Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah)

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, Fahad Badkook, 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.

As long as we are here together, let's call it Al-Ittihad.

— Mazen Mohammed

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.

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.

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.

The Jeddah derby between Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli is known to be the most competitive match in the Saudi league, where all fans await for it, although recently, Al-Ahli has been dominating the derby. From the start of national competitions the clubs were seen as representatives of two rivals from the same city: Jeddah. 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. Although the club is known to have a strong fanbase, it does not come near its rival Al-Ahli who is living better days than the other neighbor who is going through a financial crisis. Al-Ittihad did not win a single match against Al-Ahli in the derby for 8 years.

Al-Ittihad also has a rivalry with the capital city Riyadh club, Al-Hilal. Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal have the biggest fansbase in Saudi Arabia. Al-Ittihad is known to always play fiercely in the Classico no matter how much the team was going through difficulties. The largest victory was for Al-Hilal when they defeated Al-Ittihad 5–0 in 2009.

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.

¹The tournament was held on February 25, 1933.

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				Dimitri
1999–2000	SPL	1	22	16	3	3	69	23	+46	51	CPC							Hamzah Idris	33	Oscar
2000–01	SPL	1	22	11	5	6	35	23	+12	38	CPC					EC		—	—	Ardiles
2001–02	SPL	2	22	15	4	3	59	25	+34	49	CPC							—	—	Oscar
2002–03	SPL	1	22	15	4	3	53	24	+29	49	CPC		PFC			SSC	EC	Cleberson	8	Oscar, Khalid Al Koroni
2003–04	SPL	2	22	17	5	0	57	15	+42	56	CPC			ACL				Mohammed Noor	8	Tomislav Ivić, Talajić, Luka Peruzović
2004–05	SPL	3	22	11	5	6	53	37	+16	38	CPC			ACL		ARCL		Sérgio Ricardo Messias Neves	13	Iordănescu
2005–06	SPL	3	22	11	9	2	47	28	+19	42	CPC			ACL	Quarter-finals			Mohamed Kallon	12	Metsu
2006–07	SPL	1	22	15	3	4	52	25	+27	48	CPC		PFC					Alhassane Keita	21	Dimitri
2007–08	SPL	2	22	14	6	2	40	16	+24	48	CC			ACL	Group Stage			Magno Alves	14	Calderón
2008–09	SPL	1	22	17	4	1	57	21	+36	55	CC		PFC	ACL				Hicham Aboucherouane	17	Calderón
2009–10	ZPL	2	22	14	3	5	46	30	+16	45	CC			ACL	Group Stage			Abdelmalek Ziaya	15	Calderón, Enzo Héctor
2010–11	ZPL	2	26	13	12	1	49	23	+20	51	CC			ACL	Semi-finals			Naif Hazazi	18	Manuel José, Toni, Dimitri
2011–12	ZPL	5	26	10	7	9	49	35	+14	37	CPC			ACL	Semi-finals			Hazazi	20	Kek, Raul Caneda
2012–13	ZPL	7	26	8	9	9	36	36	0	33	CC							Fahad Al-Muwallad	9	Raul Caneda, Beñat
2013–14	ALJ	6	26	8	8	10	45	46	−1	32	CC			ACL	Quarter-finals			Mukhtar Fallatah	31	Beñat, Amro Anwar, Juan Verzeri, Khalid Al Koroni
2014–15	ALJ	4	26	16	4	6	44	33	+11	52	CC							Marquinho	13	Khalid Al Koroni, Victor Pițurcă
2015–16	ALJ	3	26	15	4	7	54	37	+17	49	CC		CPC	ACL	Group Stage			Gelmin Rivas	24	László Bölöni, Amro Anwar, Victor Pițurcă
2016–17	ALJ	4	26	17	4	5	57	37	+20	52 (-3)	CPC							Kahraba	19	José Luis Sierra
2017–18	SPL	9	26	8	9	9	34	41	-7	33	CC							Ahmed Akaïchi	10	José Luis Sierra
2018–19	MBS	10	30	9	7	14	44	45	-1	34	CC							Fahad Al-Muwallad	11	Ramón Díaz, | Slaven Bilić, José Luis Sierra,

• AFC Champions League: 13 appearances

Rankings are calculated by the AFC.[6]

