Abha_Club

Abha Club

Abha Club

Association football club in Abha, Saudi Arabia

Abha Football Club (Arabic: نادي أبها السعودي) is a professional Saudi football club based in Abha that is currently playing in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of Saudi football. Their home stadium is Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium.

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They were first promoted to the top flight in 2005 when they finished as runners up in the First Division. However, they were relegated after just one season. They achieved their second promotion in 2008 when they also finished as runners up. During the 2018–19 season Abha won their first First Division title as well as promotion to the Pro League for the third in the club's history.[4] Abha have won the Saudi Third Division once, during the 1998–99 season and the Saudi Second Division once, during the 1999–2000 season.

The club play their home games at Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium (also known as Al-Mahalah) in Abha. They share the stadium with rivals Damac, with whom they contest the Asir derby.[5]

History

The idea of establishing a sports club in Abha started with the personal initiative of Abdullah Al-Muallami in 1947. His reasons for establishing a sports club was so that the youth of Abha had a place to practice and play football. The youth of Abha continued practicing without an official sports club until the year of 1960. Then the idea of establishing a sports club was put in motion. The aim of establishing a sports club wasn't only a sport-related one; it was also aimed to be an educational and sociable club. A meeting was held on this topic, and the attendees agreed to establish a sports club in Abha. However, a problem arose in the meeting which caused a split between the attendees. The cause of the split was the naming of the club. One half wanted the club's name to be Al-Ahli Club in Asir the other half wanted the name to be Ittihad Shabab Asir. An agreement was not reached and eventually, two clubs were established in Abha.[6] And in the year 1966, the club was officially registered with the GSA under the name of Al-Farouk Sports Club in Abha. The club's first official president was Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al-Nuaami who changed the club's name from Al-Ahli Sports Club to Al-Farouk Sports Club.[7]

During the same time, Al-Ittihad Sports Club in Abha was formed and the first official president was Aziz bin Mustafa. Under directives from the GSA, Al-Ittihad Sports Club changed their name to Abha Sports Club in 1962.[8] This was due to a club already named Al-Ittihad Sports Club in Jeddah. And in the year of 1968, Abha Sports Club once again changed their name but this time to Al-Siddiq Sports Club, in commemoration to Abu Bakr, first of the Rashidun Caliphates. In early 1969, the GSA decided to merge both clubs, Al-Farouk and Al-Siddiq, to form one club under the name of Al-Farouk Sports Club. Sheikh Suleiman bin Ahmed Mimish was the first president of the newly merged club.[9]

In 1972, Al-Farouk Sports Club held a ceremony in honor of Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud on the occasion of his appointment as the governor of Asir. The ceremony was held at the club's headquarters and a number of matters which concern the club were discussed. One of the matters that were discussed was a name change proposed by the Prince to members of the club's board. It was unanimously agreed by members of the board and fans of the club to change the club's name to Al-Wadiea Sports Club. Al-Wadiea achieved promotion to the Saudi First Division for the first time in 1977. They spent two seasons in the First Division before being relegated to the regional leagues. In 1983, the club once again achieved promotion to the First Division and spent two seasons before being relegated at the end of the 1984–85 season. Al-Wadiea were once again promoted in 1994 before being relegated after a season. In 1999, the club changed their name from Al-Wadiea Sports Club to Abha Sports Club.[10] That same year, the club was promoted to the Second Division under the guidance of Saad Saleh Al-Bishri as manager. A year later the club achieved promotion once again but this time to the First Division with the Algerian, Elias Bou Zaid, as manager. In 2005, Abha were promoted to the Pro League, the top tier of Saudi football, for the first time after finishing second in the 2004–05 season.[11] The club were relegated after just a season in the top tier. Abha once again reached the Pro League after finishing second in the 2007–08 season. They were relegated after a season following their loss to Al-Raed in the relegation play-offs.[12] Abha then spent six consecutive seasons in the Saudi First Division before getting relegated to the Second Division for the first time since 2000.[13] On 4 May 2018, Abha defeated Al-Watani 2–1 on aggregate in the promotion play-offs to earn promotion to the second tier.[14] On 30 April 2019, Abha were promoted to the top flight for the third time after a 2–2 draw away to Al-Nojoom.[15] This was their second promotion in two seasons, becoming the sixth Saudi team to achieve this feat. On 11 May 2019, Abha won their first MS League title despite losing to Al-Qaisumah.[16] The 2019–20 season was Abha's most successful season in the Pro League. They achieved their highest finish in the top flight after finishing ninth. The club also reached the semi-finals of the King Cup for the first time.[17]

