Al Shabab active departmentsFootball(men's)Football(women's) Al-Shabab Saudi Football Club also known as Al-Shabab () is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Riyadh that competes in the Saudi Pro League. Founded in 1947 as Shabab Al-Riyadh (; ), it was renamed Al-Shabab in 1967.
The club earned its name, "Shabab," meaning "youth" in Arabic, due to its emphasis on developing young players at its inception. Unlike its rivals, which primarily featured senior players, the club focused on nurturing youth talent. This distinction persisted for many years, becoming a defining characteristic of the club. As a result, the club became renowned for its commitment to youth development.
History Al Shabab was the first football club in Riyadh. The club began before 1947, with many conflicts before with its numerous members, but it was settled in 1947 and Abdulrahman Bin Saeed was the president. Five years later, Al Shabab won its first tournament beating Sakit Al Hadeed (Railway Club) in Riyadh. In 1955 Al Shabab beat the Military College to win the King Saud Cup. Two years passed, and a new conflict arose 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 took the best players that played for the club back then in an injustice way leaving Al Shabab to a chaos, The club stopped for half a year due to financial weakness, a new football club was born from the conflicts and separation with Abdulrahman Bin Saeed as the president which is the club known today as Al-Hilal. Then in the beginning of 1959 another problem began, Abdullah Bin Ahmed, the president then, was all alone taking care of the club. He could not 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 Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal. What was left was the youth team, and the player Abdulrahman Bin Ahmed decided to take care of the youth, and from that they got there name Shabab Al Riyadh which means Riyadh's youth. 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 Al-Ahli and Al-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 relegated to 1st Division, but the following season it was able to gain 1st place and came 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, Khalid bin Sultan, announced the launch of two new projects, Al Laith TV Channel, and Al Shabab Museum.
Honours
Domestic Saudi Pro League Champions (6): 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2011–12 Runners-up (6): 1981–82, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1997–98, 2004–05, 2020–21 King's Cup Champions (3): 2008, 2009, 2014 Runners-up: 2013 Saudi Super Cup Champion: 2014 Crown Prince's Cup Champion (3): 1993, 1996, 1999 Runners-up (4): 1992, 1994, 2000, 2009 Saudi Federation cup Champion (4): 1988, 1989, 2009, 2010 Saudi First Division League (tier 2) Champions: 1978–79
Continental Asian Club Championship Runner up: 1992–93 Asian Cup Winners' Cup Champions: 2001
Regional Arab Club Champions Cup Champions (2): 1992, 1999 Arab Super Cup Champions (2): 1996, 2001 Gulf Club Champions Cup Champions (2): 1993, 1994
Records First Saudi club to win three Saudi Premier League in a row (1991, 1992, and 1993). First Saudi club to win the professional and new Saudi Premier League, in 1991. 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-Ta'ee in the Saudi Premier League in 2003, 7–0. Largest margin win against a high-ranked club was 6–1 against Al Nassr in the Saudi Premier League 2004.
