Matt Walker witnesses the top teams in Saudi Arabia in their own backyard
This Wednesday, June 18, Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia take on Real Madrid in the Club World Cup – a repeat of the final of three years ago. But what’s it like to watch the record Saudi champions at home in their gilded backyard of Riyadh? And their Saudi Pro League rivals in Jeddah and elsewhere? Intrepid football travel writer Matt Walker, of Europe United fame, flew there during Ramadan to find out.
Yelling “Yalla, Yalla” to the taxi driver, my Arabic of “Let’s Go! Let’s Go!” gleaned from the central London restaurant of the same name, I reached Madinah, the second holiest city in Islam, closed to non-Muslim visitors until 2022.
But things are changing fast in Saudi Arabia. I wandered around the outside of the vast Prophet’s Mosque through a throng of evening worshippers, Ramadan swelling numbers to the hundreds of thousands. I spotted tour shirts from Uzbekistan, Tunisia and Malaysia and, standing out among the traditional clothing, a boy wearing an Al-Hilal jersey with ‘Mitrović’ on the back.
The spiritual atmosphere around Madinah felt competitive, given Mecca is the most important Islamic city. And, as at major tournaments, big companies have spotted an emerging market. McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and KFC push their products amid a dense collection of faceless hotels.
Al-Hilal of Riyadh are the most successful side in all Asia, let alone Saudi Arabia, claiming the Asian Champions League four times. This Wednesday, June 18, they face Real Madrid in the expanded 2025 version of the CWC in Miami.
Three years ago, an all-star Real side had to pull out all the stops to beat their Saudi counterparts 5-3, the highest-scoring final in the history of the tournament.
Al Za’eem, ‘The Boss’, are also 19-time record champions of the Saudi Pro League, competing in every iteration since it was launched in 1976. Fellow ever-presents, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad, have also never been relegated, but there the similarities end. Al-Hilal are considered the elite, in a country of elites.
As if to lay it on thick, Nigerian star striker Victor Osimhen has just rejected a €30 million a year contract to move to the Saudi side from Napoli.
Nevertheless, Al-Ahli recently won the Asian Champions League – three of the four semi-finalists were Saudi, including Al-Hilal. There’s clearly a power shift under way, the desert kingdom catching up on the former masters from the Far East, South Korea and Japan, in terms of final appearances since 1967.
I took the high-speed pilgrimage train that links Madinah and Mecca, careful not to miss my stop at Jeddah as Mecca remains closed to non-worshippers. Jeddah is home to Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad, two of the four clubs, alongside Riyadh rivals Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, that have benefitted from the government’s Public Investment Fund.
Muhammad, my guide in the stunning desert scenery around Al-Ula in north-western Saudi Arabia, was an Al-Hilal fan. He said that football followers, Hilalis or otherwise, did not care who backed their teams.
However, Al-Ahli supporters I later met resented wealthy Al-Hilal, calling them ‘the Man City of Saudi’. Certainly, the elite clubs had existed before central funding and, much like Saudi Arabia itself, were trying to diversify into other revenue streams.
Early investment was a theme in a country with runaway ambition and little need to balance the books. Train stations are the size of airport terminals and the fabulous digital art museum in Jeddah had more staff than visitors. The mirrored Maraya concert hall in the desert near Al-Ula reflected wealth and innovation as well as the surrounding sand. In Riyadh, a vast cube was being built and there was no known use for it.
Saudi football is clearly enjoying an elevated position, too. I took a taxi to south Jeddah to watch Al-Ahli at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City. The stadium sparkled with green lighting in the colours of Al-Ahli and big screens outside advertised the Saudi Arabia World Cup. But there was limited public transport and very few toilets, things that will need to improve ahead of 2034.
I bought a £7 seat near the halfway line and was surrounded by eager twenty-somethings, keen to practise their excellent English with a football tourist. I lauded the comfortable seats to my new friends.
But they hated this stadium. Al-Ahli’s fan base typically lives in the north of this elongated coastal city. It was especially important to go to the right stadium in Jeddah. Al-Ahli played their Asian Champions League matches nearer their fans at King Abdullah Sport City, a future World Cup venue 25 miles to the north.
