Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah)























































Al-Ittihad FC
Ittihad-logo2016-i rakkan.png
Full name Al-Ittihad FC
Nickname(s) The people's club
More than a club
Founded January 4, 1927; 91 years ago (1927-01-04)
Ground King Abdullah Sports City
Capacity 62,000[1]
President Nawaf Al-Mugairen
Head coach Slaven Bilić
League Saudi Professional League
2017–18 Saudi Professional League, 9th
Website Club website

















Home colours














Away colours




Current season

Al-Ittihad Club Saudi Arabia (Arabic: نادي الاتحاد العربي السعودي‎), also simply known as Al-Ittihad, literally meaning The Union, is a Saudi Premier League football club based in Jeddah. Al-Ittihad has won 8 League titles and also holds 48 official championship wins, three of them being Asian championships.


The club was founded on January 4, 1927 before the third Saudi state was declared, making it the oldest club in Saudi Arabia. The most successful period in Al-Ittihad's history was the 1990s and mid 2000s, when the club won numerous honours both domestically and continental. The team won Cup Winners Cup in 1999 and two Champions League titles in 2004 and 2005 and as far as going on to compete in the 2005 FIFA Club World Cup. The club has the distinction of being the only Asian club to have won the AFC Champions League twice in a row.


Al-Ittihad has a record of home average attendance for Asia clubs in domestic league matches with the average of 42,371 on 2014/2015 season and that is for the club's big popularity which is the first in Saudi Arabia And Asia.


The club's most famous Saudi players are Saeed Ghorab, Hamzah Idris, Ahmad Jamil, Al Hasan Al-Yami, Mohammed Noor and with the most famous foreign players being the famous Brazilian international player Bebeto who played for Al-Ittihad from 2001 to 2002 and The Brazilian Attacking Midfielder Tcheco who played for Al-Ittihad from 2003 to 2005 and came back on in 2008 for one season.


In May 2015, Al-Ittihad entered The Guinness Book Of Records, as the first and only Saudi Arabian/Asian club entering it, because the club had won 232 different local and regional championships in games in Mansour Albalawi's reign as a chairman of the club from 2002 to 2008, and for back-to-back wins of the AFC Champions League in 2004 and 2005, as the only Asian team to accomplish it.




Contents






  • 1 History


    • 1.1 Foundation


      • 1.1.1 Club name "United"


      • 1.1.2 Earlier


      • 1.1.3 Their first championship (1933)






  • 2 Rivalries


  • 3 Present-day


  • 4 Support and Stadium


  • 5 Sponsorship


    • 5.1 Official sponsor




  • 6 Club statistics


    • 6.1 Club honours


    • 6.2 Friendly


    • 6.3 Records & statistics


      • 6.3.1 Other records


      • 6.3.2 League records




    • 6.4 Performance in AFC competitions


    • 6.5 Top scorers in AFC competitions


    • 6.6 AFC club rankings


    • 6.7 Asian Record




  • 7 Current squad


    • 7.1 First team squad


    • 7.2 Other players under contract


    • 7.3 Out on loan




  • 8 Notable players


  • 9 Personnel


    • 9.1 Current technical staff


    • 9.2 Management




  • 10 Presidents


  • 11 Managerial history


  • 12 References


  • 13 External links





History



Foundation


The club was founded after a meeting, on January 4, 1927, of some of the notable football enthusiasts of the city of Jeddah. They met in the offices of the radio broadcasting company and discussed the idea of forming a football club to compete with various traveling teams and be a source of entertainment for inhabitants and an outlet for the city youth to practice organised sport. Everyone agreed that they should go ahead with creating the team that unites them and Ittihad Jeddah was born. The attendees were Hamza Fitaihi, Abdulsamad Najeeb Alsaady, Ismail Zahran, Ali Yamani, Abdulaziz Jameel, Abdulateef Jameel, Abdulateef Linjawi, Othman Banajah, Ahmad Abu Talib, Ali Sultan, Ahmed Almir and Saleh Salamah.



Club name "United"










the name of club which contains from this wisdom, Mazen Mohammed words that created the current club name. Club owners agrees with him to put the club name Al-Ittihad (United or Union, jointly) in Arabic.



Earlier


Ismail Zahran team player who was working as in Radio Office in Jeddah to the possibility of electing the head of the works Mr. Sultan to be a President of the Club, However, Ali Sultan became the first official president of the club. Al-Ittihad did not find at first a strong support, there wasn't an official clubs (communities) such as Al Riyadhi, Because the presence of powerful culture in the city of Jeddah only. the established of Saudi Federation was slowly in the 50s, was established after 29 years from Ittihad foundation year. In their first meeting with Al-Riyadhi, Al-Ittihad make it victory with 3–0 won.



