The Official Saudi Season 2005-2006 will begin with the Prince Faisal Cup. Many questions have already been asked before the beginning of the season : Who will be the best team this time? - Last season was an early final battle between Ittihad and Hilal, Hilal was able to win the two Saudi tournaments Cup and League, but Ittihad was able to clinch the Arab CL. This season looks tougher, Ittihad wants to prove his size, Hilal wants to prove that the 4 tournaments this season was well deserved, Ahli wants to prove they are still a big and strong team, Nasr wants to prove that they are able to return to their Golden Ages, Shabab will want to prove that they still can be able to reach the finals and battle the top 4. Abha and Hazm will be wanting to prove they can stay in the Saudi Top League, AlAnsar and Ittifaq will want to prove that they werent lucky in staying in the top league, Wahda, Qadisyia, and Taie will try to focus on getting high ranks then avoiding the bottom two places. Will Hilal keep his outstanding performance and win his 7th ACL? Will Shabab be able to continue his strong performance after their President announced his retirement and AlBaltan will be their new president? Will Nasr be able to return to his well known performance, end their troubles, and win their first tournament from 6 years and more? - Since The new President Saed Bin Faisal, the main nasr's problem has been solved, and since they will able to use foreigners with their young talented players, many Nasr fans believe that they can jump back to the top. What happened to Ahli? - Ahli in the last season went through a magical trick, they were able to disappear from the local tournaments! After they were disqualified from the Saudi Cup by AlWatan a 2nd division club by penalties, and then lose to Ittifaq 3-0 to end up 5th place. They tried to re-appear in the Arab League, but the Tunisians 4 placed them through a disappointing season. But somehow they re-appeared in the ACL and did some great job and were able to qualify to the quaterfinals. This year's transfer season has been another exciting one, below are the latest transfers till now : Ahmed Dokhi - Hilal To Ittihad - Amount is still now known, expected to be around 2-4 million riyals. Yasser AlQahtani - Qadysia To Hilal - Still is in the air hanging, with 20 million riyals around 5.4 million dollars, the latest news is that Yasser stopped training with his club. Nawaf AlTemyat - Hilal To Al Sadd Qatar - The beginning of the process has begun with around 10 millions riyals for 1 season, doubt he will accept though. Mohammed Manga - Shabab To Shabab Emirates - Its pretty official and confirmed that he will be going to Emirates, but i dont know the amount yet. Claudio Pitbull - FC Porto To Ittihad - Its been confirmed a couple weeks ago for 2 million Euros for 2 seasons, but we all know Balwy's way of bringing players isn't official till you see the player playing in the game.
http://www.the-afc.com/english/media/default.asp?mnsection=media§ion=newsDetails&newsID=3589 AFC reported Al Ittihad is in talks with Monaco striker Kallon, who is only 25 They may have missed out on Jared Borgetti but it seem the club is still very ambitious in their foreign signing
That would be a good signing (if it happens). Anyway, what do you guys think of the FA's latest rule changes: a limit of 2 transfers and loans a season! And people wonder why Saudi football is in such a mess, when the govenors of the game make reactionary tailored rule changes every season.
Al-Ittifaq is set to play in GCC club championship between 16th-27th of Sep 2005 other teams: Al-Qadisiya (Kuwait) Al-Khor (Qatar) Al-Rifa'a (Bahrain) Al-Wasl (UAE) Muscat (Oman)
That's STUPID.You can try to protect teams and even Saudi players,but at this rate,strong teams will make a type of monopolium,since smaller ones can't make decent moves to improve their squad. At this rate,Ittihad goes with full force,signing Pitbull and maybe Kallon.
There's a chance no Saudi club will participate since KSA will be participating in 2006, their doing too much changes because of it.
