Al-Ahli Saudi

Al-Ahli Saudi's biggest run to date came in continental football, not the Saudi Pro League: the club won the AFC Champions League Elite in 2025 and defended the title in 2026, with the run to both finals taking in victories over Japan's Kawasaki Frontale and Machida Zelvia.

The double arrived after Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, PIF, bought 75 per cent of the club in June 2023 and backed it with signings such as Roberto Firmino and Riyad Mahrez. Two years earlier, Al-Ahli had gone down for the first time in its history, then bounced straight back by winning the first division the following season.

The club itself dates to 1937, when a group of students at the Al-Falah school in Jeddah founded it and named it after Cairo's Al-Ahli. War and a ban on football shut it down between 1939 and 1949. Its first trophy, the Crown Prince Cup, followed in 1957, long before the nickname The Royals took hold.

Domestically, the club's best spell ran from 1968 to 1978, when it won seven championships. Christian Gross's side added a treble in 2015/16 — league, King's Cup and Super Cup — built on a 51-match unbeaten run. Derby matches against Al-Ittihad, the other Jeddah club, still carry that edge.

Home games are played at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, known since 2025 under sponsorship as Alinma Stadium, where the stands in green and white hold 62,345.