Recent seasons

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Honours

Current squad

As of 7 September 2023

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

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Management staff

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Managerial history

  • Sudan Hassan Khairi (1971 – 1972)
  • Egypt Hosni Matar (1982 – 1985)
  • Tunisia Wajdi Essid (1997 – 1998)
  • Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Beshri (1998 – 1999)
  • Algeria Elias Bou Zaid (1999 – 2000)
  • Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Beshri (2000 – 2001)
  • Romania Constantin Pascal (October 11, 2001 – January 5, 2002)
  • Algeria Boualem Laroum (January 5, 2002 – May 30, 2002)
  • Brazil João Alves (July 1, 2002 – May 30, 2004)
  • Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Beshri (August 1, 2004 – February 18, 2005)
  • Tunisia Yousef Al Suryati (February 18, 2005 – October 15, 2005)
  • Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Beshri (October 15, 2005 – December 2, 2005)
  • Brazil José Kleber (December 2, 2005 – March 24, 2006)
  • Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Beshri (March 24, 2006 – April 30, 2006)
  • Brazil Carlos Dante (May 24, 2006 – January 16, 2007)
  • Tunisia Mourad Okbi (January 21, 2007 – May 30, 2007)
  • Morocco Abdelkader Youmir (August 22, 2007 – October 18, 2008)
  • Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Beshri (October 18, 2008 – November 1, 2008)
  • Morocco Idris Obeis (November 1, 2008 – November 22, 2009)
  • Tunisia Nasser Nefzi (November 18, 2009 – April 27, 2010)
  • Czech Republic Otakar Dolejš (July 1, 2010 – October 1, 2011)
  • Tunisia Zuhair Al Louti (October 1, 2011 – May 28, 2012)
  • Egypt Emad Soliman (May 28, 2012 – November 17, 2012)
  • Portugal José Rachão (November 24, 2012 – March 23, 2013)
  • Saudi Arabia Ibrahim Al-Aasmi (March 23, 2013 – June 1, 2013)
  • Czech Republic Otakar Dolejš (July 1, 2013 – September 14, 2014)
  • Italy Riccardo De Vivo (September 26, 2014 – March 25, 2015)
  • Tunisia Jamal Belhadi (February 19, 2015 – March 25, 2015)
  • Saudi Arabia Ibrahim Al-Aasmi (March 25, 2015 – May 1, 2015)
  • Tunisia Yousri bin Kahla (August 1, 2015 – November 15, 2015)
  • Tunisia Karim Dalhoum (November 26, 2015 – March 1, 2016)
  • Tunisia Lotfi El Hashmi (June 29, 2016 – January 14, 2017)
  • Saudi Arabia Ibrahim Al-Aasmi (January 14, 2017 – May 1, 2017)
  • Tunisia Mounir Hariz (April 16, 2017 – December 18, 2017)
  • Saudi Arabia Ibrahim Al-Aasmi (December 18, 2017 – January 28, 2018)
  • Saudi Arabia Ahmed Mehrez (January 28, 2018 – May 10, 2018)
  • Tunisia Abderrazek Chebbi (June 14, 2018 – June 1, 2021)
  • Slovakia Martin Ševela (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022)
  • Belgium Sven Vandenbroeck (July 16, 2022 – October 8, 2022)
  • Poland Mateusz Lajczak (caretaker) (October 8, 2022 – October 30, 2022)
  • Netherlands Roel Coumans (October 30, 2022 – June 1, 2023)
  • Poland Czesław Michniewicz (June 12, 2023 – October 1, 2023)
  • Romania George Timis (caretaker) (October 1, 2023 – October 9, 2023)
  • Tunisia Yousef Al Mannai (October 9, 2023 – December 17, 2023)
  • Romania George Timis (caretaker) (December 17, 2023 – January 26, 2024)
  • South Africa Pitso Mosimane (January 26, 2024 – )

Presidential history

As of 17 November 2023.[18]

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See also

References

  1. [1]
    "الأندية الرياضية".
  2. [2]
    "Prince Sultan Sport City Stadium (Mahalah)".
  3. [3]
    "مجلس الإدارة". Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  4. [4]
    "بعد غياب 12 عاماً.. أبها يصعد إلى دوري المحترفين".
  5. [5]
    "ديربي عسير التاريخي بين زعيم وفارس".
  6. [6]
    "من هو نادي أبها".
  7. [7]
    "تاريخ النادي".
  8. [8]
    "حكاية نادي .. أبها فارس عسير والنادي الأول في المنطقة الجنوبية".
  9. [9]
    ""ميمش" أول رؤساء أبها.. و"ابن مجثل" حقق الحلم".
  10. [10]
    "الأمير خالد الفيصل يبارك تغيير مسمى الوديعة الى أبها".
  11. [11]
    "لجنة الحكام تهنئ الأندية بمناسبة الصعود".
  12. [12]
    ""رائد التحدي" يعلن البقاء في دوري الأضواء".
  13. [13]
    "نائب رئيس أبها السابق: 14 سببا عرقلت النادي".
  14. [14]
    "رياضي / فريق أبها يصعد لدوري الأمير محمد بن سلمان لأندية الدرجة الأولى بفوزه على الوطني".
  15. [15]
    "أبها يعود إلى دوري المحترفين بعد غياب 10 أعوام".
  16. [16]
    "أبها بطلا لدوري الأمير محمد بن سلمان للدرجة الأولى".
  17. [17]
    "ابها يحجز مقعده في نصف نهائي كاس الملك على حساب الفتح".
  18. [18]
    "رؤوساء النادي في تاريخه". Archived from the original on 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
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