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Saudi Arabia at the FIFA World Cup

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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.

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.

FIFA World Cup record

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FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Did not enter
Italy 1934
France 1938
Brazil 1950
Switzerland 1954
Sweden 1958
Chile 1962
England 1966
Mexico 1970
West Germany 1974
Argentina 1978 Did not qualify
Spain 1982
Mexico 1986
Italy 1990
United States 1994 Round of 16 12th 4 2 0 2 5 6
France 1998 Group stage 28th 3 0 1 2 2 7
South Korea Japan 2002 32nd 3 0 0 3 0 12
Germany 2006 28th 3 0 1 2 2 7
South Africa 2010 Did not qualify
Brazil 2014
Russia 2018 Group stage 26th 3 1 0 2 2 7
Qatar 2022 Group stage 25th 3 1 0 2 3 5
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030 To be determined
Saudi Arabia 2034 Qualified as hosts
United Nations 2038 To be determined
Total Round of 16 6/26 19 4 2 13 14 44

List of matches

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

Record players

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Rank Player Matches World Cups
1 Mohamed Al-Deayea 10 1994, 1998 and 2002
2 Sami Al-Jaber 9 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006
Abdullah Zubromawi 9 1994, 1998 and 2002
Hussein Abdulghani 9 1998, 2002 and 2006
5 Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi 6 1994 and 1998
Khaled Al-Muwallid 6 1994 and 1998
Saeed Al-Owairan 6 1994 and 1998
Fuad Anwar Amin 6 1994 and 1998
Hamzah Saleh 6 1994 and 1998
Ibrahim Al-Shahrani 6 1998 and 2002
Nawaf Al-Temyat 6 1998, 2002 and 2006
Redha Tukar 6 2002 and 2006
Salem Al-Dawsari 6 2018 and 2022

Top goalscorers

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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.

Rank Player Goals World Cups
1 Sami Al-Jaber 3 1994, 1998 and 2006
Salem Al-Dawsari 3 2018 (1) and 2022 (2)
3 Fuad Anwar Amin 2 1994
4 Saeed Al-Owairan 1 1994
Fahad Al-Ghesheyan 1 1994
Yousuf Al-Thunayan 1 1998
Yasser Al-Qahtani 1 2006
Salman Al-Faraj 1 2018
Saleh Al-Shehri 1 2022

Squads

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See also

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References

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