, which lasted until the 50th minute. Substitute Gaston Taument was only able to secure victory for the favorite shortly before the end . In the second game against Morocco, the Saudis then achieved their first World Cup victory (2: 1) and the Saudis also won (1: 0) against the more highly rated Belgians, who had won against the Dutch. With this they reached the knockout round when they first participated as second in the group (equal on points and goals with the Dutch). In the second round they met Sweden, who would later be third, and lost 3-1. The 1-0 win against Belgium is the last win in a World Cup game for the Saudis to date.

World Championship 1998

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France , Asian champions Saudi Arabia prevailed against Malaysia, Taiwan and Bangladesh in the first round at tournaments in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia , surrendering only one point and conceding only one goal. In the second round two games were lost, but it was enough for first place and direct qualification. Group opponents were Iran, which qualified via the playoffs, China, Qatar and Kuwait. The qualification was only secured on the last day of the match with a 1-0 win in Qatar.

In France, the Saudis, who were coached by the Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira , who had led his home country to their fourth title four years earlier, met Denmark in their first game and lost 1-0. They even lost 4-0 against hosts France , so that the end was already clear before the last group game against World Cup newcomers South Africa . After all, a 2: 2 was achieved against the Africans.

World Championship 2002

In addition to the two co-hosts South Korea and Japan, two other Asian teams qualified directly for the first World Cup in Asia . Another had the chance to qualify via the intercontinental playoffs. In the first round, Saudi Arabia prevailed with six straight wins against Vietnam , Bangladesh and Mongolia . In the second round, Iran lost, but first place was taken again, ahead of Iran, Bahrain , Iraq and Thailand , which allowed Saudi Arabia to qualify directly. Iran failed in the intercontinental playoffs to Ireland .

In Asia, Saudi Arabia met the eventual runners-up, Germany , in the first group game and fell 8-0 down, with Miroslav Klose , who later scored the World Cup, scoring his first three World Cup goals. In the second game against Cameroon , the 0-1 defeat turned out to be less severe, but Ireland lost 3-0 at the end. The Saudis were eliminated for the first time without a goal of their own.

World Championship 2006

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Germany , Saudi Arabia only had to compete in the second round and prevailed as group winners in a group with Turkmenistan , Indonesia and Sri Lanka with six wins. In the third round, South Korea , which also qualified, were left behind Uzbekistan and Kuwait .

In Germany, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia drew 2-2 in the first game. It was the only point for both of them, as both lost their games against the other two group opponents, Ukraine and Spain . The Saudis lost 4-0 against World Cup newcomers Ukraine and 0-1 against Spain. With this, Saudi Arabia said goodbye to the World Cup for at least 12 years.

World Championship 2010

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa , Saudi Arabia only had to intervene in the third round. In a group with Uzbekistan, Singapore and Lebanon , the Saudis prevailed together with the Uzbeks and reached the fourth round. In this, South and North Korea were better. Only Iran and the United Arab Emirates were able to leave the Saudis behind. The third place was enough to reach the playoffs of the group third. This is where the Saudis met Bahrain . After a 0-0 away game, the home game ended 2-2, whereby Bahrain reached the intercontinental playoffs against New Zealand and failed there due to the away goal rule .

World Championship 2014

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil , Saudi Arabia only had to compete in the second round and beat Hong Kong 3-0 and 5-0 . The third round, in which Australia , Oman and Thailand were the opponents, was only finished third in the group, with only the home game against Thailand being won. Australia could then prevail in the further qualification, while Oman failed in the fourth round.

World Championship 2018

In qualifying , the team met the United Arab Emirates , Palestine , East Timor and Malaysia in the second round . Saudi Arabia started with four wins, then gave up the first point in a goalless draw against Palestine, but then scored the highest victory in history in East Timor with a 10-0 win. With a win against Malaysia and a draw against the United Arab Emirates in the last two games, the group won the third round. Here Australia, Japan, again the UAE, Iraq and Thailand were the opponents. With six wins, one draw and three defeats, the Saudis finished second in the group and are therefore directly qualified for the finals. The decisive factor was a 1-0 on the last day of the match against the Japanese who had already qualified, which meant they were level on points with Australia, but thanks to the better goal difference they were able to send them into the fourth round, which the Australians then qualified. On November 22, 2017, coach Bauza, who had only taken office in September, was dismissed.

