Al-Riyadh SC

This article is about the football club in Saudi Arabia. For the football club in Iraq, see Al-Riyadh SC (Iraq).

For other uses, see Riyadh (disambiguation).

Riyadh F.C. or Al-Riyadh (Arabic: نادي الرياض السعودي, romanized: nādī nādī al-Riyāḍ as-saʿūdī, lit. 'Saudi Riyadh Club') is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It currently plays in the Saudi Pro League (the first tier of professional football in Saudi Arabia). It was established in 1953 as Ahli Al-Riyadh, then changed its name to Al-Yamamah and finally to Al-Riyadh. Best known for its football team, Al-Riyadh also have squads in other sports.

Al-Riyadh

Full name	Al-Riyadh Saudi Club[1]
Founded	1953; 72 years ago (1953)
Ground	Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Stadium
Capacity	15,000[2]
Manager	Javier Calleja
League	Saudi Pro League
2024–25	Pro League, 12th of 18
Website	riyadhclub.sa
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Al-Riyadh have won one major title: the Crown Prince Cup in 1994.^[3] The team also finished as runners-up in the Saudi Premier League in 1994;^[4] they have never won the top league.

Al-Riyadh was promoted to the Saudi Pro League in 2023.^[3]

History

Early history

The club was founded in 1953 under the name "Ahli Al-Riyadh", before changing to "Al-Yamama" and then to "Al-Riyadh."^[5] It is currently based in west Riyadh.^[6] They reached the final of the Kings Cup in 1962 and 1978, but triumphed on neither occasion.^[7]

Golden era

Al-Riyadh was promoted to the Saudi Premier League at the end of the 1988/89 season after winning the Saudi First Division League.^[8]

In the early 1990s, under the leadership of the Brazilian coach Zumario and players such as Khalid Al-Qarouni, Talal Al-Jabreen, Yasser Al-Taafi and Fahd Al-Hamdan, Al-Riyadh won the Crown Prince Cup in 1994.^[4] They were unable to retain the Cup in 1995, losing in the final to Al-Hilal.^[9] However, they did win the 1995 Federation Cup^[7] and reached the semi-final of the 1995 Asian Cup Winners' Cup.^[10] In 1998, Al-Riyadh once again reached the finals of the Crown Prince Cup, and lost to Al-Ahli.^[11]

Al-Riyadh were relegated at the end of the 2004/5 season.^[12]

Return to the top flight

Al-Riyadh finished fourth in the Saudi First Division League in the 2022/23 season.^[13] Normally, a fourth-place finish would not be good enough for promotion, but the Saudi Premier League was expanding from 16 teams to 18, offering an additional promotion spot.^[3]

Honours

Domestic

• Saudi Premier League (tier 1)
  • Runners-up (1): 1993–94
• Saudi First Division League (tier 2)
  • Winners (2): 1977–78, 1988–89
  • Runners-up (2): 1979–80, 1982–83
• King's Cup
  • Runners-up (2): 1962, 1978
• Crown Prince's Cup
  • Winners (1): 1993–94
  • Runners-up (2): 1994–95, 1997–98
• Saudi Federation Cup
  • Winners (1): 1994–95

Continental

• Arab Super Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1996

Current squad

As of 31 January 2025

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 5 DF  FRA Yoann Barbet 6 MF  KSA Saud Zidan 7 FW  KSA Mohammed Al-Aqel 11 MF  IRQ Ibrahim Bayesh 15 FW  KSA Nasser Al-Bishi 20 MF  POR Tozé 23 DF  KSA Saud Tambakti 24 FW  KSA Rayan Al-Bloushi 25 DF  KSA Suwailem Al-Menhali 27 DF  KSA Hussain Al-Nowaiqi 32 FW  ARG Luca Ramirez 40 GK  KSA Abdulrahman Al-Shammari 50 DF  KSA Nawaf Hawsawi 82 GK  CAN Milan Borjan 87 DF  KSA Marzouq Tambakti

No. Pos. Nation Player 88 MF  KSA Yahya Al-Shehri — GK  KSA Abdulaziz Al-Awairdhi — DF  ESP Sergio González — DF  KSA Mohammed Al-Khaibari — DF  KSA Osama Al-Bawardi — DF  KSA Sultan Al-Eisa — DF  JOR Amin Abu Khalifa — DF  KSA Sulaiman Hazazi — DF  MAR Ahmed Khatir — MF  ENG Samuel Sackey — MF  KSA Maher Al-Mutairi — MF  KSA Mohammed Suhluli — MF  KSA Fahad Al-Jizani — FW  KSA Salman Al-Matar

Squad U21

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  KSA Talal Al-Shubili 19 DF  KSA Faisal Al-Zeer 28 MF  KSA Bader Al-Mutairi 33 GK  KSA Abdulmalik Al-Khaibari 66 MF  KSA Majed Al-Qahtani

