Al Fateh Sports Club (Arabic: نادي الفتح الرياضي, romanizednādī al-fataḥ ar-riyāḍiyy, lit.'Conquest Sports Club') is a Saudi Arabian multi-sports club based in Al-Mubarraz, Al-Ahsa. It is mainly known for its professional football club. The club derives its nickname, "Al-Namothaji" (The Paragon), from the fact that almost all of the club's sports play in the national top flights.

Al Fateh
Full nameAl Fateh Sports Club
Nickname(s)Al Namothji (The Role Model)
Abna Al Nakhil (Sons of the Palm)
Founded1958; 66 years ago (1958)
GroundAl-Fateh SC Stadium
Capacity11,000[1]
ChairmanMansour Al-Afaliq
ManagerSlaven Bilić
LeagueSaudi Pro League
2023–24Pro League, 7th of 18
WebsiteClub website
Current season
Al Fateh active departments

Football
(men's)

Basketball
(men's)

History

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Al Fateh have played in the lower divisions for most of their existence, unlike rivals and city neighbours Hajer FC who played in the top flight when they achieved promotions in the 80's, 90's and 2000's. Al Fateh hired Tunisian head coach Fathi Al-Jabal in the middle of the 2007-08 Saudi First Division League, in the 2008–09 season Al-Jabal finished as runners-up to guide Al Fateh to their first ever promotion to the Saudi Professional League. The club managed to stay up in the Saudi Professional League in their first ever top flight season. In the following two seasons the club set out to build a formidable squad, with Al Fateh already possessing talented home grown players such as Hamdan Al-Hamdan and Mohammed Al-Fuhaid, they also acquired the services of Congolese forward Doris Fuakumputu and former Al-Nasser Attacking midfielder Élton.

Saudi League Champions (2012–2013)

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Al Fateh pulled off a surprise when on 14 April 2013, they won their first League title, with 2 games to spare, following a 1–0 home win over Al-Ahli. Al Fateh became the seventh club to win the Pro League. This is considered by many to be one of the greatest shocks in Saudi football history, especially considering that Al Fateh were promoted to the Pro League for the first time only four years earlier.[2] This was the first time a club outside the Riyadh and Jeddah clubs to win the Saudi Professional League since the 1986–87 season. Élton won the Player of the Season award by scoring 11 goals and bagging 10 assists, as well as Doris Fuakumputu scoring 17 goals to lead Al Fateh to the title.

Later, they played in the inaugural edition of the Saudi Super Cup to face Al-Ittihad, after 90 minutes the score was a 2–2 draw and the game went into extra time. Élton scored the winning goal of the game in the 111th minute, Al Fateh defeated Al-Ittihad 3–2 after extra time to become the inaugural champions of the Saudi Super Cup.[3]

Al Fateh advanced to the 2014 AFC Champions League group stage in their debut campaign as 2012–13 Saudi Professional League champions, but crashed out of the group stage with a (2D,4L) record and without winning a single match. Al Fateh qualified again to the 2017 AFC Champions League due to Al-Ittihad, the 2015–16 Saudi Professional League 3rd place, could not participate in the AFC Champions League because of club licensing requirements problems. As a result, Al Taawoun, the league 4th place, entered the group stage instead of the qualifying play-offs, while Al Fateh, the league 5th place, entered the qualifying play-offs.[4] Al Fateh defeated Nasaf Qarshi 1–0 in the Qualifying play-offs to advance to the group stage (Group B).[5]

Honours

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League

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Current squad

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As of 1 June 2024:

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.Pos. NationPlayer
1GK  SWEJacob Rinne
2DF  KSAAli Al-Zubaidi
3DF  KSAZiyad Al-Jari
5DF  KSAFahad Al-Harbi
8MF  KSANooh Al-Mousa
10MF  ARMLucas Zelarayán
11MF  MARMourad Batna
12DF  KSASaeed Baattiah
14MF  KSAMohammed Al-Fuhaid (Captain)
15MF  KSAHassan Al-Mohammed
17DF  MARMarwane Saâdane
18DF  KSAMohammed Al-Saeed
20FW  KSAAbdullah Al-Mogren
21FW  CPVDjaniny
24DF  KSAAmmar Al-Daheem
25DF  KSATawfiq Buhimed
26GK  KSAMustafa Malayekah
28MF  ALGSofiane Bendebka
29FW  KSAAli Al-Masoud
30MF  KSAOsama Al-Mobairik
No.Pos. NationPlayer
32MF  KSAHussain Al-Momatin
34DF  KSAMeshal Al-Hamdan
36MF  KSARakan Al-Qahtani
37MF  ESPCristian Tello
38MF  KSALo'ay Al-Johani
40GK  KSASattam Al-Subaie
42DF  KSAAhmed Al-Julaydan
49FW  KSASaad Al Sharfa
55GK  KSAWaleed Al-Enezi
64DF  BELJason Denayer
66MF  KSAAbbas Al-Hassan
70MF  AUSJordan Harrison
75MF  KSAFuad Al-Shaqaq
77FW  KSAAli Al-Jassem
80MF  KSAFaisal Al-Abdulwahed
83DF  KSASalem Al-Najdi
87DF  KSAQassem Lajami
88MF  KSAOthman Al-Othman
94MF  KSAAbdullah Al-Anazi
99FW  KSAHassan Al Salis

International competitions

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Overview

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As of 13 August 2019
CompetitionPldWDLGFGA
AFC Champions League132561120
Arab Club Champions Cup421176
TOTAL174671826

International record

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Matches

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SeasonCompetitionRoundClubHomeAwayAggregate
2012–13Arab Club Champions Cup1R Al-Jahra1–02–13–1
2R Al-Arabi2–22–34–5
2014AFC Champions LeagueGroup B Bunyodkor0–02−34th
Foolad1–50−1
El Jaish0–00−2
2017AFC Champions LeaguePO Nasaf Qarshi1–01–0
Group B Esteghlal Khuzestan1–10−13rd
Lekhwiya2–21−4
Al Jazira3–10−0

Management staff

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PositionName
Manager Slaven Bilić
Assistant Manager Danilo Butorović
First-Team Coach Ibrahim Al-Hanafi
Majid Al-Burhan
Goalkeeping Coach Vatroslav Mihačić
Fitness Coach Yaqoob Al-Ghanim
Assistant fitness coach Saud Al-Mawlawi
Chief Analyst Miguel Ángel Baltanás
Performance Analyst Omar Al-Amri
Sporting Director Nicola Innocentin
Head of Performance Abdulelah Al-Yami
Performance Manager Salim Al-Hanbali
Head of Medical Hussein Al-Jaffar
Doctor Dr. Ihab Al-Hamid
Physiotherapist Thamer Al-Ghannad
Director of football Abdulkader Al-Aqdi

Managers

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "رابح صقر يحيي حفل افتتاح ملعب الفتح" (in Arabic). aawsat.com. 19 November 2023.
  2. ^ "الفتح يدخل التاريخ ويتوج بطلاً للدوري السعودي". www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). 15 April 2013. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  3. ^ "الفتح يطيح بالاتحاد ويتوج بلقب السوبر السعودي".
  4. ^ "التعاون إلى دوري آسيا مباشرة والفتح يخوض الملحق".
  5. ^ "AFC Champions League 2017 draw concluded". the-AFC. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
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