2015–16 Al-Hilal FC season
# 2015–16 Al-Hilal FC season

The 2015–16 season was the Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club's 59th in existence and 40th consecutive season in the top flight of Saudi Arabian football. Along with Pro League, the club also competed in the AFC Champions League, Super Cup, Crown Prince Cup and the King Cup.

## Players

### Squad information

Players and squad numbers last updated on 23 February 2016. Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Name | Position(s) | Date of Birth (Age) | Signed in | Contract until | Signed from | Transfer Fee | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| 1 | Khalid Sharahili | GK | (1987-02-03)3 February 1987 (aged 29) | 2007 | 2019 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 22 | Fahad Al-Thunayan | GK | (1986-08-29)29 August 1986 (aged 29) | 2014 | 2016 | Al-Taawon | €1.8M | |
| 28 | Abdullah Al-Sudairy | GK | (1992-02-02)2 February 1992 (aged 24) | 2010 | 2018 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 30 | Mohammed Al-Waked | GK | (1992-03-25)25 March 1992 (aged 24) | 2013 | 2017 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 33 | Marwan Al-Haidari | GK | (1996-04-12)12 April 1996 (aged 20) | 2016 | 2020 | Al-Nahda | €0.3M | |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 2 | Mohammed Al-Breik | RB / RW | (1992-09-15)15 September 1992 (aged 23) | 2014 | 2016 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 4 | Abdullah Al-Zori | CB / LB | (1987-08-13)13 August 1987 (aged 28) | 2007 | 2019 | Al-Nahda | ? | |
| 5 | Ahmed Sharahili | CB / RB | (1994-05-08)8 May 1994 (aged 22) | 2013 | 2018 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 12 | Yasser Al-Shahrani | LB / RB | (1992-05-22)22 May 1992 (aged 24) | 2012 | 2018 | Al-Qadisiyah | €3.5M | |
| 23 | Kwak Tae-Hwi | CB | (1981-07-08)8 July 1981 (aged 34) | 2014 | 2016 | Al-Shabab | €0.4M | |
| 26 | Digão | CB | (1988-05-07)7 May 1988 (aged 28) | 2014 | 2017 | Fluminense | €1.5M | |
| 36 | Muteb Al-Mufarrij | Defender | (1996-08-19)19 August 1996 (aged 19) | 2016 | | Youth system | N/A | |
| 51 | Fahad Ghazi | Defender | (1994-03-01)1 March 1994 (aged 22) | 2014 | 2017 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 70 | Mohammed Jahfali | CB | (1990-10-24)24 October 1990 (aged 25) | 2015 | 2020 | Al-Faisaly | €1.8M | |
| Midfielders ||||||||||
| 3 | Carlos Eduardo | CM / AM | (1989-10-17)17 October 1989 (aged 26) | 2015 | 2018 | FC Porto | €7M | |
| 6 | Mohammed Al-Qarni | DM / CM | (1989-11-24)24 November 1989 (aged 26) | 2010 | 2018 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 7 | Salman Al-Faraj | DM / CM / LB | (1989-08-01)1 August 1989 (aged 26) | 2008 | 2017 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 8 | Abdullah Otayf | DM / CM | (1992-08-03)3 August 1992 (aged 23) | 2013 | 2018 | Al-Shabab | €2.3M | |
| 10 | Mohammad Al-Shalhoub | AM / LW | (1980-12-08)8 December 1980 (aged 35) | 1998 | 2017 | Youth system | N/A | Vice-captain |
| 11 | Abdullaziz Al-Dawsari | AM / LM | (1988-10-11)11 October 1988 (aged 27) | 2007 | 2019 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 14 | Saud Kariri | DM | (1980-06-08)8 June 1980 (aged 36) | 2014 | 2016 | Al-Ittihad | Free | Second vice-captain |
| 18 | Abdulmajeed Al-Sawat | CM / AM | (1995-04-21)21 April 1995 (aged 21) | 2013 | 2020 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 19 | Khalid Ka'abi | AM / RM / RW | (1992-05-24)24 May 1992 (aged 24) | 2014 | 2016 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 24 | Nawaf Al-Abed | LW / RW | (1990-01-26)26 January 1990 (aged 26) | 2008 | 2018 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 25 | Faisel Darwish | DM / CM / RM | (1991-07-03)3 July 1991 (aged 24) | 2015 | 2020 | Al-Raed | €1.4M | |
| 27 | Abdulkareem Al-Qahtani | AM | (1993-02-09)9 February 1993 (aged 23) | 2014 | 2018 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 29 | Salem Al-Dawsari | RM / RW | (1991-08-19)19 August 1991 (aged 24) | 2011 | 2019 | Youth system | N/A | |
| 37 | Abdulaziz Al-Sharid | DM | (1994-01-05)5 January 1994 (aged 22) | 2014 | 2017 | Youth system | N/A | |
| Forwards ||||||||||
| 9 | Aílton Almeida | ST / CF | (1984-08-20)20 August 1984 (aged 31) | 2015 | 2016 | FC Terek Grozny | Free | |
| 15 | Nasser Al-Shamrani | ST / CF | (1983-11-23)23 November 1983 (aged 32) | 2013 | 2016 | Al-Shabab | €4.2M | |
| 16 | Yousef Al-Salem | ST / CF | (1985-05-04)4 May 1985 (aged 31) | 2013 | 2017 | Al-Ettifaq | Free | |
| 20 | Yasser Al-Qahtani | ST / CF | (1982-10-11)11 October 1982 (aged 33) | 2005 | 2017 | Al-Qadisiyah | €5.3M | Captain |

