Al Fateh SC

Al Fateh

Full name	Al Fateh Sports Club
Nickname(s)	Al Namothji (The Role Model) Abna Al Nakhil (Sons of the Palm)
Founded	1958; 66 years ago (1958)
Ground	Al-Fateh SC Stadium
Capacity	11,000[1]
Chairman	Mansour Al-Afaliq
Manager	Slaven Bilić
League	Pro League
2022–23	Pro League, 6th of 16
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Al Fateh Sports Club (Arabic: نادي الفتح الرياضي, romanized: nādī al-fataḥ ar-riyāḍiyy, lit. 'Conquest Sports Club') is a Saudi Arabian multi-sports club based in Al-Mubarraz, Al-Ahsa. It is mainly known for its professional football club. The club derives its nickname, "Al-Namothaji" (The Paragon), from the fact that almost all of the club's sports play in the national top flights.

History

Al Fateh have played in the lower divisions for most of their existence, unlike rivals and city neighbours Hajer FC who played in the top flight when they achieved promotions in the 80's, 90's and 2000's. Al Fateh hired Tunisian head coach Fathi Al-Jabal in the middle of the 2007-08 Saudi First Division League, in the 2008-09 season Al-Jabal finished as runners-up to guide Al Fateh to their first ever promotion to the Saudi Professional League. The club managed to stay up in the Saudi Professional League in their first ever top flight season. In the following two seasons the club set out to build a formidable squad, with Al Fateh already possessing talented home grown players such as Hamdan Al-Hamdan and Mohammed Al-Fuhaid, they also acquired the services of Congolese forward Doris Fuakumputu and former Al-Nasser Attacking midfielder Élton.

Saudi League Champions (2012–2013)

Al Fateh pulled off a surprise when on 14 April 2013, they won their first League title, with 2 games to spare, following a 1–0 home win over Al-Ahli. Al Fateh became the seventh club to win the Pro League. This is considered by many to be one of the greatest shocks in Saudi football history, especially considering that Al Fateh were promoted to the Pro League for the first time only four years earlier.^[2] This was the first time a club outside the Riyadh and Jeddah clubs to win the Saudi Professional League since the 1986–87 season. Élton won the Player of the Season award by scoring 11 goals and bagging 10 assists, as well as Doris Fuakumputu scoring 17 goals to lead Al Fateh to the title.

Later, they played in the inaugural edition of the Saudi Super Cup to face Al-Ittihad, after 90 minutes the score was a 2-2 draw and the game went into extra time. Élton scored the winning goal of the game in the 111th minute, Al Fateh defeated Al-Ittihad 3–2 after extra time to become the inaugural champions of the Saudi Super Cup.^[3]

Al Fateh advanced to the 2014 AFC Champions League group stage in their debut campaign as 2012–13 Saudi Professional League champions, but crashed out of the group stage with a (2D,4L) record and without winning a single match. Al Fateh qualified again to the 2017 AFC Champions League due to Al-Ittihad, the 2015–16 Saudi Professional League 3rd place, could not participate in the AFC Champions League because of club licensing requirements problems. As a result, Al Taawoun, the league 4th place, entered the group stage instead of the qualifying play-offs, while Al Fateh, the league 5th place, entered the qualifying play-offs.^[4] Al Fateh defeated Nasaf Qarshi 1-0 in the Qualifying play-offs to advance to the group stage (Group B).^[5]

Honours

League

• Saudi Professional League (Level 1)
  • Winners (1): 2012–13
• Saudi First Division (Level 2)
  • Runners-up (1): 2008–09
• Second Division (Level 3)
  • Winners (3): 1982–83, 1996–97, 1998–99
  • Runners-up (1): 2002–03

Cup

• Saudi Super Cup
  • Winners (1): 2013

Current squad

As of Saudi Professional League:

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SWE Jacob Rinne 2 DF  KSA Ali Al-Zubaidi 4 MF  AUS Jordan Harrison 5 DF  KSA Fahad Al-Harbi 7 MF  KSA Mukhtar Ali (on loan from Al-Nassr) 8 MF  KSA Nooh Al-Mousa 10 MF  ARM Lucas Zelarayán 11 MF  MAR Mourad Batna 12 DF  KSA Saeed Baattiah 13 DF  KSA Meshal Al-Hamdan 14 MF  KSA Mohammed Al-Fuhaid (Captain) 15 MF  KSA Hassan Al-Mohammed 17 DF  MAR Marwane Saâdane 18 DF  KSA Mohammed Al-Saeed 20 FW  KSA Abdullah Al-Mogren 21 FW  CPV Djaniny 24 DF  KSA Ammar Al-Daheem 25 DF  KSA Tawfiq Buhimed

