TheSaudi Arabia national football team (Arabic:مُنْتَخَب السُّعُودِيَّة لِكُرَّةُ الْقَدَم) representsSaudi Arabia in men's internationalfootball. They are known asAl-Suqour Al-Arabiyyah (Arabian Falcons) and sometimesAl-Suqour Al-Khodhur (The Green Falcons), a reference to their traditional colors of green and white, and represent bothFIFA and theAsian Football Confederation (AFC).
Considered one of Asia's most successful national teams, Saudi Arabia have won theAFC Asian Cup three times (1984, 1988 and 1996), reached a joint record six Asian Cup finals and have qualified for theFIFA World Cup on seven occasions since debuting at the1994 tournament. Saudi Arabia are the first Asian team to reach the final of a senior FIFA competition at the1992 King Fahd Cup, which would eventually become theFIFA Confederations Cup. OnlyAustralia andJapan managed to repeat this feat in1997 and2001 respectively, though Australia achieved it when they were a member of theOFC.
At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, under the leadership ofJorge Solari, Saudi Arabia beat bothBelgium andMorocco in the group stage before falling toSweden in the round of 16. Thus, they became the second Arab team in history to reach the knockout stage of a FIFA World Cup after Morocco in1986 and2022, and one of the few Asian national football teams (the others being Australia, Japan,South Korea andNorth Korea) to accomplish such a feat to date. During the2022 FIFA World Cup, Saudi Arabia caused a large upset when they beat eventual championsArgentina 2–1, the first time Argentina lost to an Asian representative at the World Cup. However, Saudi Arabia then lost the following matches againstPoland andMexico to finish last.
In 2027, Saudi Arabia will host theAFC Asian Cup, the first time that the nation has ever hosted a major international tournament.[5] They will also host the2034 FIFA World Cup.[6]
The idea of a Saudi national team first came about in 1951, when a Saudi XI team consisting of players fromAl-Wehda andAl-Ahli took part in a friendly game against the Egyptian Ministry of Health on 27 June at the Al-Saban Stadium inJeddah. The following day, the Egyptians took on a Saudi team made up of players fromAl-Ittihad andAl-Hilal in Al-Bahri in the same city. On 2 August, His Royal Highness PrinceAbdullah Al-Faisal organized a third friendly with the Egyptian team against Saudi Arabia with players fromAl-Wehda, andAl-Ahli. By then, the idea of a national select team to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was already in full flow, and in 1953 the first-ever Saudi team traveled to play friendly matches abroad. The same year, a Saudi team traveled toDamascus to play friendly matches as part of then-Crown PrinceSaud bin Abdulaziz's visit to the country in April.[7]
In 1957, the Saudi national team took part in their first international tournament at the2nd Pan-Arab Games inBeirut, where King Saud was invited to attend the opening ceremony and the inauguration of theCamille Chamoun Sports City Stadium with Lebanese PresidentCamille Chamoun on 18 October. Abdulmajeed Kayal scored for the Saudis whileLevon Altonian netted for the home side.[8]
Debuting successes and subsequent declines (1956–2016)
Though their football federation was established in 1956, the Saudi Arabia national team did not participate in a tournament until they qualified for theAFC Asian Cup in1984, becoming Asian champions for the first time.[9] Since then, they reached the next four consecutive Asian Cup finals, winning two of them (1988 and1996).[10][11] They have qualified for every AFC Asian Cup since, reaching the final in the2007 edition.[12]
Saudi national team in 1984.Saudi Arabia facing China in the1984 AFC Asian Cup.