Their first championship (1933)


The club has achieved a historic first tournament, which was called the cup of Nishan Nazer, counted as an official tournament, The cup have formed a popularity of Al-Ittihad, Because of a challenge between them in the final. Depending on the narrator, the winner can burn the Embassy wood's. the Championship attended by several of the clubs, communities, fought Al-Ittihad where several games to achieve access to the final. with Al-Mukhtalat. The weather was dust, did not complete the first half, the match was stopped about 10 minutes. the referee stopped the game to rest for 8 minutes, the weather was changed for the better with the second half, Al-Mukhtalat squad had led to fail, it was a low attacking level. The most prominent player in the game is Al-Itithad defender Safwan which was sacrificed for his team. the club won the championship by 3–0 against Al-Mukhtalat. The most important characteristic of this tournament is the first sporting event held in the reign of the founder King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud.



Rivalries



Al-Ittihad has long-standing rivalry with Al-Hilal. From the start of national competitions the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival cities: Riyadh and Jeddah. After the success of Al-Hilal in Asia and won two Champions League in years 1991 and 1999, on the other side, Al Ittihad has won two titles in two years, they produced arguably the biggest shock in Asian club history when they overturned a 3–1 home defeat by Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, pulling off a 5–0 away win to secure the Asian crown. Al Ittihad is also known as club of the people such as Barcelona or Liverpool. the club has strong support for being the club of the people. While Al-Hilal for its royalty, Al-Hilal has large number of supporters most in the capital city and the eastern region.


Al-Ittihad also has a rivalry with other Jeddah club, their neighbors Al-Ahli. Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli have a lot of fans who are the most dangerous fans in Saudi Arabia, which Al-Ittihad's lovers consider Al-Ahli's fans a hated-rivals. The duo played their match at Jeddah, which named "Derby Jeddah" or "The Western Derby". The largest victory was for Al-Ittihad when they defeated Al-Ahli 8–2 in 1966.



Present-day


Ittihad's success is not limited only to football, but also in basketball, water polo, table tennis, volleyball, and swimming, amongst others. In total, Ittihad has won 8649 trophies. However, football remains the primary sport.


Ittihad is now based in Sahafa street, Mushrefa district, in east Jeddah, where they have a large sports complex. Senior teams play official games at the municipal sports centre, in the south of the city, while youth teams play at the club.[citation needed]


In December 2006, the club offered what was thought to be the most lucrative deal in Arabian football to Portuguese midfielder Luís Figo. It was said that Luís Figo will join the club on July 1, 2007 after his current contract with Internazionale expires. However, not long after, Figo's current club, Internazionale released report that Figo had yet to sign a contract with Al-Ittihad and will not be joining. Figo has since extended his contract at Inter until the end of the 2007–08 season citing that the terms of the agreement were not kept and thus voided the contract.


In January 2010, the club convened an extraordinary club meeting after losing their 4th game of the 2009–10 season 1–2 to Al-Nasr. A decision was made to sack the head coach Gabriel Calderón and replace him with local coach Hassan Khalifa assisted by former striker Hamzah Idris.[2] On January 27, 2010, the club hired Argentinean coach Enzo Trossero to take over the reins of the team. On Dec 15, 2015 Ittihad FC appointed Victor Piturca as their manager for the second time after a string of bad results by the other coach. He lost his first game in AFC this season against Al-Nasr FC 2-1 on March 13, 2016.[3]



Support and Stadium


Al-Ittihad has built a strong fan-base in Jeddah, across Saudi Arabia and amongst the Arab League and in Asia. The club supporters are renowned for being spirited and for their chants. The wonderful huge stadium opened officially on May 1, 2014 King Abdullah Sports City Stadium is their new home now, there they can express their passion and love, that stadium accommodates above 60,000 (b.s.). Al-Ittihad shares the newly built state of the art King Abdullah Sports City Stadium with local rival Al-Ahli, with their previous home the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal stadium facing massive delays in construction works, having been expected to be fully functional before the new King Abdullah Stadium.