No. Pos. Nation Player 28 MF  ALG Sofiane Bendebka 29 FW  KSA Ali Al-Masoud 32 MF  KSA Hussain Al-Momatin 35 MF  KSA Faisal Al-Abdulwahed 36 MF  KSA Rakan Al-Qahtani 37 MF  ESP Cristian Tello 40 GK  KSA Sattam Al-Subaie 42 DF  KSA Ahmed Al-Julaydan 49 FW  KSA Saad Al-Shurafa 55 GK  KSA Waleed Al-Enezi 64 DF  BEL Jason Denayer 66 MF  KSA Abbas Al-Hassan 75 MF  KSA Fuad Al-Shaqaq 77 FW  KSA Ali Al-Jassem 83 DF  KSA Salem Al-Najdi 87 DF  KSA Qassem Lajami 88 MF  KSA Othman Al-Othman 94 MF  KSA Abdullah Al-Anazi

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  KSA Ziyad Al-Jari (on loan to Al-Orobah) 26 GK  KSA Mustafa Malayekah (on loan to Al-Shabab) 30 MF  KSA Osama Al-Mobairik (on loan to Al-Rawdhah)

No. Pos. Nation Player 38 MF  KSA Lo'ay Al-Johani (on loan to Al-Qaisumah) 99 FW  KSA Hassan Al Salis (on loan to Al-Orobah) — MF  PER Christian Cueva (on loan to Alianza Lima)

International competitions

Overview

As of 13 August 2019

International record

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2012–13	Arab Club Champions Cup	1R	Al-Jahra	1–0	2–1	3–1
		2R	Al-Arabi	2–2	2–3	4–5
2014	AFC Champions League	Group B	Bunyodkor	0–0	2−3	4th
			Foolad	1–5	0−1
			El Jaish	0–0	0−2
2017	AFC Champions League	PO	Nasaf Qarshi	1–0	–	1–0
		Group B	Esteghlal Khuzestan	1–1	0−1	3rd
			Lekhwiya	2–2	1−4
			Al Jazira	3–1	0−0

Management staff

Position	Name
Manager	Slaven Bilić
Assistant Manager	Danilo Butorović
First-Team Coach	Ibrahim Al-Hanafi Majid Al-Burhan
Goalkeeping Coach	Vatroslav Mihačić
Fitness Coach	Yaqoob Al-Ghanim
Assistant fitness coach	Saud Al-Mawlawi
Chief Analyst	Miguel Ángel Baltanás
Performance Analyst	Omar Al-Amri
Sporting Director	Nicola Innocentin
Head of Performance	Abdulelah Al-Yami
Performance Manager	Salim Al-Hanbali
Head of Medical	Hussein Al-Jaffar
Doctor	Dr. Ihab Al-Hamid
Physiotherapist	Thamer Al-Ghannad
Director of football	Abdulkader Al-Aqdi

Managers

• Ahmed Al-Saud (1997 – 1998)
• Moustafa Younis (1998 – 1999)
• Hocine Belhassen (July 1, 1999 – December 15, 2000)
• Senad Kreso (December 15, 2000 – August 1, 2001)
• Faruk Jusić (September 5, 2001 – December 30, 2001)
• Ahmed Al-Saud (caretaker) (December 30, 2001 – January 21, 2002)
• Ali Boushlaibi (January 21, 2002 – May 30, 2002)
• Mondher Ladhari (July 1, 2002 – May 30, 2004)
• Fahad Al-Shurfa (caretaker) (July 12, 2004 – September 6, 2004)
• Zouhair Louati (September 6, 2004 – May 30, 2005)
• Najib Hemimo (August 1, 2005 – November 1, 2005)
• Ali Bo Saleh (caretaker) (November 1, 2005 – December 23, 2005)
• Rachid Ben Ammar (December 23, 2005 – March 6, 2006)
• Bahaaeddine Qebisi (March 9, 2006 – January 12, 2007)
• Ali Bo Saleh (caretaker) (January 12, 2007 – February 2, 2007)
• Omar Meziane (February 2, 2007 – June 1, 2007)
• Senad Kreso (July 31, 2007 – December 31, 2007)
• Yousef Al-Sarouj (caretaker) (December 31, 2007 – January 24, 2008)
• Fathi Al-Jabal (January 24, 2008 – May 26, 2014)
• Juan José Maqueda (May 27, 2014 – September 25, 2014)
• Nacif Beyaoui (October 1, 2014 – May 29, 2016)
• Ricardo Sá Pinto (May 29, 2016 – September 23, 2016)
• Fathi Al-Jabal (October 11, 2016 – October 14, 2019)
• Yannick Ferrera (October 14, 2019 – January 9, 2022)
• Georgios Donis (January 9, 2022 – May 31, 2023)
• Slaven Bilić (July 8, 2023 – )

See also

• List of football clubs in Saudi Arabia

References

External links

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