Players
Out on loan
Management
Current board of directors and Administrators OfficeNamePresidentKhalid AlBaltan Vice-presidentKholaif AlHweshanMember of the Board, Investment OfficerMember of the Board, Secretary-GeneralMember of the Board, Director of the Media CenterAhmad AlMasoudCEOPat Janssen
Current technical staff
Position Name Head coach Thomas Letsch Assistant coach Alexander Zickler Assistant coach Kai Hesse Goalkeeper coach Uwe GospodarekFitness coach Stergios FotopoulosConditioning coach Oliver Bartlett Club doctor Misael Rivas Ângelo Pinto de Bastos Physiotherapist Salman Al-Khamis U 23 team coach Turki Al-Gabr U 20 team coach Waleed Al-Muslim U 17 team coach Omar Islam Sporting director Olivier Renard Naif Al-Anazi
Recent seasons The table below chronicles the achievements of Al Shabab in various competitions since 2000. Year Division Position Crown Prince Cup King Cup ACL2000–01Premier League7thSemi-final – –2001–02Premier League9thQuarter-final2002–03Premier League6th2003–04Premier League1st2004–05Premier League2ndGroup stage2005–06Premier League1stQuarter-final2006–07Premier League4thQuarter-finalGroup stage2007–08Premier League3rdSemi-finalChampion2008–09Pro League4thRunners-upChampionRound of 162009–10Pro LeagueSemi-finalSemi-finalSemi-final2010–11Pro LeagueRound of 16Quarter-finalRound of 162011–12Pro LeagueQuarter-final –2012–13Pro League3rdRound of 16Runners-upQuarter-finals2013–14Pro League4thSemi-finalChampionRound of 162014–15Pro League5thRound of 16Quarter-finalGroup stage2015–16Pro League6thSemi-finalRound of 16 –2016–17Pro LeagueQuarter-finalsRound of 322017–18Pro League10th –Quarter-finals2018–19Pro League5thRound of 162019–20Pro League7thRound of 322020–21Pro League2ndRound of 162021–22Pro League4thQuarter-final2022–23Pro LeagueSemi-finalRound of 162023–24Pro League8th2024–25Pro League2025–26Pro League
Managers
Mahmoud Abou-Regaila (1970–71) Saleh El Wahsh (1977–78) Luiz Felipe Scolari (1984–85) Jair Pereira (1986) Joubert (1987) Lori Sandri (1989) Paulo Campos (1990–91) Lori Sandri (1992) Geninho (1993) Ivo Wortmann (1994) Yuriy Sevastyanenko (1995–96) Jean Fernandez (1996–97) Oscar (1998) João Alves (1998–99) João Francisco (1999) Arthur Bernardes (2001–02) Zé Mário (1 July 2004 – 30 June 2006) Daniel Romeo (2005–06) Ahmed Alajlani (2006) Humberto Coelho (2006–07) José Morais (2007) Enzo Trossero (1 July 2007–08) Nery Pumpido (1 July 2008 – 31 December 2008) Enzo Trossero (2008 – 30 June 2009) Jaime Pacheco (13 July 2009 – 15 April 2010) Edgar Ferreira (interim) Jorge Fossati (1 July 2010 – 31 December 2010) Enzo Trossero (1 January 2011 – 30 June 2011) Michel Preud'homme (1 July 2011 – 19 September 2013) Emilio Ferrera (20 September 2013 – 23 January 2014) Ammar Souayah (interim) José Morais (6 June 2014–14) Reinhard Stumpf (2014–15) Jaime Pacheco (2015) Adel Abdulrahman (interim) Álvaro Gutiérrez (2015 – 3 January 2016) Fathi Al-Jabal (January 2016 – June 2016) Sami Al-Jaber (June 2016 – September 2017) José Daniel Carreño (September 2017 – March 2018) Khalid Al-Koroni (interim) Marius Șumudică (June 2018 – May 2019) Jorge Almirón (June 2019 – December 2019) Luis García (December 2019 – July 2020) Pedro Caixinha (July 2020 – January 2021) Carlos Inarejos (January 2021 – May 2021) Péricles Chamusca (July 2021 – March 2022) Marius Șumudică (March 2022 – June 2022) Vicente Moreno (July 2022 – June 2023) Marcel Keizer (July 2023 – Sept 2023) Juan Brown (interim) Igor Biscan (Oct 2023 – Dec 2023) Saad Al-Subaie (interim) Vítor Pereira (Feb 2024 – Dec 2024) Fatih Terim (Dec 2024 – Jul 2025) Imanol Alguacil (Jul 2025 – Feb 2026) Noureddine Zekri (Feb 2026 – present)
