# 2016–17 Al-Ahli Saudi FC season

The 2016–17 season was Al-Ahli's 41st consecutive season in the top flight of Saudi football and 79th year in existence as a football club. The club started the season facing Al-Hilal in the Saudi Super Cup, winning the game on penalties. As well as this, the club also competed in the Pro League, the AFC Champions League, and the two domestic cups, the Crown Prince Cup and the King Cup. They entered the season as defending champions of both the League and King Cup.

## Players
### Squad information

    As of 26 January 2017
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | KSA | Yasser Al Mosailem |
| 2 | DF | KSA | Ali Al-Zubaidi |
| 4 | MF | KSA | Waleed Bakshween |
| 5 | MF | KSA | Fahad Hamad |
| 6 | DF | KSA | Mohammed Al Fatil |
| 7 | MF | KSA | Salman Al-Moasher |
| 8 | MF | KSA | Taisir Al-Jassim (Captain) |
| 9 | FW | SYR | Omar Al Soma |
| 10 | MF | GRE | Giannis Fetfatzidis |
| 11 | MF | KSA | Housain Al-Mogahwi |
| 13 | DF | EGY | Mohamed Abdel-Shafy |
| 14 | FW | KSA | Muhannad Assiri |
| 16 | MF | KSA | Maher Othman |
| 17 | MF | KSA | Ayman Al-Khulaif |
| 20 | FW | KSA | Islam Seraj |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | DF | KSA | Ageel Balghaith |
| 22 | GK | KSA | Ahmed Al-Rehaili |
| 23 | DF | KSA | Saeed Al-Mowalad |
| 24 | MF | KSA | Ali Awagi |
| 25 | DF | KSA | Motaz Hawsawi |
| 26 | DF | KSA | Mohammed Aman |
| 27 | MF | KSA | Hamdan Al-Shamrani |
| 30 | DF | KSA | Saeed Al-Robeai |
| 31 | DF | KSA | Mansoor Al-Harbi |
| 44 | GK | KSA | Ayman Al-Hussaini |
| 45 | MF | KSA | Abdulfattah Asiri |
| 47 | MF | KSA | Mustafa Bassas |
| 55 | MF | IRQ | Saad Abdul-Amir |
| 66 | GK | KSA | Basem Atallah |
| 77 | DF | KSA | Amiri Kurdi |

## New contracts

| No. | Pos | Player | Contract length | Contract end | Date |
| 40 | CM | Raed Al-Ghamdi | 4 years | 2020 | 29 June 2016 |
| 4 | DM | Waleed Bakshween | 4 years | 2020 | 13 July 2016 |
| 21 | RB | Ageel Balghaith | 3 years | 2019 | 18 July 2016 |
| 77 | RB | Amiri Kurdi | 2 years | 2020 | 18 July 2016 |
| 35 | ST | Mohammed Al-Harthi | 2 years | 2018 | 21 July 2016 |
| 30 | CB | Saeed Al-Robeai | 5 years | 2021 | 26 July 2016 |
| 9 | ST | Omar Al-Somah | 2 years | 2020 | 31 July 2016 |
| 80 | DM | Ryan Al-Mousa | 2 years | 2020 | 15 August 2016 |
| 7 | LM | Salman Al-Moasher | 2 years | 2020 | 19 August 2016 |
| 66 | GK | Basem Atallah | 2 years | 2018 | 25 August 2016 |
| 14 | ST | Muhannad Assiri | 4 years | 2020 | 3 December 2016 |
| 1 | GK | Yasser Al Mosailem | 4 years | 2020 | 29 December 2016 |
| 10 | AM | Giannis Fetfatzidis | 2 years | 2019 | 22 April 2017 |

## Transfers
### In
#### Summer

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred From | Fee | Date |
| 24 | LM | Ali Awagi | Al-Wehda | £2,980,000 | 9 June 2016 |
| 18 | DM | Luíz Carlos | Braga | Free | 14 July 2016 |
| 45 | RM | Abdulfattah Asiri | Al-Ittihad | Free | 17 August 2016 |

#### Winter

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred From | Fee | Date | Source |
| 23 | RB | Saeed Al-Mowalad | Al-Raed | Free | 2 January 2017 | |
| 55 | DM | Saad Abdul-Amir | Al-Qadisiyah | £975,000 | 12 January 2017 | |