Last update: December 1, 2017

Ranking			Club	Association	Coefficient
44	15	+29			Persepolis	Iran	10.902	0	21	0	26	57.902
25	16	+9	Gamba Osaka	Japan	13.527	0	29	5	10	57.527
14	17	-3	Shandong Luneng Taishan	China	13.409	8	10	25.5	0	56.909
11	18	-7	Pohang Steelers	South Korea	18	27	0	11	0	56
19	19	—	Al-Ittihad	Saudi Arabia	13.48	23	0	15	0	51.48
22	20	+2	Al Sadd	Qatar	8.868	18	19.5	2	2	50.368

Source: Global Football Ranks

As of 25 January 2019[7][8]

No Position Player Nation 1 Goalkeeper Rakan Al-Najjar  Saudi Arabia 3 Forward Abdulrahman Al-Yami  Saudi Arabia 4 Defender Ziyad Al-Sahafi  Saudi Arabia 5 Defender Omar Hawsawi  Saudi Arabia 7 Midfielder Abdulmajeed Al-Swat  Saudi Arabia 8 Midfielder Fahad Al-Muwallad  Saudi Arabia 9 Forward Aleksandar Prijović  Serbia 10 Midfielder Garry Rodrigues  Cape Verde 11 Midfielder Abdulaziz Al-Bishi  Saudi Arabia 12 Goalkeeper Mohammed Abo Asidah  Saudi Arabia 13 Defender Muhannad Al-Shanqeeti  Saudi Arabia 14 Midfielder Awad Al-Nashri  Saudi Arabia 16 Midfielder Abdulaziz Al-Jebreen  Saudi Arabia 17 Defender Ahmed Emad Eldin  Mali 19 Midfielder Bruno Henrique  Brazil 20 Midfielder Karim El Ahmadi  Morocco 21 Defender Abdulmohsen Fallatah  Saudi Arabia 22 Goalkeeper Fawaz Al-Qarni  Saudi Arabia 23 Defender Mohammed Al-Oufi  Saudi Arabia 24 Midfielder Abdulrahman Al-Aboud  Saudi Arabia 25 Defender Hassan Al-Asmari  Saudi Arabia 26 Defender Ahmed Hegazi (on loan from West Bromwich)  Egypt 27 Defender Hamdan Al-Shamrani  Saudi Arabia 28 Defender Hamad Al Mansor (on loan from Al-Nassr)  Saudi Arabia 30 Defender Awn Al-Saluli  Saudi Arabia 34 Goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe  Brazil 35 Defender Basel Al-Hudhaif  Saudi Arabia 66 Defender Saud Abdulhamid  Saudi Arabia 76 Defender Hazim Al-Zahrani  Saudi Arabia 70 Forward Haroune Camara  Saudi Arabia 88 Midfielder Abdulellah Al-Malki  Saudi Arabia 90 Forward Romarinho  Brazil Unregistered players No Position Player Nation 33 Midfielder Omar Al Jadaani  Saudi Arabia Out on loan No Position Player Nation 6 Midfielder Khaled Al-Sumairi (on loan to Al-Faisaly)  Saudi Arabia 55 Midfielder Saher Al-Suraihi (on loan to Jeddah)  Saudi Arabia 83 Midfielder Leonardo Gil (on loan to Vasco da Gama)  Argentina 98 Midfielder Abdulmajeed Al-Zahrani (on loan to Ohod)  Saudi Arabia — Defender Tareq Abdullah (on loan to Damac)  Saudi Arabia — Midfielder Younes Abdulwahed (on loan to Jeddah)  Saudi Arabia — Midfielder Essam Al-Muwallad (on loan to Al-Hazem)  Saudi Arabia — Midfielder Abdulaziz Al-Dhuwayhi (on loan to Al-Fayha)  Saudi Arabia — Midfielder Ali Al-Rie (on loan to Jeddah)  Saudi Arabia — Forward Abdulaziz Al-Aryani (on loan to Damac)  Saudi Arabia Notable players Players with senior international caps: KSA ASIA AFRICA UEFA CONMEBOL CONCACAF Mohammed Noor Hamzah Idris Naif Hazazi Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani Abdoh Otaif Saud Kariri Marzouk Al-Otaibi Osama Al-Muwallad Hussein Al-Sadiq Sulaiman Al Hedaithi Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi Khamis