Al-Ahli’s team lined up with arms linked in front of their 13,000 fans as anthems boomed around the stadium. I liked this unique touch although Saudi fan culture was influenced by more established leagues.
Al-Ahli took a fortuitous own goal lead, but mid-table Al-Khaleej scored from two counterattacks with Portuguese nomad Fabio Martins at the heart of both moves. They scored a late equaliser but Al-Ahli couldn’t force an undeserved winner as the game, a 10pm kick off due to Ramadan, ran into the following day.
I took another taxi to the old town of Al-Balad in the morning. I mentioned that I was a newly-converted Al-Ahli fan to the driver and he refused to take any money for the ride. This was the Middle Eastern authenticity that Saudi Arabia was keen to retain to help separate it from some of its glitzier Gulf neighbours.
Al-Balad was deserted in the middle of a Ramadan day and I enjoyed exploring the narrow streets filled with curious cats. The charismatic old buildings with their beautiful wooden balconies were being gradually restored ahead of a tourist boom that few had predicted until Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took up the reigns in 2017.
I was keen to visit Saudi Arabia before it became more mainstream. It was remarkably straightforward to get into a country that was nearly impossible for Westerners to enter until 2019. My electronic visa waiver, £33 for Brits under a reciprocal agreement, was issued in just one minute. I was waved through Saudi immigration quicker than at most European borders.
There were only a handful of other tourists braving Ramadan restrictions. Drinking or eating in public is frowned upon during daylight hours. I drank water behind pillars and snacked in metro station toilets.
Riyadh is a desert city of just 100,000 inhabitants in 1960 that now housed over eight million. It was previously puritanical. The checkpoints on the edge of the city are legacy landmarks like many previous regulations. Western websites are more accessible than ever before and women now make up more than half of the workforce of the local transport network. I spotted more women at the football, some without headscarves, than at certain games in Eastern Europe.
Away from football, entertainment was also improving. Al Murray, the English comedian, did not hold back his jokes in a stand-up show. Metallica played songs from their legendary second album, Riyadh the Lighting, two years’ ago. And Guns N’ Roses performed recently. Alcohol remains prohibited, even in hotels or mouthwash.
I took in Al-Hilal’s match against Al-Ahli. Mitrović was injured so yours truly, a Fulham fan, didn’t have to boo him. The King Fahd Stadium is being renovated ahead of the 2027 Asian Cup so Al-Hilal are currently playing at the Kingdom Arena. The Saudis love to claim a Guinness World Record and this is the world’s largest indoor football stadium. This enormous box is located next to theme park Boulevard World, a showcase for Arabian takes on different world cultures spread around the world’s largest artificial lake.
It was bizarre to glimpse the outside of a stadium with a faux Egyptian pyramid in the foreground. The Kingdom Arena is certainly an unusual setting for football, with one massive stand alongside the pitch accessed by countless escalators.
Inside, there was orchestrated noise from both sets of fans, which helped distract me from a scatty first half. I was pepped up at half-time by a turquoise blue mojito. Al-Ahli striker Ivan Toney may also have been similarly indulged as he scored an excellent second half hat-trick to give the visitors a 3-2 victory.
Ten overseas players are permitted in every squad and the tendency to invest in attacking foreign flair leads to entertaining matches and few goalless draws. Salem Al-Dawsari, scorer of the winning goal against 2022 World Cup winners Argentina, had adapted well to the new competition at Al-Hilal. “Salem is better than Reece James. He should play for Chelsea” said an excitable young fan near me. Another gifted me his Al-Hilal scarf on the way out.
Saudi Arabia is at a crossroads. And, like the local drivers, it is moving at pace without seatbelts and scant regard to red lights. I found a young population excited by these changes despite early reticence.
Football is providing a sociable outlet in a country that, until recently, was one of the most reserved in the world. Several undercover Al-Ahli fans twirled green scarves in the main stand after defeating their hosts to little dissent. Liverpool fans are advised not to repeat this trick at Old Trafford.
Follow Matt Walker‘s global football odyssey on 55 Football Nations.
