Al-Ittihad coach Jose Luis Sierra is hoping to finish a disappointing season on a high by defeating Al-Faisaly in the King’s Cup on Saturday.
The Jeddah giants finished ninth in the 2017-18 Saudi Pro League that ended last month, but they can qualify for next year’s AFC Champions League by lifting the King’s Cup trophy for the ninth time.
Sierra knows it will not be easy against an Al-Faisaly team that finished three places higher in the league, a performance that saw opposite number Vuk Rasovic named coach of the season.
“We haven’t beaten them this season and so we will have to play with all our strength and determination,” Sierra told Saudi Arabian television. “They have a great coach in Rasovic who deserved his award.
“We have prepared well for the final and had a successful training camp in the UAE to give the players the right environment away from the pressure of the final.”
These are troubled times for the two-time champions of Asia. Unmet financial obligations to players and coaches were a major factor in the team not being granted an AFC club license needed to participate in this year’s AFC Champions League. With help from the General Sports Authority, the club is attempting to return to an even financial keel.
“We fought against tough circumstances,” said Sierra, who will welcome goalkeeper Fawaz Al-Qarni back from a national team training camp in Spain.
“We have not been able to sign players and we also lost one of the best players in the country in Fahad Al-Muwallad,” added the coach in reference to the star winger being loaned to La Liga club Levante in January. “We challenged for third place for a long time which is better than many clubs could have managed in our situation.”
Sierra refused to confirm whether he will stay for next season, adding his decision will rest on whether he will be able to strengthen the squad. “We need to end the problems that we have had this year, both on and off the pitch, and according to that I will decide whether to go or stay but if the issues continue, it will be difficult to stay.”
It is definitely the final game in charge of Faisaly for coach Rasovic, according to reports in Serbia.
The former Partizan Belgrade boss arrived in Saudi Arabia in May last year and took the club to within a point of the top four. A move to the UAE club Al-Dhafra beckons.
“We had a tough route to get to the final and we expect another tough game,” said Rasovic. “It has not been easy to prepare because the league ended in April and we have been without competitive games but we are ready.”
Despite the difference in league positions, Al-Ittihad are seen as favorites, but Rasovic has other ideas.
“We have faced Al-Ittihad three times this season, twice in the league and once in a friendly, and we have not lost, so it will not be an easy task for them to win,” he said.
“We are not afraid of Al-Ittihad. If we play to our level then we don’t need to worry about them. I am concerned only about how our players perform.”
Al-Ittihad seek to salvage their season in King's Cup final against Al-Faisaly
Al-Ittihad seek to salvage their season in King's Cup final against Al-Faisaly
- Jeddah giants finished a disappointing ninth in the league
- Al-Faisaly finished three places higher and boast the coach of the year
Young future stars of Saudi golf enjoy a moment alongside the big names at LIV Golf Riyadh
- Participants in ROSHN Rising Stars program to develop golfing talent in the Kingdom play friendly competition at Riyadh Golf Club before round 3 of the season opener tees off
- ‘Golf is such a fundamental sport for development … The values of golf can be correlated to the values of society: confidence, resilience and integrity,’ says LIV Golf’s Jake Jones
RIYADH: While much of the spotlight during LIV Golf’s 2026 season opener in Riyadh this week has of course been on the return of some of the sport’s biggest names for the new campaign, a new generation of Saudi golfers is also quietly taking its own first steps into the game.
Participants in the ROSHN Rising Stars program, an initiative designed to introduce and develop young golfing talent across the Kingdom, gathered at Riyadh Golf Club on Friday afternoon for a friendly competition a few hours before the third round of the main event teed off under the lights.
“The real focus is getting golf into the lives of young people in the Kingdom,” Jake Jones, LIV Golf’s senior vice president of impact and sustainability told Arab News as the young golfers took to the course under cloudy skies.
“We wanted to do something a little bit different, something sustained, with a long-term outcome, and that’s how this program was created.”
The program runs for 20 weeks, during which the participants receive weekly coaching and instruction sessions at Riyadh Golf Club from Golf Saudi professionals.
“This takes them from never having held a golf club before to reaching a point where they’ve now played in a competition,” Jones said.
The fact that the LIV Golf season opens in Riyadh provides another key benefit for the participants, as they get to experience the professional game up close, and this access to world-class players and events forms a key part of their journey.
“We give them exposure to our LIV Golf events, here and internationally,” Jones added.
Beyond this, and teaching people how to play the game, the program offers participants insights into the wider aspects of the world of golf, including career opportunities.
“They’ve had behind-the-scenes tours, pitch-and-putt sessions, long-drive competitions and visits to places like the media center,” Jones said. “It’s about showing them what it’s like not just to play golf, but work in the sport as well.”
Friday’s event in Riyadh marked the conclusion of the 20-week program for its participants.
“Today is really the celebration point,” Jones said. “We’re at the graduation phase of this journey, where they’ll compete in a three-hole challenge. We then crown a winner and celebrate with them back at the ROSHN Fan Village.”
As golf continues to grow in popularity in the region, Jones believes initiatives such as Rising Stars will have a lasting effect on the development of next generation of players.
“Golf is such a fundamental sport for development; it’s not just about physical activity and having fun,” he said. “The values of golf can be correlated to the values of society: confidence, resilience and integrity.
“Imagine playing golf and you miss the ball or you end up in the sand; you have to get back up and try again. You block the noise around you and focus on the ball to make the right shot.”
Jones highlighted in particular the importance of integrity as one of golf’s defining characteristics, and how that can help shape personal development.
“The rules of golf are reliant on you following them,” he said. “That sense of honesty and self-discipline is something young players can carry beyond the course” into the roles they play in their communities, societies and countries.
“The role that golf can have with young people in Saudi Arabia is actually another layer of baking in those core societal skills, to ensure that they are fit and robust for the future,” Jones added.
This is particularly important given the youthful nature of the Saudi population, more than half of which is under the age of 30, he said, and they now have the chance to benefit from golf in one way or another.
“Golf is now another avenue that they can explore. Whether it’s playing, working in the sport or simply finding a community, we want to give them another reason to get excited.
“We believe that golf can do all of that and, hopefully, it can spark a lasting passion among the Saudi youth.”
