By PARAS AHMAD KHAN
JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia): Al Hilal will play in the quarter-finals of the new-look AFC Champions League Elite with all arrangements have been made for holding the League in befitting manners as finals stages are taking place at a centralized location in Saudi Arabia
Saudi giants are one of four Asian teams set to feature at the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup.
Of all the legendary clubs that have graced the Asian game down the years, few can match the impact and the title-winning ways of Saudi Arabian giants Al Hilal. With the nation set to host the centralised final stages of the AFC Champions League Elite, the Blues will be hunting further honours on home soil before jetting off to the USA to feature at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ in less than two months.
An unrivalled legacy
With nine appearances in the final of Asia’s elite club competition, Al Hilal are unmatched on the continent in terms of their consistent performances. The four titles they have won is also an Asian record while they have a lengthy honour roll on the domestic front as well.
The Riyadh-based titans captured their first continental title in 1991, when the tournament was known as the Asian Club Championship, and followed it up with both the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and the Asian Super Cup titles in 1997, as they started to make their mark across the continent.
At the beginning of the new millennium, Al Hilal cemented their growing reputation by winning the Asian Club Championship in 2000 and a second Asian Super Cup in the same year. They went on to win the 2002 Asian Cup Winners’ Cup before the tournaments were unified under the AFC Champions League banner. After a long wait, Al Hilal reclaimed their place atop the continent by winning the AFC Champions League in its modern format in 2019, defeating Urawa Red Diamonds in the final.
The club then became the most successful in the tournament’s history as they captured a fourth Champions League title in 2021. That victory, over Korea Republic’s Pohang Steelers, also qualified them for the Club World Cup and over a busy couple of months they will chase further honours on the continental stage before then gracing the global one.
All eyes on Jeddah
This current edition of the AFC Champions League Elite is the first under the new format and branding, and will see the final stages of the tournament centrally hosted in the Red Sea city of Jeddah started on Friday and would continue up till May 3, 2025.
Things get underway with the single-leg quarter-finals where Al Hilal will play Korea Republic’s surprise package Gwangju FC, who are making their continental debut.
It’s been a strong year for clubs from the Kingdom and Hilal will be joined by fellow Saudi sides, Al Ahli and Al Nassr, who face Thailand’s Buriram United and Yokohama F.Marinos respectively. Another J.League side, Kawasaki Frontale, round things out as they meet Qatari heavyweights Al Sadd.
Al Hilal’s season: aspirations and challenges
Despite some inconsistent showings in the domestic league of late, Al Hilal remain a formidable side, blessed with a mix of experience and young talent. The focus now though is on the AFC Champions League Elite, a golden opportunity to remind Asia that the Blues are capable of winning titles even beyond Saudi borders.
Once things are concluded there, thoughts will then quickly turn to the global showcase awaiting the club in the USA where Hilal are slotted in Group H alongside three powerful opponents. First up is the daunting test of facing 15-time European champions Real Madrid C.F. before they follow that with fixtures against FC Salzburg and CF Pachuca.
Speaking recently to FIFA and the media men, Al Hilal goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was thrilled about the challenge of squaring up to some of the planet’s top club sides: “It is a great honour for us at Al Hilal, as a club and as players, to participate in the first expanded Club World Cup. We hope to deliver a performance worthy of Al Hilal.”
Before then, though, all eyes are on the Gwangju match in the pursuit of yet more Asian glory.
Edited by Miss Sumayyah Ahmad, Reporter-Sub-Editor
