Al-Shabab (Saudi Arabia)
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| Al-Shabab | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Al-Shabab | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The White Lion The Sheikh (Chief) The King |
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| Founded | 1947 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | King Fahd Stadium Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Capacity 67,000) |
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| Chairman |  Khaled AlBaltan |
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| Manager |  Enzo Trossero |
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| League | Saudi Premier League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Saudi Premier League, 3rd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Current season |
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Al-Shabab (Arabic: الشباب) is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Riyadh. It was founded in 1947, and was named at first Shabab AlRiyadh, but later in 1967 was named Al Shabab. Al Shabab is well known in Saudi Arabia as one of the best in football. Al Shabab club is also well known for producing great players, as Saeed Al-Owairan who scored the crucial goal for Saudi Arabia against Belgium in the 1994 World Cup, and the 6th best in the history of the World Cup. Also Fuad Amin, who scored Saudi Arabia's first World Cup goal against Netherland. Al Shabab is also known for selling many players to other Saudi clubs, as Ruda Tokar (Ittihad) and Abdulaziz AlKhatran (Hilal).
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[edit] History
Al Shabab was the first football club in Riyadh. The club began in 1947, with many conflicts before with its numerous members, but it was settled in 1947 and Abdulrahman Bin Saeed was the president. 5 years later, Al Shabab won its first tournament beating Sakit AlHadeed (Railway Club) in Riyadh. Then 3 years later, in 1955 Al Shabab beat the Military College to win the King Saud Cup. 2 years passed, and a new conflict aroused in 1957. The player, Saleh Jaber, was assigned captain, but then was fired, and the new captain was Ahmed Lmfoon. This did not please some members of the club. Soon the conflict was impossible to solve, and Abdulrahman Bin Saeed and some members, left Al Shabab and created a new football club, which is the club known today as Hilal. The club stopped for half a year due to financial weakness after the departure of its founder Abdulrahman Bin Saeed. Then in the beginning of 1959 another problem began, Abdullah Bin Ahmed, the president then, was all alone taking care of the club. He couldn't take the pressure of handling the club alone, and decided to take a vacation abroad. Before traveling, he disbanded the first team, and most of the players signed for other clubs mainly Ahli Jeddah and Hilal. What was left was the youth team, and the player Abdulrahman Bin Ahmed decided to take care of the youth team. Soon Abdullah Bin Ahmed returned, and many members returned and supported the club. Then Abdullah Bin Ahmed announced the return of forming the first team, and some players returned, but some stayed at Ahli and Hilal. Also in 1959 was the formation of the Saudi Football Federation, and all football clubs were announced official. In 1960 in the first official tournament called King Saud Cup for the Central Province, Al Shabab faced Al Hilal in their first official games between the two, and won 3-0 to win their first cup.
In the 1960s, everyone wanted to play and be part of the club, and after the request of Al Najmah FC and Al Marekh in 1967, they were united as one club and changed their name from Shabab Riyadh, to simply Al Shabab. The colors of the team were at first white and green, then they were changed after the unification to orange and blue, but in 1977 it was changed to white, gray, and black, the current colors. In 1975 Al Shabab was delegated to the 1st Division. But the next season it was able to win 1st place, and was relegated back to the Premier League in 1976. In 1993, Al Shabab became the first club in Saudi Arabia to win 3 premier leagues in a row. In 2007, Al Shabab became the first club in Saudi Arabia to build projects to increase the club's revenue, and began a 200 million dollar project which contains a 5 star hotel, and a shopping mall. During a visit to the club in January 2008, Al Shabab's main supporter, Khaled Bin Sultan, announced the launch of two new projects, Al Laith TV Channel, and Al Shabab Museum.
[edit] Achievements
- Saudi Premier League: 5
- Champion : 1991, 1992, 1993, 2004, 2006
- Runner-up : 1998, 2005
- Champion : 1991, 1992, 1993, 2004, 2006
- Saudi Champions Cup : 1
- Champion : 2008
- Crown Prince Cup: 3
- Champion : 1993, 1996, 1999
- Runner-up : 1992, 1994, 2000
- Champion : 1993, 1996, 1999
- Saudi Federation cup: 2
- Champion : 1988, 1989
- Saudi League Division 1 : 1
- Champion : 1976
- King Saud Cup : 1
- Champion : 1960
- Asian Cup Winners Cup: 1
- Champion : 2001
- Arab Champions League: 2
- Champion :1992, 1999
- Arab Super Cup: 2
- Champion : 1996 , 2001
- Gulf Club Champions Cup: 2
- Champion : 1993 , 1994
[edit] Performance in AFC Competitions
- AFC Champions League: 3 appearances
- Group Stage : 2005, 2007
- Quarterfinal : 2006
[edit] 2006 ACL Group D Standing
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
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| Al Shabab |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 13 |
 Al-Sadd |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 13 |
 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya |
6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 6 |
 Al-Arabi |
6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 3 |
- Al Shabab qualified due to the home-away result between Al Shabab and Al Sadd in which Al Shabab won 3-2 away, and drew 0-0 at home.
