Al Taawoun FC

Al Taawoun
Full name	Al Taawoun Football Club
Nickname(s)	Sukkari Al-Qassim (Sugar of Al-Qassim); Al-dhiyaab (The Wolves)
Founded	1956; 68 years ago
Ground	King Abdullah Sport City Stadium,; Buraidah, Saudi Arabia
Capacity	25,000
Chairman	Saud Al-Rashoodi
Manager	Rodolfo Arruabarrena
League	Saudi Pro League
2023-24	Pro League, 4th of 18
Website	altaawounfc.com
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

Al Taawoun FC (Arabic: نادي التعاون لكرة القدم, romanized: nādī at-Taʿāwun li-kurat al-qadam, lit. 'Cooperation Football Club') is a professional multi-sports club based in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia. The football team competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of Saudi Football.

The club play their home games at King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Buraidah, sharing the stadium with city rivals Al-Raed with whom they contest the Qassim Derby.

History

Al-Taawoun were founded in 1956 under the name of "Al-Shabab" by their founder Saleh Al Wabili. Four years after the founding of the club, they were officially registered as a professional club in 1960.^{[citation needed]}

On the 25th of May 1990, Al-Taawoun reached the 1990 king cup final to face Al-Nasser but eventually lost 0–2. By reaching the final, Al-Taawoun became the second First Division side to reach the final after Al-Riyadh in 1978. In the 2009–10 season, Al-Taawoun won promotion to the Pro League for the first time in over thirteen years as runners-up in the first division. Their last appearance in the top flight was in the 1997-98 season. They have been playing consecutively in the Saudi Professional League since the 2010–2011 season.^[2] On 29 May 2016, Al-Taawoun qualified to their debut AFC Champions League campaign for the first time ever by finishing fourth in the league during the 2015–16 season.^[3]

Their best ever top-flight season came in the 2018–19 season when the club successfully challenged for the Asian Champions League spots, eventually finishing in third place in the Saudi Professional League, their highest ever league position to date. And to top off their season, Al-Taawoun reached the King Cup final by thrashing Al-Hilal 5–0 at the King Saud Stadium in the semi-final, and went on to defeat Al-Ittihad 2–1 in the final to claim their first-ever top-flight trophy, with the winning goal coming in the 90th minute.^[4] Al-Taawoun also became the first club from Al-Qassim Region to win the King Cup.

In the following season (2019-20), Al-Taawon's performances were one of their worst in their league history. Al-Taawoun booked their spot in the 2019 super cup by winning the King Cup title the previous season. Al-Taawoun lost to Al-Nasser 4–5 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw at the end of extra time. The club were almost relegated and needed a win in the final matchday against relegation threatened Al-Fayha, the highly tense match continued as a draw until the 91st minute when Mohammad Al-Sahlawi converted a cross with a tap in to make it 1-0 and avoid relegation in the final moments of the season. In the 2020-21 season Al-Taawoun reached their 3rd king cup final in the 2020–21 edition to face Al-Faisaly, in the end Al-Faisaly won their first title after a 3–2 win over Al-Taawoun in the final on 27 May 2021.

Al-Taawoun Qualified to the 2020 AFC Champions League as 2019 King Cup winners and 2018–19 Saudi Professional League 3rd place, Al-Taawoun finished the group as runners-up with a record of (3W,3L) to qualify to the knockout stages for the first time in their history. Al-Taawoun faced Al-Nasser in the round of 16 but eventually lost 0–1.

Honours

King's Cup ^[5]

Winners (1): 2019
Runners-up (2): 1990, 2020–21

Saudi Super Cup

Runners-up (1): 2019

Saudi First Division League (tier 2)

Winners (1): 1996–97
Runners-up (2): 1994–95, 2009–10

Saudi Second Division League (tier 3)

Winners (1): 1977–78

Prince Faisal bin Fahd Cup for Division 1 and 2 Teams

Winners (4): 1996–97, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2008–09

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Rodolfo Arruabarrena
Assistant manager	Diego Markic Juan Gobet Amr Mokhtar
Goalkeeper coach	Khalil Al-Ghamdi
Fitness coach	Abdulrahman Al-Sahli
Youth Coach	Jehad Al-Hussien
Development coach	Khaled Al-Dhefiri
Performance coach	Thamer Al-Sahli
Match analysis	Hassan Al-Dossari
Doctor	Abdullah Bahusayn
Physiotherapist	Vincenzo Buzzi
Sporting director	Abdullah Al-Ahmed

