Saudi Arabia

Saeed Al-Owairan picked up the ball inside his own half against Belgium in 1994, ran past four defenders and finished into the corner — a goal that still gets replayed whenever the national team's World Cup history comes up. It came at the Green Falcons' debut appearance in the tournament, in the United States, where Saudi Arabia also beat Morocco and reached the round of sixteen before losing to Sweden.

The federation behind the team, SAFF, was founded on 18 May 1955, and the side played its first official international two years later, a 1-1 draw with Lebanon in Beirut. Domestic success followed before World Cup football did: three Asian Cup titles, in 1984, 1988 and 1996, along with wins at the Gulf Cup and the Arab Cup, built the team's reputation as the Gulf's benchmark side through the 1980s and 1990s.

Salem Al-Dawsari wears the captain's armband now, and he supplied his own defining moment at the 2022 World Cup, scoring the winner as Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2-1 in the tournament's opening round — a result that turned into one of the most replayed World Cup shocks of the decade. Mohammed Al-Deayea, capped 173 times, and Majed Abdullah, the team's all-time leading scorer with 72 goals, remain the names attached to the sides that won those earlier Asian titles.

Home matches are played at the King Fahd Sports City Stadium in Riyadh, currently being expanded toward a capacity beyond 70,000. No fixture on the calendar draws more tension than the one against Iran, a rivalry played out as much in regional politics as on the pitch and known across Asian football as the Asian El Clasico.