Al Faraj's indelible mark on Al Hilal and RSL

It’s hard to imagine Al Hilal without Salman Al Faraj.

The 34-year-old has spent the past two decades with the Riyadh club, firstly coming through their youth teams, before earning his senior debut in 2008 and all the way through to, in recent years, captaining the team.

He has been there for all the major milestones, collecting more silverware than most clubs, with a record eight Roshn Saudi League titles, five King’s Cup triumphs and two AFC Champions League crowns.

He had come to embody the spirit of Al Hilal and, as captain, become the face of the club. But after almost 400 matches, countless trophies and a legacy difficult to put into words, an Al Hilal without Salman Al Faraj doesn’t have to be imagined. It is a reality.

One of the most decorated chapters in the 66-year history of the club came to a close earlier this month, when Al Hilal confirmed the Saudi Arabia national team captain would not be continuing for the 2024-25 season. Then, on Sunday, Al Faraj was announced as the latest high-profile signing at ambitious First Division League side NEOM.

It is fitting, then, that Al Faraj’s final act as an Al Hilal player was to lift a trophy into the air, skippering the side to the King’s Cup title at the end of May. It completed a remarkable undefeated domestic season for Saudi Arabia’s most successful club, with Al Hilal already anointed 2023-24 RSL champions.

To bow out on the back of the most remarkable campaign is appropriate for one of the club’s most loyal servants. At the end of that King’s Cup final, which Al Hilal triumphed on penalties against fierce rivals Al Nassr, cameras captured Al Faraj in tears.

Did he know what was to come? He hinted at as much.

“There’s nothing to [the tears],” Al Faraj said on the ground after the game. “Those were tears of happiness. It was a tough match and we almost lost it. After all the efforts we put in during this historic season, it would have been a shame if we didn’t win the title.

“Throughout the shootout, I wasn’t looking at the player taking it; I was looking at the fans instead. They’ve been amazing, a massive force, and I felt that if we can’t win titles for these fans then we don’t deserve to be players of Al Hilal. It has been a great season, and they deserve this.”

Implying what was to come regarding his own situation at the club, Al Faraj added: “And to the players, I hope they continue performing and delivering like this, and I wish all them best in the coming seasons.”

Born in Medina, some 850km west of Riyadh, Al Faraj was spotted as a 15-year-old in 2004 by Al Hilal scouts at a Ramadan street tournament, a traditional hotbed of talents in Saudi Arabia, and was quickly fast-tracked into their youth teams. It would prove to be an astute piece of talent identification, although at the time no one could have predicted the impact the rangy teenager would have.

There is an elegance to the way Al Faraj plays. Able to hit every note with his sweet left foot, he is both creative and combative. His slight frame belies his rugged nature; just ask the dozens of players that have gone head-to-head with him at club and international level.

Al Faraj is as comfortable making a last-ditch tackle as he is playing a perfectly weighted ball for his strikers. It’s why, with or without the armband, he is always considered a leader, even at a young age. He leads by example, his actions demanding respect.

“He’s a person who knows how to group people together and take [a] team to the next level,” former Saudi Arabia coach, Herve Renard, said of his captain in 2022.

As influential as he was for Al Hilal, Al Faraj was the same on the international stage for the Green Falcons.

Renard’s half-time address in the bowels of Lusail Stadium in Saudi Arabia’s 2022 FIFA World Cup opener against Argentina has become legendary, but what has garnered less appreciation is the rousing speech Al Faraj delivered to his team just before they stepped out onto the pitch.

Injury, however, soured his experience in Qatar, Al Faraj having to be withdrawn on the stroke of half-time against Lionel Messi and Co. Yet he watched on from the dressing room as his teammates staged one of the most remarkable second-half performances to stun the eventual champions and win 2-1.

Footage captured Al Faraj hobbling around the dressing room as Saleh Al Shehri equalised and then, sitting on a treatment table, celebrating as Salem Al Dawsari, his long-time Al Hilal colleague, scored to put Saudi Arabia ahead. You could see in that moment what it meant to Al Faraj, but equally how hard it must have been for him not to be out there for that moment.

Injured or not, Al Faraj was still in the thick of the celebrations after the final whistle, but the crutches and heavy strapping on his leg suggested the worst. His World Cup was over before it had really begun.

While that experience will remain bittersweet, four years earlier there was sheer delight, when Al Faraj scored against Egypt at the 2018 global finals in Russia. It sealed Saudi Arabia’s first victory at the World Cup since 1994.

“That goal against Egypt was perhaps my favourite World Cup moment,” Al Faraj told Esquire Middle East in 2022. “It was my first World Cup, and to be able to score to secure victory is something that I will remember for a very long time.

“Representing the national team fills me with pride.”

Injury may have stympied Al Faraj’s impact in recent years, but one thing is undeniable as he embarks on a fresh adventure at NEOM: he has left an indelible mark on both Al Hilal and Saudi football.