Between Al-Dawsari and Al-Hamdan: save the Saudi national team from the fans of Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr!
"Al-Akhdar" calls for help
The international break no longer unites the scattered fans of rival clubs behind the single national team they all share. It has become the moment the battleground shifts from which team is best to which player is best.
Across our Arab world, this is now commonplace, particularly within the Saudi national team. Fans of the various clubs, above all Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, compete to prove their players tower over the rest.
The matter does not end there. It stretches to tearing down the rival club's players and pinning every problem the national team suffers squarely on them.
Abdullah Al-Hamdan as an example
The latest victim of this bitter conflict was Abdullah Al-Hamdan, the current Al-Nassr striker, who spent several years at traditional rivals Al-Hilal before crossing the capital last February.
Al-Hamdan turned in one of his worst displays on Wednesday, during the 1-0 win over Kuwait in the opening round of the Arabian Gulf Cup group stage, "Gulf 27".
In front of goal he made all the wrong calls, passing when he should have shot and shooting when he should have passed. Greek coach Georgios Donis had seen enough and hauled him off. The fans jeered him all the way to the bench.
None of that is unusual. It happens in football. What wasn't normal was the ferocious attack the Saudi striker copped after the match, both from supporters and from media figures aligned with Al-Hilal.
Criticism is fair enough, particularly after a display that poor. But the attempt to break the player morally was something else, twisting one bad match into a verdict on his entire career with Saudi Arabia.
Salem Al-Dawsari: the biggest victim
What is happening with Al-Hamdan right now among Al-Hilal's fans played out in exactly the same way, perhaps even more sharply, with Salem Al-Dawsari, captain of "the Boss" and the Saudi national team, especially over the past few months.
Al-Dawsari was Saudi Arabia's best player at the 2025 Arab Cup in Qatar. He scored a goal, provided six assists and finished as the tournament's top assist provider.
Yet the criticism spilled over into attacks and mockery of "the Tornado". Sometimes it centred on him leaving the national team camp during the March international break. Other times it targeted a dip in form at the 2026 World Cup.
The national team struggled in attack throughout the World Cup, but Al-Dawsari carried the heaviest share of the blame. Critics pointed to his armband one moment and his status as the number one star the next. The truth, though, was rather different.
Saudi Arabia: between Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr
The Saudi national team has become fertile ground for the feud between Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr supporters. Each side is determined to prove that the rival club's players are the first and last reason for Saudi Arabia's setbacks.
The Al-Hilal fan will tell you Abdullah Al-Hamdan is the root of the attacking crisis gripping the Saudi national team. He conveniently forgets he was demanding Al-Hamdan's inclusion in the starting line-up only a few months ago, when the striker was stuck on his club's substitutes' bench.
Cross to the other camp and you'll find the Al-Nassr supporter tearing into Salem Al-Dawsari, branding him finished and a burden on the team. In the same breath, he demands backing for Nawaf Al-Aqidi and Abdullah Al-Hamdan, simply because they wear the colours of his club within the Saudi ranks.
Al-Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf captured it more than 12 centuries ago: "Everyone claims a bond with Layla, yet Layla acknowledges none of them." Everyone claims to love the Saudi national team. If Saudi Arabia could speak, it would say: "Save me from the fans of Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr".