### Out
#### Summer

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred To | Fee | Date |
| 3 | CB | Osama Hawsawi | Al-Hilal | Free | 1 July 2016 |
| 17 | LM | Majed Kanabah | Unattached | Free | 1 July 2016 |
| 77 | ST | Samer Salem | Unattached | Free | 1 July 2016 |
| 7 | AM | Ahmed Al-Aoufi | Al-Ittihad | Free | 9 July 2016 |
| 22 | GK | Abdullah Al-Mayouf | Al-Hilal | Free | 12 July 2016 |
| 29 | DM | Zakaria Sami | Al-Khaleej | Free | 12 July 2016 |
| 18 | CM | Abdullah Al-Mutairi | Al-Faisaly | Free | 13 July 2016 |
| 99 | CB | Kamel Al-Mousa | Al-Wehda | Free | 21 July 2016 |
| 49 | RM | Sultan Al-Sawadi | Al-Raed | Free | 25 July 2016 |
| - | DM | Abdullah Al-Mohammed | Al-Khaleej | Free | 23 August 2016 |

#### Winter

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred To | Fee | Date | Source |
| 18 | DM | Luíz Carlos | Osmanlıspor | Free | 26 January 2017 | |

### Loan out
#### Summer

| No. | Pos | Player | Loaned To | Start | End |
| — | ST | Mostafa Al-Musawi | Al-Khaleej | 8 July 2016 | 30 June 2017 |
| 32 | CB | Hamed Al-Sherif | Al-Ettifaq | 13 July 2016 | 20 January 2017 |
| 28 | LB | Abdulelah Bokhari | Al-Khaleej | 17 August 2016 | 30 June 2017 |
| 19 | ST | Yasser Al-Fahmi | Al-Wehda | 25 August 2016 | 30 June 2017 |
| 15 | LW | Saleh Al-Amri | Al-Ettifaq | 25 August 2016 | 30 June 2017 |

#### Winter

| No. | Pos | Player | Loaned To | Start | End |
| 35 | ST | Mohammed Al-Harthi | Al-Batin | 15 January 2017 | 30 June 2017 |
| 32 | CB | Hamed Al-Sherif | Hajer | 21 January 2017 | 30 June 2017 |
| 40 | RM | Raed Al-Ghamdi | Al-Khaleej | 23 January 2017 | 30 June 2017 |
| 80 | DM | Ryan Al-Mousa | Al-Raed | 25 January 2017 | 30 June 2017 |

### Overall transfer activity
## Pre-season and friendlies

Al-Ahli preceded their 2016-17 campaign with a friendly against Jeddah Club, a tour of Spain and Qatar and faced Barcelona in the Qatar Airways Cup midway through the season.

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Started round | Final position / round | First match | Last match |
| Competition | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | Started round | Final position / round | First match | Last match |
| Professional League | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 57 | 30 | +27 | 065.38 | — | 2nd | 14 August 2016 | 4 May 2017 |
| King Cup | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 5 | +11 | 080.00 | Round of 32 | Runners-up | 20 January 2017 | 18 May 2017 |
| Crown Prince Cup | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 066.67 | Round of 16 | Semi-finals | 27 September 2016 | 27 December 2016 |
| Champions League | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 050.00 | Group stage | In Progress | 21 February 2017 | In Progress |
| Saudi Super Cup | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 100.00 | Final | Winners | 8 August 2016 | 8 August 2016 |
| Total | 43 | 28 | 7 | 8 | 98 | 50 | +48 | 065.12 |
Updated to match played 29 May 2017 Source: Competitions

### Saudi Super Cup

As a result of winning both the league and Kings Cup, Al-Ahli were scheduled to face Al-Hilal, who won the Crown Prince Cup, in their 1st Saudi Super Cup appearance. Al-Ahli won the match on penalties.

### Pro League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Hilal (C) | 26 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 63 | 16 | +47 | 66 | Qualification to AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Al-Ahli | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 57 | 30 | +27 | 55 | Qualification to AFC Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Al-Nassr | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 44 | 25 | +19 | 52 | |
| 4 | Al-Ittihad | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 57 | 37 | +20 | 52 | |
| 5 | Al-Raed | 26 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 37 | 47 | −10 | 35 | |
* 1 2 Al-Nassr finished ahead of Al-Ittihad on head-to-head points: Al-Ittihad 0–1 Al-Nassr, Al-Nassr 1–1 Al-Ittihad
* ↑ Al-Ittihad were docked 3 points for failing to pay over debts.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 4 May 2017. Source: Competitive matches

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Ground | A | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | D | W | D | D | W | W | W |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |

#### Matches

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).
Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### King Cup

Al-Ahli entered the King Cup in the Round of 32 alongside the other Pro League teams.

### Crown Prince Cup

As one of last year's finalists, Al-Ahli received a bye to the second round of the Crown Prince Cup. Al-Ahli started off their campaign by beating Al-Faisaly 2-1 at home, Al-Ahli came from behind and scored twice from the penalty spot through Omar Al Somah.
Al-Ahli were drawn away at Hajer for the quarter-finals. The game was played on 25 October 2016. The Royals won 6-1 with Omar Al-Somah scoring a hat-trick.
For the semi-finals Al-Ahli were drawn away at local rivals Al-Ittihad. The game was played on 27 December 2016. Al-Ahli lost 3-2 and were eliminated from the competition.