Saudi Arabia qualified for their firstFIFA World Cup in1994 under the leadership of Argentine managerJorge Solari and talents likeSaeed Al-Owairan andSami Al-Jaber, reinforced by national veteranMajed Abdullah as team captain. Wins againstBelgium andMorocco in the group stage led to a match-up against Sweden in the round of 16, a 3–1 loss.[13] Saudi Arabia qualified for the next three FIFA World Cups, but failed to win a match in any of them; in the1998 FIFA World Cup, the team suffered an agonizing group stage elimination for the first time after only a draw was achieved, which occurred againstSouth Africa. The team placed last in the2002 FIFA World Cup without scoring a goal, while conceding 12, including eight againstGermany, the most humiliating FIFA World Cup performance ever by an Asian team since1954, and the team saw no improvement in the2006 FIFA World Cup after winning only a single point against Arab rivalTunisia.
After the2007 AFC Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia suffered even further setbacks. The Saudis failed to qualify for the2010 FIFA World Cup in agonizingplayoffs that saw them again give up their 2–1 lead to a 2–2 draw to neighborBahrain.[14] In the2011 AFC Asian Cup, the Saudis went on to have their worst-ever Asian Cup performance in history, losing all three games in a shocking style toSyria,Jordan andJapan.[15] Later on, Saudi Arabia failed to qualify for the2014 FIFA World Cup, finishing behindAustralia andOman in thethird round. This embarrassing record kept following the Saudis into the2015 AFC Asian Cup, as the Saudis suffered another group stage exit, this time losing toChina andUzbekistan. They only won againstNorth Korea.
Saudi Arabia secured qualification for the2018 FIFA World Cup, their first in 12 years,[16] ahead of Australia. In the first match ofGroup A and the tournament, Saudi Arabia were crushed by hostsRussia 5–0,[17] making this the second largest victory of any host.[18] Saudi Arabia then lost 1–0 to aLuis Suárez goal that putUruguay as the eventual group winners.[19] Although they were already eliminated,[20] Saudi Arabia managed to win their final group stage match againstRed Sea neighboursEgypt 2–1, coming back from behind after aMohamed Salah goal.[21]
After the 2018 World Cup, Saudi Arabia participated in the2019 AFC Asian Cup, held in theUnited Arab Emirates; the team finished second in the group stage, after falling toQatar in the final game,[22] leading to a showdown againstJapan in the round of 16. The Saudis dominated the whole game, but ultimately lost 1–0 due to poor finishing.[23]
On 15 October 2019, Saudi Arabia played its first-ever game withPalestine in theWest Bank; the game marked a change in policy for Saudi Arabia, which has previously played matches against the Palestinian team in third-party countries. The visit was condemned by some Palestinian activists, who considered the game as a start of normalizing the relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but it was viewed by thePalestinian National Authority as a support for their sovereignty over the West Bank.[24] The game ended in a scoreless draw.[25]
Saudi Arabia qualified for the2022 FIFA World Cup inQatar, the first to be held in the Middle East, by topping their qualifying group and were drawn againstArgentina,Poland andMexico.[26] In their opening game, they upsetArgentina 2–1 within the first five minutes of the second half with goals fromSaleh Al-Shehri andSalem Al-Dawsari, ending an Argentine unbeaten streak of 36 games dating back to 2019. The Saudi King declared a holiday after the win and Saudi fans celebrated with mocking words againstLionel Messi and the Argentine team.[27][28] In the next match against Poland,Piotr Zieliński opened proceedings with a goal in the 39th minute andRobert Lewandowski scored the second goal, whileSalem Al-Dawsari's penalty kick was saved by Polish goalkeeperWojciech Szczęsny as Saudi Arabia lost 2–0.[29] This required a win againstMexico to advance to the round of 16 regardless of the Argentina–Poland result. Fielding three strikers in front, Saudi Arabia however were unable to exert any domination over the Mexican side, conceding two early second half goals byHenry Martín andLuis Chávez, the second being a thunderous midfield free kick; a late consolation goal by Salem Al-Dawsari was not enough as Saudi Arabia fell 2–1 and were eliminated after finishing last inGroup C.[30]
Saudi Arabia starting line-up against eventual 2022 FIFA World Cup champions, where Saudi Arabia went on to beatArgentina 2–1.