Al-Zahrani Hamad Al-Eissa Ahmed Jamil Mabrouk Zaid Hamad Al-Montashari Ahmed Dokhi Khamis Al-Owairan mohammed amin haidar Ahmed Al-Fraidi Redha Tukar Saleh Al-Saqri Manaf Abushgeer Nezar Abbas ahmed khuraish Abdullah Al-Waked Talal Al-Meshal Ibrahim Suwayed saeed ghurab ِAl-Noor Musa Tareq Al-Muwallad Khaled Massaad Khaled Gahwaji Al Hasan Al-Yami Adnan Fallatah Assaf Al-Qarni Jamal Bajandouh Ahmed Assiri Ahmed Hadid Fahad Al Enezi Fahad Al Ansari Abdullah Omar James Troisi Matthew Jurman Mohamad Haidar Mohammad Al-Dmeiri Saif Salman Manuel da Costa Redouane Allali Abdeljalil Hadda Hicham Aboucherouane Ahmed Bahja Jaouad Zairi Faouzi Abdelghani Aziz Ouzougate Hicham Dmiai Hamid Nater Abdelmalek Ziaya Amine Chermiti Jameleddine Limam Témime Lahzami Néjib Ghommidh Taoufik Belghith Lotfi Mhaissi Ahmed Akaïchi Anice Badri Emad Moteab Hosny Abd Rabo Islam El-Shater Kahraba Mohamed Kallon Zain Moosa Ablade Kumah Sulley Muntari Prince Tagoe Didier Ya Konan Wilfried Bony Modeste M'bami Joseph-Désiré Job Alhassane Keita Titi Camara Ibrahim Babangida Mutiu Adepoju Fabrice Ondama Samba Diakité Theo Bücker Roberto Donadoni Gelsi Dejan Petković Aleksandar Pešić Vladimir Tatarchuk Oleg Sergeyev Paulo Jorge Nuno Assis Sânmărtean Łukasz Szukała Dalian Atkinson Rob Witschge Milenko Ačimovič Anas Sharbini Mario Carević György Sándor Thomas Sjöberg Tcheco Sérgio Thiago Gentil Guilherme Wágner Magno Alves Wendel Cleberson Cláudio Pitbull Leandro Bonfim Bebeto Dimba Reinaldo Renato Renan Teixeira Marquinho Diego Souza Jóbson Fernando Baiano Landomar Bill Thiago Carleto Valdívia Bruno Uvini Jonas Alfonso Yáñez Rolando Zárate Luciano Emiliano Vecchio Gelmin Rivas Sergio Herrera Luis Jiménez Carlos Villanueva Jared Borgetti Hugo Pérez Personnel Current technical staff Position Staff Head coach Fábio Carille Management Position Staff Board Chairman Anmar al-Ha'ili Vice president & Director of Football Ahmed Kaaki Chief executive officer Ibrahim Bakhit Director of Finance Mamdouh Al-Harbi Director of Investments Louai Ghalayini Board Member Faisal Al-Turki Director of Other Sports Ahmed Qutub Board Member Abdulwahab Ayed Treasurer Hasan Baroum 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 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 Years Chairman Championships (official) 1927–30 Ali Sultan × 1930–34 Abdulaziz Jamil 1 1934–37 Hamza Fitaihi × 1937–49 Mohammed Saeed Firaij × 1949–50 Abdulaziz Jamil × 1950 Abdulrahman Mulla × 1950–54 Suliman Turki 2 1954–56 Abdulhameed Mashkhas × 1956–59 Abdullatif Linjawi 4 1959–60 Abdulrazzaq Al-Matbuli 1 1960–62 Yousef Khalawi × 1962–66 Fathi Abu Al-Jadayel 4 1966–67 Yousef Al-Tawil 1 1968–70 Ghazi Sultan × 1970–73 Mazen Rashad Pharaon × 1973–74 Ismael Mannaa × 1974–81 H.R.H. Prince Talal Bin Mansour 1 1981–83 Ibrahim Afandi 1 1983–85 H.R.H. Prince Talal Bin Mansour × 1985–87 Dr. Abdulfattah Nazer 3 Years Chairman Championships (official) 1988–89 Eng. Hussein Linjawi 1 1989–90 Dr. Abdulfattah Nazer 1 1990–91 Dr. Adnan Jamjoom 2 1991–93 Ahmed Masoud 1 1993–94 Dr. Abdulfattah