Sponsorship



Official sponsor


In a press conference on January 9, 2006; president of the club Mansour Albalawi announced that Sela Sport Co (which is the sponsor of Saudi National Team) will pay 350 million riyals to sponsor Al-Ittihad for 5 seasons. Al-Ittihad was later on sponsored by the Saudi Telecom Company, however the team has not renewed STC's contract.


































































Period
Kit manufacturer
Shirt sponsor
1999–03

Umbro

Multiple
2003–05

Lotto

Lingo
2006–07

Hattrick

STC
2007–08

Nike
2008–10

Lotto
2010–12

Nike
2012–13

One
2013–2014

One

None
2014–2015

Errea
2015–2016

Adidas

Bupa Arabia / Mobil 1
2016–2017

Joma[4]

Bridgestone / Unionaire / Almosafer / Mobil 1
2017–2018

Bridgestone / Unionaire / Mobil 1
2018–

Bridgestone / Unionaire / Mobil 1


Club statistics



Club honours










1The tournament was held on February 25, 1933.



Records & statistics



Other records































































































































































































































































































































































































































Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA GD P Domestic cups AFC Other Competitions Top scorer Manager
1998–99
SPL 1 22 15 3 4 45 32 +13
48

CPC

PFC

ACWC,

ASC

GCC
 
 

Belgium Dimitri
1999–2000
SPL 1 22 16 3 3 69 23 +46
51

CPC


 Saudi Arabia Hamzah Idris
 33

Brazil Oscar
2000–01
SPL 1 22 11 5 6 35 23 +12
38

CPC


EC
 —
 —

Argentina Ardiles
2001–02
SPL 2 22 15 4 3 59 25 +34
49

CPC


 —
 —

Brazil Oscar
2002–03
SPL 1 22 15 4 3 53 24 +29
49

CPC

PFC


SSC

EC
 Brazil Cleberson
 8

Brazil Oscar, Saudi Arabia Khalid Al Koroni
2003–04
SPL 2 22 17 5 0 57 15 +42
56

CPC

ACL

 Saudi Arabia Mohammed Noor
 8

Croatia Tomislav Ivić, Croatia Talajić, Croatia Luka Peruzović
2004–05
SPL 3 22 11 5 6 53 37 +16
38

CPC

ACL

ARCL
 Brazil Sérgio Ricardo Messias Neves
 13

Romania Iordănescu
2005–06
SPL 3 22 11 9 2 47 28 +19
42

CPC

ACL

Quarter-finals

 Sierra Leone Mohamed Kallon
 12

France Metsu
2006–07
SPL 1 22 15 3 4 52 25 +27
48

CPC

PFC


 Guinea Alhassane Keita
 21

Belgium Dimitri
2007–08
SPL 2 22 14 6 2 40 16 +24
48

CC

ACL

Group Stage


Brazil Magno Alves
14

Argentina Calderón
2008–09
SPL 1 22 17 4 1 57 21 +36
55

CC

PFC

ACL


Morocco Hicham Aboucherouane
17

Argentina Calderón
2009–10
ZPL 2 22 14 3 5 46 30 +16
45

CC

ACL

Group Stage


Algeria Abdelmalek Ziaya
15

Argentina Calderón, Argentina Enzo Héctor
2010–11
ZPL 2 26 13 12 1 49 23 +20
51

CC

ACL

Semi-finals

  Saudi Arabia Naif Hazazi
18

Portugal Manuel José, Portugal Toni Oliveira, Belgium Dimitri
2011–12
ZPL 5 26 10 7 9 49 35 +14
37

CPC

ACL

Semi-finals

  Saudi Arabia Hazazi
20

Slovenia Kek, Spain Raul Caneda
2012–13
ZPL 7 26 8 9 9 36 36 0
33

CC


  Saudi Arabia Fahad Al-Muwallad
  9

Spain Raul Caneda, Spain Beñat
2013–14
ALJ 6 26 8 8 10 45 46 −1
32

CC

ACL

Quarter-finals

 Saudi Arabia Mukhtar Fallatah
 31

Spain Beñat, Egypt Amro Anwar, Uruguay Juan Verzeri, Saudi Arabia Khalid Al Koroni
2014–15
ALJ 4 26 16 4 6 44 33 +11
52

CC


 Brazil Marquinho
 13

Saudi Arabia Khalid Al Koroni, Romania Victor Pițurcă
2015–16
ALJ 3 26 15 4 7 54 37 +17
49

CC

CPC

ACL

Group Stage

 Venezuela Gelmin Rivas
 24

Romania László Bölöni, Egypt Amro Anwar, Romania Victor Pițurcă
2016–17
ALJ 4 26 17 4 5 57 37 +20
52 (-3)

