Al-Hilal provide the largest contingent in Saudi Arabia’s under-21 squad for the 2026 Asian Games, while leading scorer Mohammed Al-Essa has been left out of the final selection.
Saudi Arabia Under-21 will compete in the football tournament at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, which will run from 14 September to 3 October this year.
Head coach Luigi Di Biagio has named a 23-player squad for the competition, with four players coming from Al-Hilal. The club’s representatives are Meshaal Al-Dawood, Saad Al-Mutairi, Sabri Dahl and Turki Al-Ghmail.
Al-Nassr are the next best represented club, supplying three players: Awad Aman, Bassam Hazzazi and Saad Haqawi.
Al-Ittihad have two players in the squad, Mohammed Barnawi and Farhah Al-Shammari, while Al-Qadsiah are also represented by two players in Ammar Al-Yuhaibi and Eyad Hosa.
There is only one player from Al-Ahli in the selection, with winger Ziyad Malla included after scoring four goals in the Joie Elite League, the Saudi under-21 competition. That tally makes him the joint-second-highest scorer in the league alongside Jefferson Ramos, the Al-Fateh forward from Cape Verde.
The most notable omission is Al-Ettifaq striker Mohammed Al-Essa, who leads the competition’s scoring charts after scoring five goals in the opening two matches.
Al-Essa’s absence means the tournament’s top scorer will not be part of Di Biagio’s squad for the Asian Games, despite his early-season form. The final list otherwise includes players from six Saudi clubs: Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, Al-Qadsiah, Al-Ahli and Al-Ettifaq, as well as Al-Fateh through Ramos.
Saudi Arabia have been drawn in Group D alongside Qatar and South Korea. They will begin their campaign against Qatar on 18 September before facing South Korea four days later.
The Saudi Football Federation announced the final Under-21 squad for the football competition at the 2026 Asian Games through its official channels under the slogan “With you, Green”, using the Arabic hashtags associated with the national team and Nagoya 2026.
The Asian Games will be staged in Nagoya, with the football tournament forming part of the wider event taking place between 14 September and 3 October.