Quarterfinal
Ulsan Hyundai 6 - 0 Al Shabab Al Shabab 0 - 1 Ulsan Hyundai
[edit] 2007 ACL Group D Standing
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
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 Sepahan |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 13 |
| Al Shabab |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
 Al Ain FC |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 6 |
 Al-Ittihad Aleppo |
6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 | -10 | 3 |
- Asian Club Championship: 3 appearances
- Runner Up :- 1993
- Group Stage :- 1994 ; 1995
- Runner Up :- 1993
[edit] Records
- First Saudi club to win 3 Saudi Premier League in a row, 1991, 1992, and 1993.
- First Saudi club to win the professional and new Saudi Premier League in 1991. Also first Saudi club to win the Saudi Champions Cup in 2008.
- Only club in the world to play 2 games in one day, in 1999 in the afternoon in the Arab Elite Cup final, and at night in the Crown Prince Cup final against Al-Hilal. This was due to bad planning by the Saudi FA, in which Al Shabab decided to use two teams, one in Syria to play the Arabic final, and another compromised of the starting players in Riyadh to play the Crown Prince Cup final against Al-Hilal, in which they lost the Arabic final, but won the Crown Prince Cup.
- Largest margin win was against Al Shoalah during a friendly tournament in 2007, 8-0. Largest margin win in an official game was against Al Tai in the Saudi Premier League in 2003, 7-0. Largest margin win against a high-ranked club was 6-1 against Al-Nasr in the Saudi Premier League 2004.
[edit] The club today
Al Shabab had a training camp in Tunisia before the beginning of the football season, and won the ART Friendly Tournament, in which Al Hilal, Wehda, and Al Hazm also participated. The team is expected to do well this season, after bringing 2 stars to the club, Naser AlShamrani and Naif AlQadi.
Al Shabab began the new season facing Nassr, tying 1-1. The club continued to drop points by tying Al Taey, and losing to Al Ahli in Riyadh. But soon Al Shabab went back to victory against the ambitious Wehda, and against the newcomers, Najran SC away. The victory didn't stay long, they soon lost to Al Hazm at home, tied with Ittifaq away, but came back demolishing Al Qadisiyah 5-2 away. Winning continued away against Al-Watani. Again they played Nasr, but couldn't beat them ending the game 2-2. Soon they came head to head with the current Saudi Premier League champion, and the current first place, Ittihad. Playing at home, Abdoh Autef began the scoring, which soon followed a penalty scored by Naser AlShamrani, to end the first half 2-0. But Ittihad didn't give up easily, and pulled one up in the beginning of the first half. Al Shabab's defense and amazing goalkeeper, Waleed Abdullah, stood against Ittihad's ferocious offense, but the third came by the bullet, Naji Majrashi fast sprint facing the goalkeeper, who saved it, but Naser AlShamrani continued the ball to score the third. Ittihad soon came back by a penalty scored by Mohammed Nour, and the game ended 3-2. After that Al Shabab defeated Al Tai 2-0 in Riyadh.
Currently, Naser AlShamrani is the goalscorer of the Saudi Premier League with 8 goals, and Shabab's main forward with the support of Naji Majrashi. Al Shabab is currently 2nd in the Saudi Premier League.
[edit] Current Squad
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[edit] Squad changes for 2007 season
- In
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MF | Marcelo Camacho (from Al Arabi) |
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MF | Juan Manuel Martinez (from  Cúcuta Deportivo) |
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FW | Michael Eneramo (from  Espérance Sportive de Tunis) left the club for poor performance in November 2007 |
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DF | Hamed AlEisa (from Ittihad) |
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FW | Nasser Al-Shamrani (from Al-Wehda) |
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DF | Naif Al-Qadi (from Al-Rayyan) |
- Out
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FW | Godwin Attram (to Al Hazm) |
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MF | Nashat Akram (to Al Ain FC) |
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DF | Mohamed Hamdan (to Al-Watani) |
[edit] World Cup Players
- Fuad Amin
- Saeed Al-Owairan
- Fahad Al-Mehallel
- Saleh Al-Dawod
- Awad Al-Anazi
[edit] External links
| Saudi Arabian Premier League 2007-2008 |  |
| Al-Ahli | Al-Watani | Al Hazm | Al-Hilal | Al Tai | Al-Qadisiyah | |
| Al-Ettifaq | Al-Ittihad | Najran SC | Al-Nasr | Al-Shabab | Al-Wahda |
