Al-Nassr FC
Al-Nassr Football Club, commonly known as Al-Nassr or simply Nassr, is a Saudi Arabian professional sports club based in Riyadh. It is best known for its association football team which competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of the Saudi football league system.
Founded in 1955 as one of the founding members of the Saudi Pro League, the club has traditionally worn a yellow and blue home kit. The name "Al-Nassr" translates to "The Victory" in Arabic. Al-Nassr play their home matches in the 25,000-capacity Al-Awwal Park, having previously played in the King Fahd International Stadium. Until 2020, Al-Nassr was operated by club members, but is now majority-owned by the Public Investment Fund. One of the few Saudi clubs never relegated from the top division, Al-Nassr has large support in the Middle East and has a growing international fanbase. In 2024, Al-Nassr was estimated to be worth around $1 billion, making it one of the most valuable football clubs in Asia. The club's anthem is "Yalla Nassr" and its mascot is "Knight", symbolizing the historic knights of Najd.
Al-Nassr is one of the most successful clubs in Saudi football: the club have won a total of 29 competitive trophies, including 10 league titles, 5 King Cups, and 3 Crown Prince Cups. Al-Nassr has won 2 continental trophies: 1 Asian Cup Winners' Cups and 1 Asian Super Cup. Al-Nassr became a dominant force in Saudi football in the 1990s and 2000s, securing multiple league and continental titles and its profile rose in the early 2020s after signing major international players, including Cristiano Ronaldo. Al-Nassr has deep rivalries with other clubs, with the most notable being the Riyadh derby against Al-Hilal.
History
Beginnings and triumphs (1955–1989)
Al Nassr was established in 1955 by the Al-Ja'ba brothers. Training took place in an old playground at Gashlat Al-Shortah, west 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 until his death. His love of the team made him accept the challenge of being the president of a second-division club and turning it into a champion, and therefore, 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 one Categorization League and three Saudi Premier League titles, Five King's Cups, two Crown Prince's Cups, and one Federation Cup. The team's success was built around the "Saudi Golden Trio" of Majed Abdullah, Fahd Al-Bishi and Mohaisen Al-Jam'an.End of the Majed Abdullah era (1989–2000)
In the 1990s, Al Nassr managed to win two further Saudi Premier League titles in the 1993–1994 and 1994–1995 seasons, the 1990 King's Cup and the 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, Al Nassr managed to triumph in the continental tournaments. The 37-year-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 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 the Asian Super Cup, Al-Nassr was eligible to represent the AFC region in the first FIFA Club World Cup. In that championship Al-Nassr played against Corinthians, Real Madrid and Raja Casablanca and finished 3rd in the group, the club became the first team to officially represent Asia in an international tournament, which was held in Brazil from 5 January to 14 January, in the year 2000. The nickname "The Global One " was obtained following their respective participation in the Club World Cup. Al Nassr won the FIFA Fair Play Award and 6th place following the end of the Club World Cup and was the first team in the world to win the award.
Participating squad in the World Cup
Slow decline (2001–2007)
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 received 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 Majed Abdullah, to intervene. Their plan was to begin an effective long-term plan to restructure the management this period was called the Great Setback as the club at the time lost its place in the top during this period rivals Al-Hilal got more wins against Al-Nassr then ever before and broke the record for most wins in the derby which was held by Al-Nassr for many years.
Resurgence (2008–2015)
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 Mohammad Al-Sahlawi from Al-Qadsiah in 2009 for SR32 million fee, breaking Yasser Al-Qahtani's record transfer to Al-Hilal from the same team as Sahlawi.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 eligible to secure a place in the AFC Champions League for the following season.
Bader Al-Mutawa's finest hours
Their second match in the 2011 AFC Champions League were against Uzbekistan club Pakhtakor, which resulted in a 2–2 draw with the decisive goal coming from Bader Al-Mutawa, a loaned player from a Kuwaiti club who was also part of the Kuwaiti military. In the second match against Esteghlal, Al Nassr managed to secure their first 3 points by winning 2–1, with Hussein Abdulghani scoring. In the third match, Al Nassr was defeated by Al-Sadd with them scoring 1 goal by Lee Jung-Soo.Once again Al Nassr was 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 Al-Mutawa scored 2 goals. In the final group stage game, Al Nassr were beaten by Esteghlal 2–1 with Al-Mutawa scoring 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 chose to depart to Kuwait to return to his club and resume military duties. In his short time with Al Nassr, he managed to make a good record by scoring 5 goals, one of the top ten highest scorers in AFC during 2011.