No. Pos. Nation Player 90 MF  KSA Thamer Al-Dhafeeri — DF  KSA Ahmed Al-Sayyahi — MF  KSA Mazen Al-Ruwaili — GK  SDN Sultan Harun

Management staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Javier Calleja
Assistant manager	Luismi Loro Bandar Al-Kubaishan Al-Hamidi Abdullah Al Otaibi
Goalkeeper coach	Jesús Unanua
Strength and conditioning coach	Prandeep Bordoloi
Doctor	Gustavo Campos

Managerial history

• Khalid Al-Koroni (11 January 2010 – 12 April 2010)
• Fahd Al-Hamdan (caretaker) (12 April 2010 – 1 May 2010)
• Marian Bondrea (1 July 2010 – 19 February 2011)
• Mohamed Aldo (19 February 2011 – 30 May 2011)
• Djamel Belkacem (26 July 2011 – 30 May 2012)
• Ayman El Yamani (3 July 2012 – 12 December 2012)
• Habib Ben Romdhane (12 December 2012 – 1 May 2014)
• Amir Alagić (17 June 2014 – 15 September 2014)
• Lotfi Kadri (16 September 2014 – 15 December 2014)
• Zouhair Louati (15 December 2014 – 28 July 2015)
• Leandro Simpson (7 August 2015 – 18 December 2015)
• Abderrazek Chebbi (18 December 2015 – 30 April 2016)
• Sultan Khamees (23 June 2016 – 18 November 2016)
• Hani Anwar (18 November 2016 – 30 May 2017)
• Adel Latrach (13 July 2017 – 26 November 2017)
• Yousef Khamees (26 November 2017 – 14 February 2018)
• Bandar Al-Jaithen (14 February 2018 – 1 April 2018)
• Amro Anwar (15 August 2018 – 2 December 2018)
• Bandar Al-Jaithen (2 December 2018 – 27 January 2019)
• Khalid Al-Koroni (27 January 2019 – 15 October 2019)
• Saad Al-Subaie (15 October 2019 – 25 January 2020)
• Yousri bin Kahla (25 January 2020 – 7 February 2021)
• Anis Chaieb (10 February 2021 – 1 June 2021)
• Moncef Mcharek (24 June 2021 – 1 May 2022)
• Dejan Arsov (3 May 2022 – 8 September 2022)
• Teo Pirija (caretaker) (8 September 2022 – 18 September 2022)
• Damir Burić (18 September 2022 – 1 June 2023)
• Yannick Ferrera (6 June 2023 – 20 September 2023)
• Bandar Al-Kubaishan (caretaker) (20 September 2023 – 8 October 2023)
• Odair Hellmann (8 October 2023 – 1 June 2024)
• Sabri Lamouchi (12 July 2024 – 19 April 2025)
• Bandar Al-Kubaishan (caretaker) (19 April 2025 – 1 June 2025)
• Javier Calleja (6 July 2025 – )

International competitions

Overview

As of 1 July 2023

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Arab Cup Winners' Cup	15	7	2	6	21	18
Arab Super Cup	2	0	2	0	1	1
Asian Cup Winners' Cup	4	3	0	1	7	2
TOTAL	21	10	4	7	29	21

Record by country

Country	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win%
Algeria	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	050.00
Bahrain	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Egypt	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1	000.00
Jordan	2	1	0	1	1	1	+0	050.00
Kuwait	2	1	0	1	2	2	+0	050.00
Lebanon	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5	100.00
Qatar	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2	000.00
Saudi Arabia	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
Sudan	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Syria	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	050.00
Tunisia	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	000.00
United Arab Emirates	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Yemen	1	1	0	0	5	3	+2	100.00
TOTAL	21	10	4	7	29	21	+8	047.62

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1995	Arab Cup Winners' Cup	Group B	Al-Ahly	2–2		2nd
			Club Africain	0–1
			Al-Nasr	2–0
			Al-Ittihad Aleppo	2–0
		SF	ES Sahel	0–2		0–2
	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	2R	Homenmen	3–0	2−0	5–0
		QF	Kazma	2–1	0−1	2–2[A]
		SF	Al-Talaba	–		Withdrew
1996	Arab Super Cup	Final	ES Tunis	1–1		2nd
			Al-Hilal	0–0
	Arab Cup Winners' Cup	Group A	Al-Muharraq	2–0		1st
			Al-Wehdat	1–0
			Olympique Médéa	1–1
		SF	Al-Faisaly	0–1		0–1
1999	Arab Cup Winners' Cup	QR	Al-Merrikh	2–1		2nd
			Al-Masry	1–2
			Al-Ittihad Ibb	5–3
		Group B	Al-Jaish	1–2		3rd
			Al-Gharafa	1–3
			MC Oran	1–0

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

Notes

^

Al-Riyadh advanced after Kazma withdrew.

See also

• Al-Riyadh SC (women)
• List of football clubs in Saudi Arabia