Latest News : Hilal has announced that they will only bring Abdulrahman Osfour and Yaser AlQahtani to their squad for this season, and Bakita will try to bring Omorowzo the Sao Paolu Brazil striker (31 years old), he also used to play in Ferder Bremen Germany. http://www.arriy.com/ListNews.asp?NewsID=9212&MenuID=25 AlNasr has announced that Jerry the Santos Brazil midfielder will be playing for Nasr next season for one year for 300 thousand dollars, and also they are about to make a deal with Juel Santana to be the coach for 500 thousand dollars. http://www.arriy.com/ListNews.asp?NewsID=9211&MenuID=25 Hazm President Ali Ayed says that Hazm will be badly affected by AlBaltan leaving the club, since he was one of the main factors of rising to the Saudi Excellent League, and that the latest Saudi FA rule of only 2 players transfer per season will badly affect Abha and Hazm, the two new rising clubs. http://www.arriy.com/ListNews.asp?NewsID=9203&MenuID=15 Hilal and Ahli have both agreed on a friendly game on August 5th. http://www.alwatan.com.sa/daily/2005-07-26/sport/sport12.htm Mansour AlBalwy has accepted to offer Qadysia 4 players for 2 seasons, who are defender Hamad Aleisa, Goalkeeper AlSabeyie, and two forwards Ali Matroud and Hamad Abu Robei. http://www.alwatan.com.sa/daily/2005-07-26/sport/sport06.htm Ahli has accepted to loan to Alwahda Ali Jezani for 1 season, and Mohammed Khelawi will be going to Alwahda for good. http://www.alwatan.com.sa/daily/2005-07-26/sport/sport03.htm
This will definately affect the two newcomers Abha and Hazm. These are the stuff that affect Saudi Football, stupid and silly rules.
Amoroso also played at Guarani(Brasil),Udinese(and he was the top scorer) and Malaga.Here he's now a São Paulo FC idol,since São Paulo won Libertadores after 13 years and he was one of their best players.I think he can move up,since he's 32 yr. old and probably wants to make some money. About Jerry,he's a left-footed OMF with some talent.He was Diego(FC Porto MF) sub. when Santos needed it,but now He's playing for Santos B at Copa FPF(a regional tournament here),so the move will be ok I think. And...poor Al Nasr.Joel Santana is horrible.
The media are considering him a great coach! And on Yaser AlQahtani's deal it looks like its finally over, he's going to Hilal for good. Thats what AllSports announced, but I haven't seen it..
Latest News : Yaser AlQahtani's deal is coming closer to an end, last night AlQadisyia decided to lower the amount to 22.500 million riyals (Around 6 million dollars). Some rumours say that some Qadisyia's supporters threatened to leave the club if they didn't lower the amount of the deal. http://www.arriy.com/ListNews.asp?NewsID=9303&MenuID=25 AlNasr has has began to try to bring the Ecuador NT Striker Ivan Cafedees for one year for 800 thousand euro. http://www.arriy.com/ListNews.asp?NewsID=9304&MenuID=25
Excuse me, what kind of fan asks his club to give a discount to a team signing their star player! The Hilali press have gone into overload to produce a masterpiece like this one. They should write Bollywood films!
anyone know if Kallon (AS Monaco , french 1st division) is on the way to Al Ittihad?? on the french news paper they said kallon was contact by this club??? thanks for your informations.
From past experience, I wouldn't say he's coming to Ittihad until I see him holding up the yellow jersey. But our president has flown out to France to finalise the deal. So I'm hoping for the best. He's a great player, if you don't want him, we'll take him with open arms.
Mansour AlBalwy President Of Ittihad has confirmed that he will be officially coming to Ittihad on allSports, but the price is unknown till now.
Lol,that's true. About Santana,yes,he have some experience with Arab Football,but here we consider him a poor coach,with strange manners and things like that. Again,it seems that Ittihad is making a good offensive duo - Kallon is a very good striker and can make a difference with Pitbull without doubt. --- Hm,some one give me a help please,but...what teams have Riyadh as their base?Hilal,Ahli,Shabab...more?And about them,what seems to be the smaller,I mean,the poorest side(titles and even cash) of Riyadh?
successful signing by Blawi...Kallon is much better than Borgetti in my eyes. Hijazzey, what are the FA's reasonings for limiting the number of players loaned? They better have an explanation.... man those guys sometimes