Current squad

As of 14 August 2023^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	BRA	Mailson
3	DF	BRA	Andrei Girotto
6	MF	KSA	Sultan Al-Farhan (on loan from Al-Ittihad)
7	MF	KSA	Mohammed Al-Kuwaykibi
8	MF	KSA	Saad Al-Nasser
9	FW	KSA	Abdulfattah Adam
10	MF	BRA	Mateus Castro
11	FW	BRA	João Pedro
13	GK	KSA	Abdulquddus Atiah
14	DF	KSA	Fahad Al-Jumayah
16	DF	VEN	Renné Rivas (on loan from Caracas)
18	MF	MAR	Aschraf El Mahdioui (captain)
19	MF	BOL	Lucas Chávez (on loan from Bolívar)
21	DF	KSA	Fahad Al-Abdulrazzaq
23	DF	KSA	Waleed Al-Ahmed
24	MF	BRA	Flávio Medeiros


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
26	DF	KSA	Ibrahim Al-Shoeil
27	MF	KSA	Sultan Mandash
28	MF	KSA	Turki Al-Shaifan ^U19
29	MF	KSA	Ahmed Bahusayn
31	GK	KSA	Mohammed Al-Dhulayfi
32	DF	KSA	Muteb Al-Mufarrij
33	FW	KSA	Anas Al-Ghamdi ^U19
39	FW	KSA	Ali Sharahili ^U19
44	MF	KSA	Abdulmalik Al-Harbi ^U19
49	MF	KSA	Abdulrahman Al-Harbi ^U19
76	MF	MAR	Fayçal Fajr
90	MF	KSA	Hattan Bahebri
93	DF	KSA	Awn Al-Saluli
98	FW	KSA	Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi ^U19
99	FW	GAM	Musa Barrow

Unregistered players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
5	MF	KSA	Mohammed Mahzari (on loan from Al-Ettifaq)
50	GK	KSA	Mohammed Al-Dossari


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	KSA	Basil Al-Mehawes

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
43	DF	KSA	Emad Al-Qunaian (on loan to Hajer)
67	DF	KSA	Mohammed Bakr (on loan to Al-Jabalain)
91	MF	KSA	Rakan Al-Tulayhi (on loan to Al-Arabi)
—	DF	KSA	Adeeb Al-Hassan (on loan to Al-Arabi)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	KSA	Abdulmalek Al-Shammeri (on loan to Al-Orobah)
—	MF	KSA	Abdulrahman Al-Mughais (on loan to Al-Hilaliyah)
—	MF	KSA	Sattam Al-Rouqi (on loan to Al-Orobah)
—	FW	KSA	Bassem Al-Arini (on loan to Al-Kholood)

International competitions

Overview

As of 26 April 2022

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
AFC Champions League	20	6	4	10	25	34
GCC Champions League	5	1	4	0	7	6
TOTAL	25	7	8	10	32	40

Record by country

Country	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win%
Iran	6	1	1	4	5	8	−3	016.67
Oman	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	050.00
Qatar	6	3	2	1	11	8	+3	050.00
Saudi Arabia	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Syria	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
United Arab Emirates	5	1	2	2	3	10	−7	020.00
Uzbekistan	4	1	1	2	9	10	−1	025.00
TOTAL	25	7	8	10	32	40	−8	028.00

International record

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2015	GCC Champions League	Group A	Al-Suwaiq	1–0	2−2	2nd
		Group A	Al-Rayyan	1–1	2–2	2nd
		Quarter-finals	Al-Nasr	–	1−1 (p)	1–1 (p)
2017	AFC Champions League	Group A	Lokomotiv Tashkent	1–0	4−4	3rd
			Esteghlal	1–2	0−3
			Al-Ahli	1–3	0−0
2020	AFC Champions League	Group C	Sharjah	0–6	1–0	2nd
			Al-Duhail	2–0	1–0
			Persepolis	0–1	0–1
		Round of 16	Al-Nassr	0–1		0–1
2022	AFC Champions League	Play-off round	Al-Jaish	1–1 (5–4 p)	–	1–1 (5–4 p)
		Group D	Al-Duhail	3–4	2–1	2nd
			Pakhtakor	0–1	4–5
			Sepahan	3–0	1–1

Domestic league timeline

Season	League	Position
1985–86	Saudi First Division	3rd
1986–87		5th
1987–88		7th
1988–89		4th
1989–90		?
1990–91		3rd
1991–92		7th
1992–93		5th
1993–94		4th
1994–95		2nd
1995–96	Saudi Premier League	11th
1996–97	Saudi First Division	1st
1997–98	Saudi Premier League	12th
1998–99	Saudi First Division	8th
1999–00		8th
2000–01		7th
2001–02		6th
2002–03		7th
2003–04		7th
2004–05		5th
2005–06		10th
2006–07		6th
2007–08		7th
2008–09		7th
2009–10		2nd
2010–11	Saudi Pro League	8th
2011–12		12th
2012–13		12th
2013–14		5th
2014–15		9th
2015–16		4th
2016–17		7th
2017–18		7th
2018–19		3rd
2019–20		12th
2020–21		4th
2021–22		12th
2022–23		5th
2023–24		4th