Pre-Research ( Alhilal Saudi Football club ) - Essay Example

Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club Al-Hilal Saudi FC is one of the well-known professional football team in Saudi Arabia and the Asian continent. The Football Club is based in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh and it has attracted royal attention over the years. Abdul Rahman Bin Saeed established Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club in 1957 and it was initially known as El Olympy, which translates to The Olympic Club in English. A year later, King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud changed the club’s name to Al-Hilal after he attended a highly contested tournament featuring Al-Riyadh, Al-Shabab, El-Kawkab and El Olympy Football Clubs.

Ever since its launch fifty-seven years ago, the club has excelled in Saudi Arabia and Asia to win fifty-five official championships. These include seven Arabian Gulf Championships, six Asian championships and forty national championships. As mentioned earlier, Al-Hilal has been very successful in Saudi Arabia and the Asian continent, therefore, earning the nickname Al-Zaeem, meaning ‘The Boss’ (FIFA, 2014). In recent years, its dominance in the Asian continent has dwindled down Al-Hilal club but it remains one of the most successful football club in the continent.

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics named Al-Hilal FC as the Asian Football Club of the past century (Wikipedia, 2014). Al Hilal FC’s home games are played at the King Fahd International Stadium, which was built in 1987 and has a capacity of sixty seven thousand fans. Some of the key people in the management and coaching include Abdulrahman bin Musaad who is the chairperson, Sami Al-Jaber as the manager and Cosmin Olaroiu as the team coach (Al Hilal Saudi Club, 2014).

The club has signed some of the best football players like Thiago Neves, Christian Wilhelmsson, and Osama Hawsawi among others. In the past, the club had signed some football legends such as Roberto Rivelino, Mohamed Al-Deayea, and Yousuf Al-Thunayan among others (Wikipedia, 2014). Throughout the years, the club has displayed great football and teamwork; therefore, receiving recognition through the numerous tournaments that it has won. Al-Hilal FC lifted its first trophy in in 1961 when it won the King’s Cup tournament.

In 1964, the team was able to overpower its main rivals, Al-Ittihad through penalties to recapture the King’s cup. Many people had started to see the great potential in the team and this attracted a huge following. The club did not disappoint when the Saudi Premier League was started in 1976, as it emerged the first winners (FIFA, 2014). Up to date, Al-Hilal has won the Saudi Premier League ten times and finished as the second best team in eleven occasions. With the success, the team has been able to attract world-class football players and coaches.

It has also captured the attention of Saudi’s royal family as various members have reigned as the club’s presidents and chief donors (Al Hilal Saudi Club, 2014).In the past decade, the team has had a notable decline, especially in its failed attempts to recapture the continental cups. The team was unable to recapture the Asian Championship Cup since 1997 and it has not won the new Asian Champions League. However, the team has continued to excel in Saudi Arabia and extended its winning records in the Saudi Premier League, the Crown Prince Cup and the Saudi Federation Cup (FIFA, 2014).

ReferencesAl Hilal Saudi Club. (2014). Al Hilal Saudi Club - Official Site. Al Hilal Saudi Club - Official Site. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://www.alhilal.com/en/FIFA. (2014). Classic Football - Al-Hilal. FIFA.com. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/clubs/club=44286/Wikipedia. (2014). Al-Hilal FC. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hilal_FC#Club_Facilities