At the finals, Saudi Arabia was the first Asian team to play the opening game and lost 5-0 to hosts Russia. Against ex-world champions Uruguay, they pulled out of the affair better in the second game and only lost 1-0. Like Egypt, which had also lost to Russia and Uruguay, they had no chance of reaching the round of 16. They fell behind against Egypt after 22 minutes, but the Saudis equalized in added time in the first half and scored the 2-1 winner in the second half. This improved them by six places in the all-time ranking.

player

Ranking of the Saudi Arabian World Cup players with the most appearances

1. Mohammad ad-Daʿayyaʿ - 10 games in four tournaments

2. Abdullah Zubromawi and Sami al-Jabir - 9 games in three and four tournaments respectively

4. Ahmad ad-Duchi , Mohammad al-Khilaiwi , Khalid al-Muwallid , Said al-Uwairan , Nawaf at-Tamyat , Fuad Amin , Hamzah Saleh , Hussein Suleimani , Rida Tukar - 6 games out of three (ad-Duchi, at- Tamyat and Suleimani) and two tournaments

Ranking of the Saudi Arabian World Cup players with the most World Cup goals

1. Sami al-Jabir - 3 goals

2. Fuad Amin - 2 goals

3. 4 players each 1 goal

World Cup captains

• 1994: Majid Mohammed Abdullah (1st and 3rd game up to half-time), Mohammad Al-Jawad (2nd and 4th game up to the 54th minute)
• 1998: Fuad Amin
• 2002: Sami al-Jabir (1st game), Mohammad ad-Daʿayyaʿ (2nd and 3rd game)
• 2006: Hussein Suleimani (1st and 2nd game), Sami al-Jabir (3rd game)
• 2014: Osama Hawsawi

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

In 2018, the Saudis used three players who did not play in Saudi Arabia for the first time: Yahya Al-Shehri , Salem Al-Dawsari and Fahad Al-Muwallad , who were loaned to three Spanish clubs free of charge.

Players banned from World Championships

• 1994: Fuad Amin received the second yellow card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game. Khalid al-Muwallid received the second yellow card in the round of 16, which had no effect as the Saudis were eliminated.
• 1998: Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi received the red card in the 18th minute in the game against France for gross foul play and was suspended for the last group game.

Games

Saudi Arabia has played 15 World Cup games so far, two of which have been won and eleven lost. Two games ended in a draw. Saudi Arabia met the hosts twice and the eventual world champions once, but never against the defending champion. Saudi Arabia met newcomers to the World Cup twice: South Africa in 1998 and Ukraine in 2006.

All games are unique so far. Most of the games Saudi Arabia played against European teams. In all participations before 2018, the Saudis played against at least two European and one African teams, but never against teams from America, Asia or Oceania. In 2018 they played for the first time in the preliminary round only against a European team and for the first time a South American team. In 2018, they were the first Asian team to play the opening game, where they met the hosts.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	June 20, 1994	1: 2	Netherlands	*	Washington, DC , USA	Preliminary round	First game against the Netherlands
2	June 25, 1994	2: 1	Morocco	*	East Rutherford , USA	Preliminary round
3	June 29, 1994	1-0	Belgium	*	Washington, DC , USA	Preliminary round	First game against Belgium
4th	03rd July 1994	1: 3	Sweden	*	Dallas , USA	Round of 16
5	June 12, 1998	0: 1	Denmark	*	Lens , FRA	Preliminary round
6th	June 18, 1998	0: 4	France	A.	Saint-Denis , FRA	Preliminary round	First game against France
7th	June 24, 1998	2: 2	South Africa	*	Bordeaux , FRA	Preliminary round	First game against South Africa
8th	0June 1, 2002	0: 8	Germany	*	Sapporo , JPN	Preliminary round	Highest World Cup victory for Germany.
9	0June 6, 2002	0: 1	Cameroon	*	Saitama , JPN	Preliminary round
10	June 11, 2002	0: 3	Ireland	*	Yokohama , JPN	Preliminary round	First game against Ireland
11	June 14, 2006	2: 2	Tunisia	*	Munich , DEU	Preliminary round
12	June 19, 2006	0: 4	Ukraine	*	Hamburg , DEU	Preliminary round	First game against Ukraine
13	June 23, 2006	0: 1	Spain	*	Kaiserslautern , DEU	Preliminary round	First game against Spain
14th	June 14, 2018	0: 5	Russia	A.	Moscow ( RUS )	Preliminary round
15th	20th June 2018	0: 1	Uruguay	*	Rostov-on-Don ( RUS )	Preliminary round
16	June 25, 2018	2: 1	Egypt	*	Volgograd ( RUS )	Preliminary round

Highest victories and defeats

The 1-0 win against Belgium is also the biggest win against the Belgians.

Saudi Arabia suffered its highest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Germany : preliminary round 2002 - 0: 8
•  France : Preliminary round 1998- 0-4 (only game against France)
•  Ireland : 2002 preliminary round - 3-0 (only game against Ireland)
•  Netherlands : preliminary round 1994 - 2-1 (only game against the Netherlands)
•  Russia : Preliminary round 2018 - 5-0 (first loss to Russia)
•  Sweden : Round of 16 1994-1-3
•  Ukraine : Preliminary round 2006 - 4-0 (only game against Ukraine)
•  Uruguay : Preliminary round 2018 - 0-1 (first loss to Uruguay)

Negative records

Most tournament goals conceded:

• 2002: 12 in 3 games

Biggest loss in a tournament:

• 2002: 0: 8 against Germany

Worst team in the 2002 World Cup finals (ranked 32nd by FIFA).

See also

• Football World - Statistics - Saudi Arabia on fifa.com

References and footnotes

1. ↑ 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)
2. ↑ fifa.com: Saudi Arabia dismisses Bauza