Football

The Saudi Arabia national football team (Arabic: منتخب السعودية لكرة القدم‎) (known by its fans as al-Sogour which means “The Falcons” or al-Akhdar which means “The Green”) is the national team of Saudi Arabia and is controlled by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation. Considered one of Asia’s most successful national teams, Saudi Arabia has won the Asian Cup three times (1984, 1988, and 1996) and qualified for the World Cup four consecutive times ever since debuting at the 1994 tournament.

In the 1994 World Cup, Saudi Arabia upset seeded Belgium and beat Morocco in the group stage before falling to Sweden in the Round of 16. Saudi Arabia was dismissed in the first round of the next three Cup tournaments.

Mohamed Al-Deayea, the team’s former goalkeeper, is the world recordholder for the most international appearances by a male football player.

[] World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1934	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1966	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Round of 16	12	4	2	0	2	5	6
1998	Round 1	28	3	0	1	2	2	7
2002	Round 1	32	3	0	0	3	0	12
2006	Round 1	28	3	0	1	2	2	7
2010	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	4/19		13	2	2	9	9	32

FIFA World Cup History
Year	Round	Score	Result
1994	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 1 – 2  Netherlands	Loss
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 2 – 1  Morocco	Win
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 1 – 0  Belgium	Win
	Round 2	Saudi Arabia 1 – 3  Sweden	Loss
1998	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 0 – 1  Denmark	Loss
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 0 – 4  France	Loss
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 2 – 2  South Africa	Draw
2002	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 0 – 8  Germany	Loss
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 0 – 1  Cameroon	Loss
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 0 – 3  Republic of Ireland	Loss
2006	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 2 – 2  Tunisia	Draw
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 0 – 4  Ukraine	Loss
	Round 1	Saudi Arabia 0 – 1  Spain	Loss
Total		9-32

[] Asian Cup record

AFC Asian Cup Record
Year	Round
1956	Did not enter
1960	Did not enter
1964	Did not enter
1968	Did not enter
1972	Did not enter
1976	Withdrew
1980	Did not enter
1984	Champions
1988	Champions
1992	Second place
1996	Champions
2000	Second place
2004	Group stage
2007	Second Place
2011	qualified

[] Gulf Cup of Nations Record

3 times Champions (1994, 2002, 2003)

• 1970: Third Place
• 1972: Runner Up
• 1974: Runner Up
• 1976: Fifth Place
• 1979: Third Place
• 1982: Fourth Place
• 1984: Third Place
• 1986: Third Place
• 1988: Third Place
• 1990: Withdrew
• 1992: Third Place
• 1994: Champions
• 1996: Third Place
• 1998: Runner Up
• 2002: Champions
• 2003: Champions
• 2004: Round 1
• 2007: Third Place
• 2009: Runner Up

King Fahd International Stadium

[] Arab Nations Cup Record

Best result :2times Champions (1998, 2002)

[] Youth National Team Records

[] FIFA U-20 World Cup Record

• 1977 – 1983 Did not qualify
• 1985 : Round 1
• 1987 : Round 1
• 1989 : Round 1
• 1991 : Did not qualify
• 1993 : Round 1
• 1995 – 1997 : Did not qualify
• 1999 : Round 1
• 2001 : Did not qualify
• 2003 : Round 1
• 2005 – 2007 : Did not qualify

[] FIFA U-17 World Cup Record

• 1985 : Quarter-finals
• 1987 : Round 1
• 1989 : Champions
• 1989 – 2009 : Didn’t qualify

[] AFC Youth Championship Record

• Best result :2times Champions (1986, 1992)
• 2002 : Third place
• 2004 : Did not qualify
• 2006 : Quarter-finals
• 2008 : Qualified

[] AFC U-17 Championship Record

• 1985 : Champions
• 1986 : Third Place
• 1988 : Champions
• 1990 : Did not qualify
• 1992 : Third Place
• 1994 : Round 1
• 1996 – 2004 : Did not qualify
• 2006 : Quarter-finals
• 2008 : Quarter-finals

[] Islamic Solidarity Games Record

• 2005 : Champions

[] Competition history

• DNE = Did not enter; DNQ = Did not qualify; QBW = Qualified but withdrew.
• Pos = Position; P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against.
• Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

[] Coaches Manager From To Abdul-Rahman Fawzi 1957 1962 Ali Chaouach 1962 1970 George Seknas 1970 1972 Taha Ismail 1972 1974 Abdo Saleh Washash 1974 1974 Ferenc Puskás 1975 1975 Bill McGarry 1976 1977 Danny Allison 1978 1978 David Wallit 1979 1979 Rubens Minelli 1980 1980 Mario Zagallo 1981 1984 Khalil Ibrahim Al-Zayani 1984 1984 Kosia Tastilo 1986 1986 Osvaldo 1987 1987 Carlos Galletti 1988 1988 Omar Borras 1988 1988 Carlos Alberto Parreira 1988 1990 Metin Türel 1990 1990 Caldinho Garcia 1992 1992 Veloso 1992 1992 Jose Candido 1993 1993 Leo Beenhakker 1993 1994 Mohammad Al Kharashi 1994 1994 Ivo Wortmann 1994 1994 Jorge Raul Solari 1994 1994 Mohammad Al Kharashi 1995 1995 Ze Mario 1995 1996 Eduardo Vingada/Nelo Vingada 1996 1997 Otto Pfister 1998 1998 Carlos Alberto Parreira 1998 1998 Mohammad Al Kharashi 1999 1999 Otto Pfister 1999 1999 Milan Máčala 2000 2000 Nasser Al Johar 2000 2000 Slobodan Santrac 2001 2001 Nasser Al Johar 2002 2002 Gerard van der Lem 2002 2004 Martin Koopman 2002 2002 *one game only Gabriel Calderon 2004 2006 Marcos Paqueta 2006 2007 Helio dos Anjos 2007 2008 Nasser Al Johar June 2008 February 2009 José Peseiro February 2009 Present [] Current Squad The following players were called for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches on September 5 and 10 2009 No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Waleed Abdullah April 19, 1986 23 0 Al-Shabab 12 GK Mansour Al-Naje July 1, 1978 4 0 Al-Ahli 2 DF Majed Al-Marshedi November 1, 1984 9 0 Al-Hilal 3 DF Redha Tukar November 29, 1975 98 11 Al-Ittihad 4 DF Osama Hawsawi March 31, 1984 48 1 Al-Hilal 5 DF Hassan Mouath November 2, 1983 5 0 Al-Shabab 16 DF Abdullah Al-Zori July 29, 1987 22 1 Al-Hilal 13 DF Hussein Аbdualghani January 21, 1977 107 3 Al-Nassr 15 MF Abdoh Otaif April 2, 1984 44 4 Al-Shabab 10 MF Mohammad Al-Shalhoub December 8, 1980 58 22 Al-Hilal 14 MF Saheb Al-Abdullah July 21, 1977 5 0 Al-Ahli 8 MF Mohammed Noor February 26, 1978 74 23 Al-Ittihad 18 MF Ahmed Al-Fraidi January 29, 1988 15 5 Al-Hilal 6 MF Ahmed Otaif April 14, 1983 25 1 Al-Shabab 17 MF Taisir Al-Jassim July 25, 1984 47 6 Al-Ahli 9 FW Saleh Bashir September 4, 1982 14 2 Al-Ittifaq 11 FW Naif Hazazi January 11, 1989 11 6 Al-Ittihad 7 FW Nasser Al-Shamrani November 23, 1983 26 2 Al-Shabab 18 FW Yasser Al-Qahtani October 10, 1982 68 50 Al Hilal