RIYADH: The most coveted prize in Saudi football has reached its penultimate stage, with Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli set to battle for one place in the Saudi King’s Cup final at Al-Inma Stadium in Jeddah. Meanwhile, Al-Ittihad travel to Qassim for their semi-final encounter against an unlikely opponent: Ben Harburg’s Al-Kholood.
Both games kick off simultaneously at 10:00pm on Wednesday, with fans across the Kingdom awaiting the pairing that will collide in the final. Each possible outcome carries its own narrative, promising one of the most compelling conclusions to what has already been a frantic tournament.
The Round of 32 delivered the tournament’s first giant killing. An injury-time equaliser by Al-Batin’s Mohammed Al-Sahli forced Al-Ettifaq into a penalty shootout, where Ondrej Duda and Francisco Calvo missed their attempts to send Al-Batin into the Round of 16.
There, Al-Nassr welcomed Al-Ittihad to Al-Awwal Park in a thrilling encounter that ended in Al-Nassr’s first defeat in all competitions this season. Karim Benzema opened the scoring, only to be cancelled out by Angelo 15 minutes later, before Houssem Aouar’s goal on the cusp of half-time dashed Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of lifting the trophy early in the campaign.
The quarter-finals offered no respite either. Al-Ahli found themselves 3-1 down to home to Al-Qadsiah before mounting a dramatic comeback.
Midfield duo Valentin Atangana and Franck Kessie both scored in the second half to bring the score level, and a tense penalty shootout culminated with a narrow victory for Al-Ahli after Abdullah Al-Salem missed his attempt.
Now, Al-Ahli face Al-Hilal — a rivalry in the competition that stretches back to 1977.
Al-Hilal have beaten Al-Ahli in two finals, but have never been able to top them at the semi-final stage. For fans, the fondest memories of this rivalry date back to the era of Omar Al-Somah and Carlos Eduardo, when the sides went neck and neck for silverware across the Kingdom.
In the 2015/16 season, Al-Ahli pipped Al-Hilal to the league title — their first in 32 years — before defeating them in the King’s Cup semi-final in Riyadh, thanks to a long-range strike from Marquinho in the 113th minute to make it 3-2.
Al-Ahli would also lift the Saudi Super Cup title that summer at Al-Hilal’s expense, but the Blues came back for revenge. They pipped Al-Ahli to the league title, before securing the King’s Cup in a 3-2 victory against Al-Ahli in the King’s Cup final in Jeddah.
While those memories remain nostalgic, the landscape today looks very different. The Saudi Pro League title race remains fiercely contested, with both Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal still firmly in the hunt. The same is true in the AFC Champions League Elite.
But if there’s anything we can learn from the previous decade of Saudi football, it’s that these competitions rarely exist in isolation — rather, they are deeply interconnected.
Victory for Al-Ahli here could propel them toward an unlikely treble, and the same could be said for Al-Hilal. Losing a semi-final is not simply about one less match to play — it can reshape the psychological momentum of the entire season.
The recent head-to-head record only adds to the intrigue.
Al-Hilal are winless against Al-Ahli in their last four meetings across all competitions — something that hasn’t happened since the peak of Al-Ahli’s golden generation in 2015. To find a longer run, you would have to go back to the pre-Saudi Pro League era.
Victory for Al-Ahli would signal a genuine shift in the status quo. Victory for Al-Hilal, meahwile, could revive a challenging period for Simone Inzaghi’s side and reignite their push for titles across multiple competitions.
The other semi-final offers a completely different narrative.
On paper, Al-Ittihad’s clash with A-Kholood appears straightforward. The King’s Cup, however, has rarely been kind to the favourites in recent years at this stage of the competition.
Al-Ittihad have also endured a turbulent season defending their league title. Laurent Blanc has long since departed, and Sérgio Conceição now faces the task of rebuilding the squad while keeping their remaining silverware ambitions alive.
Meanwhile, Al-Kholood are going through a historic season of their own. In their first season under foreign ownership, owner Ben Harburg and head coach Des Buckingham have led the club to an unprecedented semi-final appearance — one that will take place in the club’s home province.
Recent history is also on Al-Kholood’s side. Since 2018, there have been five giant killings in the semi-final.
Al-Ahli fell to Al-Faisaly in 2018, preventing Jeddah fans from a potential Sea Derby final. The following year, Al-Taawoun stunned Al-Hilal on their way to the trophy, before Al-Faisaly repeated their feat in 2021 by defeating Al-Nassr.
In 2022, Al-Ittihad themselves succumbed to Al-Fayha, and in the following year Al-Nassr were knocked out by Al-Wehda. Such results have become so common that the last time all four of Saudi Arabia’s traditional giants reached the semi-finals together was back in 2016.
Yet for Al-Ittihad, they know that their season hinges on moments like this. The King’s Cup and AFC Champions League Elite are still within reach, and this encounter could redefine what has otherwise been a difficult campaign.
Last week’s defeat to Al-Riyadh in the league has already fuelled speculation surrounding Conceição’s future at the club. However, sources close the club insist he retains full backing, with his long-term position not tied to league results this season.
And with 15 finals reached across his 14-year managerial career, Conceição knows how to navigate nights like these. For Al-Ittihad, everything that came before this game may as well be deemed a sunk cost, because what matters is the opportunity ahead.
This season’s Saudi King’s Cup semi-finals have once again set the stage for something extraordinary.
If Al-Kholood reach the final, it will be another chapter in the competition’s long tradition of giant killings, as well as a case study for foreign ownership in the Kingdom — regardless of who they face in the final.
If Al-Ittihad advance, the final will put them head-to-head against one of their fiercest rivals. The Sea Derby against city rivals Al-Ahli, or the Saudi Clásico against historic foes Al-Hilal.
Either way, the stage is set for a night that could shape the story of Saudi football this season, and the outlook of football in the Kingdom for the years ahead.
