Saudi Arabia at the FIFA World Cup

Last updated
Russia vs Saudi Arabia match at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony (2018-06-14) 15.jpg
Russia vs Saudi Arabia match at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia

This is a record of Saudi Arabia's results at the FIFA World Cup . The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

Contents

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final. [1]

Saudi Arabia has qualified for a total of seven FIFA World Cup tournaments, having played in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022, and 2034 as hosts. Their best performance was in 1994, where they reached the round of 16.

Records

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
YearRoundPositionPldWD*LGFGAPldWDLGFGA
Flag of Uruguay.svg 1930 Not a FIFA memberNot a FIFA member
Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg 1934
Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg 1938
Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg 1950
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg 1954
Flag of Sweden.svg 1958 Did not enterDid not enter
Flag of Chile.svg 1962
Flag of England.svg 1966
Flag of Mexico.svg 1970
Flag of Germany.svg 1974
Flag of Argentina.svg 1978 Did not qualify410337
Flag of Spain.svg 1982 10415916
Flag of Mexico.svg 1986 201101
Flag of Italy.svg 1990 9432119
Flag of the United States.svg 1994 Round of 1612th42025611650287
Flag of France (lighter variant).svg 1998 Group stage28th30122714932267
Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg Flag of Japan.svg 2002 Group stage32nd3003012141121478
Flag of Germany.svg 2006 Group stage28th301227121020242
Flag of South Africa.svg 2010 Did not qualify168532515
Flag of Brazil.svg 2014 8332147
Flag of Russia.svg 2018 Group stage26th3102271812334514
Flag of Qatar.svg 2022 Group stage25th3102351813413410
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Flag of Mexico.svg Flag of the United States.svg 2026 Qualifications in progress8521155
Flag of Morocco.svg Flag of Portugal.svg Flag of Spain.svg 2030 To be determinedTo be determined
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg 2034 Qualified as hostsQualified as hosts
TotalRound of 166/171942131444142843424277107

List of matches

World CupRoundOpponentScoreResultVenueSaudi Arabia scorers
1994 Group stage Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1–2 L Washington Anwar
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 2–1 W East Rutherford Al-Jaber, Anwar
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 1–0 W Washington Al-Owairan
Round of 16 Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1–3 L Dallas Al-Ghesheyan
1998 Group stage Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 0–1 L Lens
Flag of France (lighter variant).svg  France 0–4 L Saint-Denis
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 2–2 D Bordeaux Al-Jaber, Al-Thunayan
2002 Group stage Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 0–8 L Sapporo
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 0–1 L Saitama
Flag of Ireland.svg  Republic of Ireland 0–3 L Yokohama
2006 Group stage Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 2–2 D Munich Al-Qahtani, Al-Jaber
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 0–4 L Hamburg
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 0–1 L Kaiserslautern
2018 Group stage Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 0–5 L Moscow
Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 0–1 L Rostov-on-Don
Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 2–1 W Volgograd S. Al-Dawsari, Al-Faraj
2022 Group stage Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 2–1 W Lusail Al-Shehri, S. Al-Dawsari
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 0–2 LAl Rayyan
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 1–2 LLusail S. Al-Dawsari

Record players

RankPlayerMatchesWorld Cups
1 Mohamed Al-Deayea 101994, 1998 and 2002
2 Sami Al-Jaber 91994, 1998, 2002 and 2006
Abdullah Zubromawi 91994, 1998 and 2002
Hussein Abdulghani 91998, 2002 and 2006
5 Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi 61994 and 1998
Khaled Al-Muwallid 61994 and 1998
Saeed Al-Owairan 61994 and 1998
Fuad Anwar Amin 61994 and 1998
Hamzah Saleh 61994 and 1998
Ibrahim Al-Shahrani 61998 and 2002
Nawaf Al-Temyat 61998, 2002 and 2006
Redha Tukar 62002 and 2006
Salem Al-Dawsari 62018 and 2022

Top goalscorers

Sami Al-Jaber is not only the most successful Saudi striker at the FIFA World Cup to date, he also managed to score in World Cups twelve years apart (1994 and 2006). He shares this record with eight other players, among them Pelé, Diego Maradona, Miroslav Klose, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

RankPlayerGoalsWorld Cups
1 Sami Al-Jaber 31994, 1998 and 2006
Salem Al-Dawsari 32018 (1) and 2022 (2)
3 Fuad Anwar Amin 21994
4 Saeed Al-Owairan 11994
Fahad Al-Ghesheyan 11994
Yousuf Al-Thunayan 11998
Yasser Al-Qahtani 12006
Salman Al-Faraj 12018
Saleh Al-Shehri 12022

Squads

See also

References

  1. 2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 6, 2007.

Head-to-head record