The Club

History

The origins of Al-Hilal.

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A history forged in glory...

It all started in the 1950s, in a mud house in the Al-Dhuhra neighborhood of Riyadh. As told by Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Saeed, the Sheikh of athletes, founder of Al-Hilal Club, and one of the pioneers of the sports movement in the Kingdom...

“The beginning was difficult. It almost destroyed the idea of Al Hilal. We were drawn into this work of our own free will and with our belief that sports are equal to politics. The Olympic built itself for a whole year with caution and fear, with no friendly or charity matches with other clubs. This date, October 16th 1957, was the date of the birth of this club; it was named Al Hilal, as the first Saudi club to be named by a royal decree from King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on December 13th 1957. We chose its blue and white logo to distinguish these two colors from the colors of other clubs.”

In October 1957, the Olympic Club was born with an influx of key players: Mubarak Abdul Karim, the best player and top scorer; Saleh Jaber, the best playmaker; Saleh Aman, one of the best defenders in the Kingdom; Mohammed Kamel, nicknamed “Al-Kosh”, an excellent left winger; Abdulrahman bin Mozan, the best right winger of his time; Youssef Khairallah, “Al-Dynamo”, and many others.

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A year later, Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Saeed sent a letter to His Majesty King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with a proposal to change the club’s name. He had three choices: Al-Yamamah, Al-Wahda, and Al-Hilal. In a telegram reply, His Majesty King Saud bin Abdulaziz wrote to Bin Saeed: “We have reviewed what was included in your letter attached to it, which contains a statement of the names you proposed and we would like you to direct us to what we see as appropriate:

"Your club will be called by the third name in the letter, Al-Hilal.”

The beginning was not with a multi-named administration, but rather the administrative, technical and financial affairs were all managed by the club's founder and president until July 1960, when a number of Hilal figures volunteered to join the club to assist the club president in the work assigned to them. The first board of directors of the club was formed from a number of these applicants.