### AFC Champions League

As league winners, Al-Ahli entered the AFC Champions League at the group stage. The draw took place on 13 December 2016 and saw Al-Ahli paired with Hazfi Cup winners Zob Ahan, UAE Pro League and 2016 AFC Champions League runners-up Al Ain, and Uzbek League runners-up Bunyodkor.

#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | AIN | AHL | ZOB | BUN |
| 1 | Al-Ain | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 12 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| 2 | Al-Ahli | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 11 | Advance to knockout stage | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Zob Ahan | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 7 | | 0–3 | 1–2 | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | Bunyodkor | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 3 | | 2–3 | 2–0 | 0–2 | — |

#### Knockout phase
##### Round of 16
## Statistics
### Appearances

| No. | Pos. | Name | Pro League | Pro League | King Cup | King Cup | Crown Prince Cup | Crown Prince Cup | Champions League | Champions League | Super Cup | Super Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline |
| No. | Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | | |
| 1 | GK | Yasser Al Mosailem | 16 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | Ali Al-Zubaidi | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | Waleed Bakshween | 4 | 0 | 3 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 (1) | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | Fahad Hamad | 3 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Mohammed Al Fatil | 20 (1) | 1 | 3 (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29 (3) | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Salman Al-Moasher | 23 (2) | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 (2) | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 38 (4) | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Taisir Al-Jassim | 23 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Omar Al Soma | 24 | 24 | 3 (1) | 4 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 36 (1) | 40 | 5 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Giannis Fetfatzidis | 19 (6) | 3 | 4 (1) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 34 (7) | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | Housain Al-Mogahwi | 11 (12) | 0 | 2 (2) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 (6) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 17 (21) | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | Mohamed Abdel-Shafy | 17 (2) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 (2) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | Muhannad Assiri | 2 (12) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 1 | 1 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 (17) | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | Maher Othman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | Islam Seraj | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 (2) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (5) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | Ageel Balghaith | 20 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 29 (1) | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 22 | GK | Ahmed Al-Rehaili | 10 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Saeed Al-Mowalad | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | Ali Awagi | 2 (8) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 (10) | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | Motaz Hawsawi | 16 (1) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 (1) | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 26 | DF | Mohammed Aman | 2 (4) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 4 (6) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | Hamdan Al-Shamrani | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | Saeed Al-Robeai | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (2) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | Mansoor Al-Harbi | 9 (5) | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 (8) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 44 | GK | Ayman Al-Hussaini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | MF | Abdulfattah Asiri | 13 (7) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 28 (7) | 9 | 2 | 0 |
| 47 | MF | Mustafa Bassas | 10 (2) | 2 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 11 (5) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 55 | MF | Saad Abdul-Amir | 10 | 1 | 4 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 (1) | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 66 | GK | Basem Atallah | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | DF | Amiri Kurdi | 4 (5) | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 (3) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 (10) | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Players who left the club in August/January transfer window or on loan |||||||||||||||||
| 18 | MF | Luíz Carlos | 12 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 40 | MF | Raed Al-Ghamdi | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 80 | MF | Ryan Al-Mousa | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Last updated: 29 May 2017. Source:

### Goalscorers

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Pro League | King Cup | Crown Prince Cup | Champions League | Super Cup | Total |
| 1 | 9 | FW | | Omar Al Somah | 24 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 40 |
| 2 | 45 | MF | | Abdulfattah Asiri | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 3 | 10 | MF | | Giannis Fetfatzidis | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | 7 | MF | | Salman Al-Moasher | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | 14 | FW | | Muhannad Assiri | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | 8 | MF | | Taisir Al-Jassim | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | 11 | MF | | Housain Al-Mogahwi | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | 25 | DF | | Motaz Hawsawi | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | 55 | MF | | Saad Abdul-Amir | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | 24 | MF | | Ali Awagi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | 20 | FW | | Islam Seraj | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | 21 | DF | | Ageel Balghaith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | 47 | MF | | Mustafa Al-Bassas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | 6 | DF | | Mohammed Al-Fatil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 23 | DF | | Saeed Al-Mowalad | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 26 | DF | | Mohammed Aman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 77 | DF | | Amiri Kurdi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 57 | 16 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 98 |
Last Updated: 29 May 2017

### Clean sheets

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Pro League | King Cup | Crown Prince Cup | Champions League | Super Cup | Total |
| 1 | 1 | GK | | Yasser Al Mosailem | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | 22 | GK | | Ahmed Al-Rehaili | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
Last Updated: 12 May 2017