Nazer × 1994–96 Dr. Adnan Jamjoom 2 1996–99 Talaat Lami 3 1999–02 Ahmed Masoud 8 2002–03 Eng. Hassan Jamjoom 1 2003 Eng. Jamal Abuemarh × 2003–07 Mansour Albalawi 7 2007–09 Eng. Jamal Abuemarh 1 2009–10 Dr. Khaled Al-Marzouqi 1 2010–11 Eng. Ibrahim Alawan × 2011–12 M.G. Mohammed Bin Dakhel Al-Juhani × 2012–13 Eng. Mohammed Fayez 1 2013–16 Ibrahim Albalawi x 2016 Ahmed Masoud x 2016–17 Hatem Baashen 1 2017 Anmar Al-Haeli x 2017–18 Hamad Al-Senaie 1 2018 Nawaf Al-Megairen x 2018–19 Loay Hisham Nazer x 2019–present Anmar Al-Haeli x Managerial history Source:[9] Name From To Mohammed Saleh Salamah 1928 1931 Omar Shendi 1960 1960 Khalil Abo Zaid 1961 1961 Saeed Hussain 1961 1962 Fritz 1966 1967 Bashir Al-Sagheer 1967 1968 Fritz 1968 1969 Ali Chaouach 1970 1970 Abdullah Abo Dawood 1970 1970 Ali Selmi 1975 1977 Jamel Eddine Bouabsa 1977 1978 Dettmar Cramer 1978 1981 Mahmoud El-Gohary 1981 1981 Chinesinho 1981 1982 Carlos Alberto Silva 1982 April 10, 1983 Chinesinho April 10, 1983 May 13, 1983 Joubert Luis Meira[10] 1983 1984 Vanderlei Luxemburgo 1984 1984 Bob Houghton 1984 1986 Walter Skocik 1987 1989 Heinz Höher 1989 1990 Kálmán Mészöly 1991 1992 Roland Andersson 1993 1993 Bob Houghton 1993 1994 Paulo Campos 1995 1996 Dimitri Davidovic 1996 1997 Sándor Egervári 1997 1997 Dezső Novák 1997 1998 Paulo Campos 1998 1998 Dimitri Davidovic 1998 1999 José Oscar Bernardi 1999 2000 Revaz Dzodzuashvili 2000 2000 Dimitri Davidovic 2000 2000 Giuseppe Dossena 2000 2001 Osvaldo Ardiles 2001 2001 Name From To José Oscar Bernardi 2001 2003 Antonello Cuccureddu 2002 2003 Tomislav Ivić 2003 2004 Dragan Talajić (interim) July 1, 2004 2004 Luka Peruzović Dec 2004 March 2005 Anghel Iordănescu March 26, 2005 June 30, 2006 Bruno Metsu 2006 April 26, 2006 Vahid Halilhodžić June 5, 2006 2006 Dimitri Davidovic 2006 2007 José Candinho 2007 2007 Estevam Soares Dec 20, 2007 Aug 23, 2008 Gabriel Calderón May 22, 2008 January 13, 2010 Enzo Trossero January 20, 2010 May 30, 2010 Manuel José June 2, 2010 December 24, 2010 Toni December 28, 2010 May 15, 2011 Dimitri Davidovic May 15, 2011 November 28, 2011 Abdullah Gurab (interim) November 29, 2011 December 19, 2011 Matjaž Kek December 20, 2011 February 8, 2012 Abdullah Gurab (interim) February 8, 2012 February 27, 2012 Raul Caneda February 27, 2012 February 23, 2013 Beñat San José February 23, 2013 December 8, 2013 Juan Verzeri January 6, 2014 February 26, 2014 Khalid Al-Koroni February 26, 2014 August, 2014 Amro Anwar August 28, 2014 October 16, 2014 Victor Pițurcă October 16, 2014 June 12, 2015 László Bölöni July 21, 2015 October 23, 2015 Victor Pițurcă December 8, 2015 July 21, 2016 José Luis Sierra July 22, 2016 May 20, 2018 Ramón Díaz May 23, 2018 September 20, 2018 Slaven Bilić September 27, 2018 February 24, 2019 José Luis Sierra February 24, 2019 October 20, 2019 Mohammed Al-Abdali (interim) October 20, 2019 November 4, 2019 Henk ten Cate November 4, 2019 February 11, 2020 Piet Hamberg (interim) February 11, 2020 February 17, 2020 Fábio Carille February 17, 2020 Present