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Brazilian superstar Neymar Jr officially unveiled as Al-Hilal player

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New signing Al-Hilal's Neymar is presented to the fans inside the stadium before the match. (AP)
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Brazilian superstar Neymar was unveiled to fans at Al-Hilal on Saturday as he became the latest world-famous footballer to sign for a club in the Saudi Pro League. (Twitter/@AlHilal_FC)
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Updated 20 August 2023
Arab News
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Brazilian superstar Neymar Jr officially unveiled as Al-Hilal player

  • Arrived in Riyadh to a hero’s welcome on Friday
  • Welcomed to the club at Al-Hilal’s 68,000-capacity stadium in Riyadh
Updated 20 August 2023
Arab News

RIYADH: Brazilian superstar Neymar was unveiled to fans at Al-Hilal on Saturday as he became the latest world-famous footballer to sign for a club in the Saudi Pro League.

He was welcomed at Al-Hilal’s 68,000-capacity stadium in Riyadh alongside two other new signings, fellow Brazilian Malcolm and Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

Neymar joined Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona in 2017 for a world-record fee of €222 million ($242 million), scoring 118 goals in 173 matches despite a series of injuries.

He arrived in Riyadh to a hero’s welcome on Friday ahead of the unveiling as he was received in an airport lounge packed with club officials and madia, a large diamond-studded cross hanging around his neck as he posed for pictures.

“We will hold a big party worthy of the samba dancer,” an Al-Hilal official said.

On his move to the Kingdom, Neymar said: “It is exciting, meeting top quality players on the other teams thrills you, and motivates you to play even better. And it is a given when you face Ronaldo, Benzema, Firmino, that the excitement is even greater. So I am happy to join this league, facing them will be wonderful, it will be fantastic.”

Cristiano Ronaldo set the Saudi Pro League's plans in motion when he joined Al-Nassr in January in a two-and-a-half-year deal said to be worth 400 million euros. 

* With AFP

Topics: football soccer Saudi Arabia SPL SPL Al-Hilal Neymar Jr.

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Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final

Updated 11 January 2026
Reuters
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Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final

  • Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
  • That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
Updated 11 January 2026
Reuters

AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed ⁠as African champions.

Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear ⁠the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.


The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.

SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but ⁠hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.

 

Topics: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Egypt Cote d’Ivoire Mohamed Salah Omar Marmoush

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