CPC


 Egypt Kahraba
 19

Chile José Luis Sierra
2017–18
SPL 9 26 8 9 9 34 41 -7
33

CC


 Tunisia Ahmed Akaïchi
 10

Chile José Luis Sierra



Div. = Division; SPL = Saudi Premier League; ZPL = Zain Professional League; Pos. = Position; Pl = Match played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lost
GS = Goal Scored; GA = Goal Against; GD = Goal difference P = Points
CC = Champions Cup; CPC = Crown Prince Cup; PFC = Prince Faisal Cup
ARCL = Arab Champions League; ARWC = Arab Cup Winners' Cup; ACL = AFC Champions League; GCC = Gulf Club Champions Cup; EC = Egypt Super Cup; SSC = Saudi Super Cup

Colors: Gold = winner; Silver = runner-up; Bronze = third,Semi-final .



League records











Performance in AFC competitions


  • AFC Champions League: 13 appearances











































































2000–01

Quarter-finals

2001–02

Second Round

2002–03
Did Not Qualify

2004

Champions

2005

Champions

2006

Quarter-finals

2007
Did Not Qualify

2008

Group Stage

2009

Runner-up

2010

Group Stage

2011

Semi-finals

2012

Semi-finals

2013
Did Not Qualify

2014

Quarter-finals

2015
Did Not Qualify

2016

Group stage

2017

Did Not Meet Qualification

2018

Did Not Meet Qualification


Top scorers in AFC competitions









































































Ranking
Nationality
Name
Years
Goals
1
 Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Noor 1996–13 18
2
 Saudi Arabia
Naif Hazazi 2006–13 14
3
 Saudi Arabia
Hamzah Idris 1997–07 9
4
 Algeria
Abdelmalek Ziaya 2009–11 7
5
 Saudi Arabia
Marzouk Al-Otaibi 2000–07 7
6
 Saudi Arabia
Osama Al-Muwallad 2000– 6
7
 Sierra Leone
Mohammed Kallon 2005–06 6
8
 Morocco
Ahmed Bahja 1996–99 6
9
 Morocco
Hicham Aboucherouane 2008–10 5


AFC club rankings


Rankings are calculated by the AFC.[6][citation needed]


Last update: December 1, 2017























































































Ranking
Club
Association
Coefficient
44 15
+29 +29
Persepolis
Iran Iran
10.902
0
21
0
26
57.902
25 16
+9 +9
Gamba Osaka
Japan Japan
13.527
0
29
5
10
57.527
14 17
-3 -3
Shandong Luneng Taishan
China China
13.409
8
10
25.5
0
56.909
11 18
-7 -7
Pohang Steelers
South Korea South Korea
18
27
0
11
0
56
19 19
0
Al-Ittihad
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
13.48
23
0
15
0

51.48
22 20
+2 +2
Al Sadd
Qatar Qatar
8.868
18
19.5
2
2
50.368

Source: Global Football Ranks
|}



Asian Record



































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Current squad



First team squad


As of Saudi Premier League:




















































































































































































No
Position
Player
Nation
1

Goalkeeper

Rakan Al-Najar

 Saudi Arabia
3

Defender

Tareq Abdullah

 Saudi Arabia
5

Defender

Matthew Jurman

 Australia
6

Midfielder

Khaled Al-Sumairi

 Saudi Arabia
8

Midfielder

Fahad Al-Muwallad

 Saudi Arabia
9

Forward

Romarinho

 Brazil
10

Midfielder

Carlos Villanueva

 Chile
11

Defender

Hassan Muath

 Saudi Arabia
12

Goalkeeper

Assaf Al-Qarni

 Saudi Arabia
13

Defender

Ahmed Assiri (Vice-captain)

 Saudi Arabia
14

Defender

Ziyad Al-Sahafi

 Saudi Arabia
15

Midfielder

Jamal Bajandouh

 Saudi Arabia
17

Midfielder

Hussain Al-Hajoj

 Saudi Arabia
20

Midfielder

Karim El Ahmadi

 Morocco
22

Goalkeeper

Fawaz Al-Qarni

 Saudi Arabia
24

Defender

Ammar Al-Daheem

 Saudi Arabia
26

Forward

Abdulaziz Al-Aryani

 Saudi Arabia
27

Midfielder

Jonas

 Brazil
29

Midfielder

Valdívia (on loan from Internacional)

