Al Shalhoub: Al Hilal legend steps into breach to resurrect title tilt

Football can be an unforgiving business. Just ask Jorge Jesus.

After guiding Al Hilal to the Roshn Saudi League title undefeated last season, records tumbling in the club’s wake, the popular Portuguese manager didn’t even get to see out this campaign.

After a string of poor results, in Al Hilal terms at least, and another semi-final exit in the AFC Champions League Elite, Jesus and the RSL title-holders parted company.

Make no mistake, the 70-year-old will be fondly remembered at Al Hilal. However, with the final stretch of their 2024-25 RSL set to resume on Wednesday, with back-to-back titles still within reach, and a FIFA Club World Cup on the horizon, there is little time for sentiment at Kingdom Arena.

Jorge Jesus leaves Al Hilal

Club confirm Al Shalhoub takes temporary charge

Evidently, it is straight back down to business.

Stepping into the vacant seat is a man who knows the four walls inside Al Hilal better than almost anyone in the building: club legend Mohammed Al Shalhoub.

The 44-year-old retired from playing only five years ago after one of the most decorated careers in Saudi Arabian football. Across a professional period spanning more than two decades, the diminutive midfielder amassed close to 550 games in blue, scoring more than 100 goals in the process.

As it stands, Al Shalhoub has made more appearances than anyone in the 68-year history of Al Hilal. He ranks fifth for goals scored.

Al Shalhoub’s list of trophies and accolades feels as long as Riyadh’s famed King Fahd Road: eight RSL titles, 11 Crown Prince Cups, two King’s Cups, two Saudi Super Cups, two AFC Champions Leagues, an Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and an Asian Super Cup.

Throw in 118 caps for Saudi Arabia, which places him 10th on the list of most caps for the national team, and there is a very good reason Al Shalhoub is revered up and down the country. Put plainly, he is Saudi football royalty.

Al Shalhoub might be small in stature, at just a tick over 160cm, but he is colossal in reputation. As such, in his new role, he will command the respect of the Al Hilal dressing room, some of whom were former teammates at club and national-team level.

While it may be only on an interim basis, this is a moment Al Shalhoub has worked towards for a number of years, beginning his coaching badges at the tail end of his professional career. In 2019, he told The Asian Game Podcast that it was his “dream” to one day coach Al Hilal.

That is now reality. Yet Al Shalhoub must work quickly to revitalise Al Hilal in lieu of, not only the disappointment of their ACL Elite campaign - they lost 3-1 in the semi-final to fellow RSL side, and eventual champions, Al Ahli - but also the departure of Jesus so soon in the aftermath.

That Al Shalhoub was an assistant to Jesus across the latter’s tenure will no doubt help smooth the transition. But most important of all is getting back to winning ways. As the saying goes, winning cures all ills. And winning is the perfect antidote for Al Hilal at this moment.

A draw last time out in the RSL against Al Shabab allowed league leaders Al Ittihad to extend their advantage over Al Hilal, who sit second, to six points. That said, it’s nothing Al Hilal haven’t overcome before - as Al Shalhoub will know all too well.

In the 2021-22 campaign, Al Hilal trailed Al Ittihad by double figures in the back half of the season, and with seven games to go were as low as fourth in the table. They then stormed home to claim the title.

Nothing is settled until it’s mathematically so, and that is the message that Al Shalhoub will have been driving home to the team this week as Al Hilal prepared to travel to Buraidah to face RSL bottom club Al Raed.

It gives without saying, but three points are a must for Al Hilal to maintain their title challenge. And, with Al Ittihad facing Al Nassr on the same night in the capital, they need their Riyadh rivals to do them a favour to narrow the gap going into the season's final four rounds.

If Al Hilal can get to within one win of Al Ittihad, and although their head-to-head record is slightly inferior, they can apply significant pressure onto the Jeddah side who should still remember the collapse of a few years earlier.

A bona-fide Saudi football great, Al Shalhoub has achieved so much in his career. However, if he can mastermind an Al Hilal title triumph from here, it would be close to his greatest achievement yet.