Abdulghani: Saudi legend uniting Al Ahli and Al Nassr

Whenever Al Ahli and Al Nassr meet there is always a little tension in the air.

As members of the Roshn Saudi League’s established elite, matches between the two stir up plenty of emotions, especially among the fans who love nothing more than to get one over on their rivals.

But there also exists something else at the centre of the tension. Or rather, someone else: Hussein Abdulghani.

The dashing left-back, who featured at three FIFA World Cups for his national team, is regarded as one of the finest players ever produced by Saudi Arabia.

His longevity at the top - a career spanning 25 years from his first senior game to his last - earns him a special place in the history of Saudi football. His 138 caps for the national team, earned across a remarkable 22-year international career places him fifth in the overall list of most capped players for the Green Falcons.

And while Abdulghani both started and finished his career in Jeddah with his boyhood club, Al Ahli, it was his decision to sign for Al Nassr upon his return from Europe in the prime of his career that so rankled his former employers’ loyal fan base. Seeing him captain Al Nassr to back-to-back RSL titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15 only heightened the feelings of betrayal.

Any long-standing friction between Abdulghani and Al Ahli was eased, however, when he returned to the club, in January 2019 and aged 42, to see out the final 18 months of his playing career. It marked a fitting end to a glittering career, one that started all the way back in September 1995.

It was a different time back then. The FIFA World Cup was still only a 24-team competition, Cristiano Ronaldo was still in junior school and the two-time defending Asian champions were a club from Thailand that no longer exist.

As a boy from Jeddah, Abdulghani's talent was spotted early and he joined the Al Ahli academy as a 15-year-old, working his way up to the senior team by the time he was 18.

While his senior debut came in a game in the now defunct Federation Cup on 26 September 1995 - a 2-1 loss to Al Qadsiah - he would have to wait another two months for his league debut, which would come in the hottest of environments in the Jeddah Derby against fierce rivals Al Ittihad.

Talk about a baptism of fire. But, as Abdulghani did throughout his stellar career, he took it all in his stride. Even at a young age, his temperament and his quality stood out.

Within 12 months, as a 19-year-old, he was an instrumental member of the national team at the 1996 AFC Asian Cup in neighbouring UAE, playing every game as Saudi Arabia went all the way and claimed their third - and as it stands, most recent - continental title.

“I had seen him playing and brought him in and, although he was young, I had no doubts about selecting him,” Nelo Vingada, who was Saudi Arabia’s manager at the time, told Arab News in 2018. “He had no weak points. He was not big but very strong and aggressive, and very fast.”

The final was a bittersweet moment for Abdulghani. While the Green Falcons would go on to lift the trophy, Abdulghani was sent off after picking up two yellow cards late in the second half.

“Playing in a big final was not easy,” Vingada said. “But he stepped up and he gave a very solid performance. It wasn’t a good game to be honest, but he did what I asked him to do and gave the attacking team no time or space. What is impressive is that he recovered from that sending off and built a fine career.”

“Fine” feels an understatement from the well-travelled Portuguese manager. Just two years later, Abdulghani was playing on the global stage; he was an integral part of the Saudi squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, playing every minute of every game in the groups, against France, Denmark and South Africa.

The same was true in 2002, Abdulghani featuring in all three group-stage matches again, and by 2006, he was given the ultimate honour of captaining the national team at the FIFA World Cup in Germany.

It wasn’t only at international level that Abdulghani was impressing, though: he helped Al Ahli to both the Arab Champions League and Gulf Club Champions Cup titles in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Just a year later, he was handed the captain’s armband at the club, captaining Al Ahli to both the Crown Prince Cup and the Federation Cup in 2007.

So impressive were Abdulghani’s performances for club and country, that in July 2008 he became only the third Saudi player behind Sami Al Jaber and Fahad Al Ghesheyan to play in Europe, earning a move to Swiss side Neuchatel Xamax, for whom he made 19 appearances during his one season in Neuchatel, a small, picturesque town near the French border.

Yet it was Abdulghani’s decision to sign for Al Nassr upon returning from Europe that so upset the Al Ahli fans. Nevertheless, and as he had done with the Jeddah side, he represented Al Nassr with distinction, captaining the club to back-to-back RSL titles and earning legend status across a decorated eight years in Riyadh.

While anger of his “betrayal” has long since subsided, there remains no shortage of passion when the two sides meet, as they will again this weekend when Al Ahli travel to Riyadh to take on Al Nassr on Friday, in Matchweek 3 of the resumed 2024-25 campaign.

Abdulghani will no doubt be keeping a keen eye of proceedings at Al Awwal Park. For he is a player indelibly connected to both RSL clubs.