 Saudi Arabia
30

Defender

Awn Al-Saloli

 Saudi Arabia
31

Defender

Mansour Al-Harbi

 Saudi Arabia
32

Defender

Omar Al-Muziel

 Saudi Arabia
36

Defender

Thiago Carleto

 Brazil
44

Goalkeeper

Ameen Bokhari

 Saudi Arabia
45

Forward

Aleksandar Pešić

 Serbia
49

Forward

Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi

 Saudi Arabia
78

Midfielder

Jaber Mustafa

 Saudi Arabia


Defender

Muhannad Al-Shenqeeti

 Saudi Arabia


Other players under contract










































No
Position
Player
Nation
4

Defender

Abdullah Al-Shammari

 Saudi Arabia
16

Defender

Mohammed Qassem

 Saudi Arabia
21

Defender

Mohammed Reeman

 Saudi Arabia
25

Midfielder

Ali Al-Zaqaan (on loan from Al-Fateh)

 Saudi Arabia
38

Midfielder

Ammar Al-Najar

 Saudi Arabia


Out on loan


































No
Position
Player
Nation
2

Defender

Abdurahman Al-Rio (on loan to Al-Hazm)

 Saudi Arabia
39

Forward

Maan Al-Hodhifi (on loan to Al-Ansar)

 Saudi Arabia


Defender

Hussain Halawani (on loan to Al-Batin)

 Saudi Arabia


Forward

Turki Al-Jadaani (on loan to Al-Ain)

 Saudi Arabia



Notable players




Players with senior international caps:











Personnel



Current technical staff







































Position
Staff
Head coach
Croatia Slaven Bilić
Assistant coach
Croatia Aljoša Asanović
Assistant coach
Croatia Marijo Tot
Assistant coach
Saudi Arabia Bandar Ba Sraih
Goalkeeping coach
Croatia Tonči Gabrić
Fitness coach
Croatia Frano Leko
Data Analyst
Croatia Danilo Butorović
Scout
Croatia Dean Računica


Management



































































Position
Staff
Board Chairman
Loay Hesham Nazer
Vice president
Hamad Al-Senaie
Secretary General
Dr. Yasser Nassief
Board Member
Mohyedin bin Saleh Kamel
Board Member
Anmar Al-Haeli
Board Member
Abdullah Kaboha
Board Member
Ahmed Kaaki
Director of the General Relations
Bandar Yaghmour
General Supervisor of Media Management & Official Speaker
Hussain Al-Sharif
Director of Media Center
Yahya Bakhsh
Director of Professional Area
Mohammed Al-Amari
General Supervisor of Football
Saad Ali Al Shehri
Executive director of Youth football Teams
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulaiman
Players affairs officer of Football
Khaled Al-Alwani
Technical affairs officer of Football
Marwan Mahdi


Presidents











Managerial history











References





  1. ^ "King Abdullah Sports City". Saudi Pro League Statistics. Retrieved 14 May 2016..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ Saudi League champs Al Ittihad sack Calderon. footballnet.espn.go.com (2010-01-13). Retrieved on 2012-05-28.


  3. ^ "Al-Ittihad FC live scores, results, fixtures | Soccer, Saudi Arabia". www.flashscore.com. Retrieved 2016-03-16.


  4. ^ "AL ITTIHAD FC JOINS JOMA SPORT". Retrieved 12 May 2016.


  5. ^ not official by Saudi FA nor Egyptian FA


  6. ^ "AFC Club Ranking (2012‐2015)" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 14 September 2015.


  7. ^ "نادي الاتحاد السعودي لكرة القدم - منتدى الاتحاد السعودي - #شبكة_الاتحاد".


  8. ^ "Mais de 40 anos vivendo futebol" (in Portuguese). luxemburgo.com.br. Retrieved 18 August 2013.




External links







  • Official Website

  • [1]

  • [2]

  • [3]


  • Network of Lady fans of Al Ittihad Football Club Arabic Site


  • Al Ittihad Club on Super.ae Arabic Site


  • Al Ittihad at the AFC Champions League Official website

  • League of the Ittihad Club Fans on the Internet


  • Alittihad in Languages (English – Francais – German – Italian)

  • Al Ittihad at the Arab Champions League Official website : Arabic – English – Francais














Achievements
Preceded by
Al-Ain
United Arab Emirates


Champions of Asia
2004
Succeeded by
Holders
Preceded by
Holders

Champions of Asia
2005
Succeeded by
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
South Korea






Preceded by
Al Nassr
Saudi Arabia


Asian Cup Winners' Cup
Runner up: Chunnam Dragons

1999
Succeeded by
Shimizu S-Pulse
Japan











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