In the qualifying rounds of the World Cup Qualifiers, the Saudi football team will face the Pakistani team next Thursday, June 6, 2024 at the Islamabad Stadium in Pakistan. The Saudi team is on top of the second group which includes 4 teams: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tajikistan and Pakistan.
It is worth noting that the Saudi national team is considered one of the most successful teams in Asia, having won the Asian Cup three times (1984, 1988, 1996) and reaching the finals of the Asian Cup the most (6 times). has set a record as a team. It has qualified for the World Cup on six occasions since its first appearance in the 1994 World Cup. Saudi Arabia is the first Asian team to reach the final of a major international competition when they reached the final of the 1992 King Fahd Cup (which later became the Confederations Cup). Australia and Japan have managed to achieve this feat only in 1997 and 2001. Australia achieved this feat while being a member of the Oceania Football Confederation.
At the 1994 World Cup, led by coach Jorge Solari, Saudi Arabia defeated both Belgium and Morocco in the group stage before losing to Sweden in the round of 16.
In doing so, they became the second Arab team in history to reach the round of 16 at the World Cup after Morocco in the 1986 World Cup, and one of the few Asian football teams (such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea). which has achieved this success so far.
The year 2022 witnessed many achievements for the Saudi Football Federation, making it one of the most successful years for Saudi football in the last two decades. This is all thanks to the generous support of visionary leadership in the field of sports, which represents an important aspect of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and the continued interest of Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Programmatic Committee.
For Saudi football fans, the year 2022 was associated with qualifying for the World Cup, but the year also witnessed many successes as the Saudi Federation implemented its strategy to transform Saudi football. It came out after a lot of effort, the details of which were announced in September 2021.
BY: Saudi Media Attaché Islamabad Pakistan