Saudi Arabia, under new managerRoberto Mancini, entered the2023 AFC Asian Cup inGroup F withOman,Kyrgyzstan andThailand. The Saudis started their campaign with a 2–1 comeback win over neighbour Oman, whereAbdulrahman Ghareeb scored from a solo before a lateAli Al-Bulaihi's header sealed the dramatic win.[31] They then achieved a 2–0 win over Kyrgyzstan, where the Saudis were dominant from beginning to end against a nine-man squad.[32] The Saudis rested most of their key players as they held Thailand in a goalless draw to advance and top the group, putting the Saudis againstSouth Korea in the last sixteen.[33] Against South Korea,Abdullah Radif opened the scoring in the first minute of the second half, but after conceding aCho Gue-sung header in the ninth minute of second-half stoppage time, the game was determined by a penalty shootout after 30 minutes of extra time, where the Saudis lost 4–2 on penalties and were eliminated.[34]
Saudi Arabia struggled in their2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. After thesecond round, Saudi Arabia'sthird round proved troublesome; excluding China as the only team Saudi Arabia grabbed full six points, they obtained only one point againstIndonesia along with a 2–0 home loss to Japan, the first time ever Saudi Arabia lost to the Japanese at home.[35][36] Roberto Mancini was then sacked and Hervé Renard was recalled to salvage Saudi Arabia's campaign, but Saudi Arabia still failed to finish second place behind Australia in the end, resulting in their appearance in thefourth round.[37]
Saudi Arabia participated in their firstCONCACAF Gold Cup tournament in2025, reaching the quarter-finals where they lost 2–0 toMexico.[38] They then qualified for the2026 FIFA World Cup in October 2025, following their 3–2 fourth-round win over Indonesia and a goalless draw to Iraq that allowed Saudi Arabia to stay on top by superior goals scored; this is their third consecutive World Cup appearance and seventh overall.[39]
Traditionally, Saudi Arabia's home kit is white with a green trim, and the away kit is green with a white trim (theSaudi flag colors).[40] The team switched their colors to green as the home and white as the away in 2023.
Due to historical reasons, matches against Iran have been frequently followed and seen by Saudis as the most important rival. This stems from the strong hatred between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in particular in recent years due to historical enmities. Saudi Arabia has won 6 matches, drew 6 times, and lost 5 against Iran. It is one of the ten most heated rivalries with political influence.[43][44]
Saudi Arabia's rivalry against Iraq began in the 1970s. Due to theGulf War, in which Iraq invaded Saudi Arabia's ally Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq eventually became bitter rivals fighting to salvage Arab pride.[45] The two countries since then have been up-and-down in relations, often ranging from lack of cooperation to political confrontation. Iraq almost pulled out of the21st Arabian Gulf Cup after the country was disallowed to host the competition in a move believed to be motivated by Saudi Arabia.[46][47]
Outside the Middle East, the Saudis also have established rivalries withSouth Korea,Japan (including two Asian Cup finals) and most recentlyAustralia.[citation needed]
Historically, Saudi Arabia played most of their home matches inKing Fahd Sports City, located in the capitalRiyadh. The stadium was also where some of Saudi Arabia's most important fixtures were played when the country hosted the first threeKing Fahd Cups (the predecessor of the FIFA Confederations Cup). The stadium was also home to some of Saudi Arabia's matches in theFIFA World Cup qualifiers.
^The assistant coach, Laurent Bonadéi took charge of the national team temporarily for the2021 FIFA Arab Cup.
^The assistant coach, Saad Al-Shehri took charge of the national team temporarily for the25th Arabian Gulf Cup. He was once again named interim coach following Hervé Renard's resignation.
^Some sources have Al-Deayea listed with 178 appearances but this includes matches played against Olympic sides, matches that are not considered official for his teammates Sami Al-Jaber or Abdullah Zubromawi.[51][52][53]
*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided onpenalty shootouts. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicate 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.
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