2010–2015
In 2010–12, Al Nassr saw itself in the King's Cup. In the 2010–12 season, the Al Nassr coach, Francisco Maturana, aimed for the club to become the Saudi giant it once was. Once again Al Nassr were denied to become champions in the final of the Crown Prince Cup match, where Al-Hilal defeated them in a penalty shootout.In the 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 won a treble by winning both the Pro League and Crown Prince's cup against city rivals Al-Hilal. this secured their place in the 2015 AFC Champions League following the astonishing season.
The age of the three strikers (2015–2022)
The 2010s marked the growth of football in most Asian countries, both in league quality and their national teams. 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, winning the league. However, the team failed to achieve their treble after losing in the King's Cup final and only reaching the semi-final of the Crown Prince Cup. Many fans felt let down by the club after losing in the group stage of the AFC Champions League against Bunyodkor, Al-Duhail, and Persepolis.
Al-Sahlawi, who was 27 years old at the time, managed to score 25 goals from his 37 appearances that season. For these reasons, the coach was replaced by former Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita. Even with him training the team, Al Nassr still failed to make an impact in the AFC Champions League. After being defeated by Al-Duhail and Zob Ahan, Al Nassr finally defeated Bunyodkor in consecutive matches.
The start of the 2016–17 season marked the transfer of two Croatian players to the club: Ivan Tomecak and Marin Tomasov, who were loaned to Al Nassr. Abdullah Madu, a new center-back at the time, also began playing with the club. However, that season, the club only finished in 3rd position in the Pro League, behind their rival Al-Ahli and city rival Al-Hilal.
Al Nassr only finished second in the Crown Prince Cup that season, losing to Al Hilal once again. They were also runners-up to Al Ahli in the final of the King's Cup. Al Nassr failed to qualify for the AFC Champions League 2017 and the AFC Champions League 2018. In the 2015–16 season, Al-Sahlawi scored 10 goals in his 29 appearances. In the 2016–17 season, Al-Sahlawi scored 11 goals in 27 appearances, and in the next season, he scored 12 goals from 24 appearances.
Al Nassr's 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 in both defense and offense. The club also signed two of the best Moroccan players at the time, Abderrazak Hamdallah and Nordin Amrabat. Both of them joined the Saudi Pro League on 16 July and 23 August 2018.
Hamdallah, nicknamed "The Executioner," proved himself to be a menace when he made his debut against Al-Qadsiah, making two assists. In his second match, he scored his first goal for the club against Al-Taawoun. After this, Al-Sahlawi's position as the club's favorite striker began to shift toward Hamdallah as the former Chinese Super League star adapted to his teammates. The Moroccan forward broke records in the league since it became professional in 2007 and carried his team to qualify for the 2019 AFC Champions League by defeating FK AGMK.
In the 2019 AFC Champions League, Al Nassr secured second position in the group stage, just below Zob Ahan, and advanced past the round of sixteen with Hamdallah scoring. In the quarter-finals, Al Nassr was defeated by Al-Sadd 4–3. Hamdallah scored 4 goals in the 2019 AFC Champions League.
Despite a poor start due to a previous ankle injury, Hamdallah ended his first season in the Saudi Pro League as the top scorer, impressively scoring 34 goals. By this time, Hamdallah had completely replaced Al Sahlawi as the main striker.
In the 2018–19 season, he won the league title with his team and scored a record 34 goals, alongside 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 in the Round of 64 of the 2019 King's Cup.
Ten days later, he scored a super hat-trick against Al-Ansar. He scored consecutive super hat-tricks against Al-Fayha 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 in the 2019 King Cup. By the end of 2019, Hamdallah managed to surpass several stars such as Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi to become the world's top scorer, as noted by IFFHS, after reaching 57 goals in the year. Al Sahlawi also left the club to join Al-Shabab.
On 4 January 2020, Hamdallah scored in a 1–1 draw against Al-Taawoun to win the 2019 Saudi Super Cup. On 30 January 2021, Hamdallah scored in a 3–0 victory against rivals Al-Hilal to win the 2020 Saudi Super Cup.