Al-Hilal SFC, founded in 1957, is a professional football club based in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Its home stadium is the King Fahd International Stadium, and it currently competes in the Saudi Professional League, with Simone Inzaghi as its head coach. In the 1960-61 season, Al-Hilal SFC won the Saudi Cup trophy. In 1964, it claimed the King's Cup title. During the 1976-77 season, the club secured the domestic league championship. In 1991, it won its first Asian title by defeating Iranian club Esteghlal in the final of the Asian Club Championship. It lifted the Asian Club Championship trophy for the second time in the 1999-2000 season.
Team History
From 2003 to 2023, Al-Hilal won the Saudi Pro League title 9 times, bringing its total league championships to 18, ranking first. It also achieved consecutive league and Crown Prince Cup doubles in the 2007-2008, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011 seasons. In the 2023-2024 Saudi King's Cup, the club won the title with a 34-match winning streak across all competitions, going on to sweep all domestic trophies in Saudi Arabia that season.
In June 2023, Al-Hilal failed to sign Lionel Messi with a proposed 3-year contract worth €1.5 billion. On July 24, it offered Kylian Mbappé €300 million, having previously signed players such as Neves, Koulibaly, and Milenković-Savić. On August 16, Neymar officially joined the club on a two-year contract until June 2025. On June 1, 2024, Al-Hilal defeated Al-Nassr in the Saudi King's Cup final, securing its third title of the season. This marked the club's 11th Saudi King's Cup triumph, setting a new record for the competition and surpassing Al-Ittihad Jeddah's 9 titles.
In September 2009, Al-Hilal SFC was named the Best Asian Club of the 20th Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). It also ranked second in the IFFHS's AFC Best Club of the Decade 2011-2020.