Asian competitions Overview
Competition Pld W D L GF GA AFC Champions League 76 41 13 23 116 80 Asian Club Championship 9 4 3 2 21 10 Asian Cup Winners' Cup 8 4 2 2 14 10 Asian Super Cup 2 0 1 1 3 4 TOTAL 95 49 19 28 154 104
Record by country Country Pld W D L GF GA GD Win%
Asian record Matches Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate 1992–93 Asian Club Championship Quarter-finals Yomiuri 0–02nd Al-Muharraq 1–1 Arseto 3–0 Semi-finals Al-Wasl 2–2 2–2 Final PAS Tehran 0–10–1 1993–94 Asian Club Championship First round Al-Arabi 5–2 7–112–3 Quarter-finals –Withdrew 1994–95 Asian Club Championship Second round Al-Ansar 3–0 0–33–3 2000–01 Asian Cup Winners' Cup Second round Hutteen 2–0 0–12–1 Quarter-finals Al-Wehdat 2–2 1–03–2 Semi-finals Esteghlal 3–23–2 Final Dalian Shide 4–24–2 2001 Asian Super Cup Final Suwon Samsung Bluewings 1–2 2–23–4 2001–02 Asian Cup Winners' Cup Second round Al-Sadd 0–0 2–32–3 2005 AFC Champions League Group B Sepahan 1–1 0–1 3rd Al-Wahda 3–1 2–1 Al-Ain 1–0 0–3 2006 AFC Champions League Group D Al-Sadd 0–0 3–2 1st Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2–1 2–0 Al-Arabi 2–0 0–3 Quarter-finals Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i 0–1 0–60–7 2007 AFC Champions League Group D Al-Ain 2–0 2–0 2nd Sepahan 0–1 0–1 Al-Ittihad 4–0 1–1 2009 AFC Champions League Group B Al-Gharafa 1–0 3–1 2nd Persepolis 0–0 0–1 Sharjah 5–0 3–1 Round of 16 Al-Ittihad – 1–21–2 2010 AFC Champions League Group C Sepahan 1–1 0–1 1st Pakhtakor 2–1 3–1 Al-Ain 3–2 1–2 Round of 16 Esteghlal 3–2 –3–2 Quarter-finals Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 0–1 2–02–1 Semi-finals Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 4–3 0–14–4 (a) 2011 AFC Champions League Group D Al-Rayyan 1–0 1–1 2nd Zob Ahan 0–0 1–0 Emirates 4–1 1–2 Round of 16 Al-Sadd – 0–10–1 2013 AFC Champions League Group A El Jaish 2–0 0–3 1st Al-Jazira 2–1 1–1 Tractor Sazi 1–0 1–0 Round of 16 Al-Gharafa 3–0 2–15–1 Quarter-finals Kashiwa Reysol 2–2 1–13–3 (a) 2014 AFC Champions League Group A Esteghlal 2–1 1–0 1st Al-Jazira 1–3 2–1 Al-Rayyan 4–3 2–0 Round of 16 Al-Ittihad 1–3 0–11–4 2015 AFC Champions League Group B Al-Ain 0–1 0–0 4th Pakhtakor 2–2 2–0 Naft Tehran 0–3 1–2 2022 AFC Champions League Group B Mumbai City 6–0 3–0 1st Al-Jazira 3–0 2–0 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 3–0 1–1 Round of 16 Nasaf Qarshi 2–0 – 2–0 Quarter-finals Al-Duhail – 1–2 1–2
AFC Club ranking
Rankings are calculated by the AFC RankClubPoints8 Esteghlal38.7689 Al-Ain67.60810 Al Shabab30.53711 Al-Ittihad90.00012 Bunyodkor20.990 | Rankings are calculated by the Football Alphabet RankClubPoints15 Shandong Taishan505.8716 Pakhtakor FK480.2417 Al Shabab460.6918 Al Wahda FC459.7419 Sepahan SC441.55
See also List of football clubs in Saudi Arabia
References
External links
نادي الشباب | أخر الأ | NADY ALSHBAB