## Transfers

### In

| Date | Pos. | Player | Age | Moving from | Fee | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 9 April 2015 | FW | Younes Alaiwi | 25 | Al-Shoalah | | |
| 1 July 2015 | DF | Mohammed Al-Breik | 22 | Al-Raed | | Return from loan |
| 4 July 2015 | MF | Carlos Eduardo | 25 | FC Porto | €7M+3M variables | |
| 4 July 2015 | FW | Aílton Almeida | 30 | FC Terek Grozny | Free | |
| 12 November 2015 | GK | Marwan Al-Haidari | 19 | Al-Nahda | €0.3M | |

### Out

| Date | Pos. | Player | Age | Moving to | Fee | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 8 June 2015 | MF | Thiago Neves | 30 | Al Jazira | €11M | |
| 1 July 2015 | GK | Fayz Al-Sabiay | 32 | Al-Taawon | Free | |
| 1 July 2015 | FW | Georgios Samaras | 30 | West Bromwich | | Loan Return |

### On loan

| Date | Pos. | Player | Age | Loaned to | Loan Fee | Notes | Loan Expiry |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 12 July 2015 | MF | Abdulellah Al-Fadhl | 22 | Najran | | | 30 June 2016 |
| 20 July 2015 | DF | Sultan Al-Deayea | 22 | Al-Shabab | €0.2M | with an option to buy. | 30 June 2016 |
| 18 August 2015 | DF | Sultan Al-Bishi | 25 | Al-Raed | | | 30 June 2016 |
| 21 August 2015 | MF | Hamed Al-Hamed | 27 | Al-Raed | | | |
| 18 December 2015 | FW | Younes Alaiwi | 25 | Al-Raed | | | 30 June 2016 |
| 18 December 2015 | DF | Abdullah Al-Shamekh | 22 | Al-Raed | | | 30 June 2016 |
| 20 December 2015 | DF | Abdullah Al-Hafith | 22 | Hajer | | | 30 June 2016 |

## Competitions

### Overall

| Competition | Started round | Final position / round | First match | Last match |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saudi Super Cup | Final | Winners | 12 August 2015 | 12 August 2015 |
| Professional League | Round 1 | Runners-up | 19 August 2015 | 12 May 2016 |
| 2015 Champions League | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | 25 August 2015 | 20 October 2015 |
| Crown Prince Cup | Round of 16 | Winners | 30 November 2015 | 19 February 2016 |
| 2016 Champions League | Group stage | Round of 16 | 24 February 2016 | 24 May 2016 |
| King Cup | Round of 32 | Semi-finals | 21 January 2016 | 29 April 2016 |

Last Updated: 24 May 2016

### Pro League

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Al-Ahli (C) | 26 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 55 | 21 | +34 | 63 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Al-Hilal | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 52 | 23 | +29 | 55 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage and Arab Club Championship group stage |
| 3 | Al-Ittihad | 26 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 54 | 37 | +17 | 49 | |
| 4 | Al-Taawoun | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 54 | 35 | +19 | 45 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage |
| 5 | Al-Fateh | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 35 | 28 | +7 | 41 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League play-off round |

* 1 2 3 4 Since the winners of the 2016 King Cup, Al-Ahli, qualified for AFC Champions League group stage based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winner (2017 AFC Champions League group stage) is passed to the third-placed team and the spot for the third-placed team (AFC Champions League play-off round) is passed to the fourth-placed team.
* ↑ Al-Ittihad did not obtain an AFC license. Therefore, even if they earn the right to play in Asian competitions based on league position, they will not be able to participate.

**Results summary**

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

Last updated: 12 May 2016. 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 | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H |
| Result | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | D | W | L | L | D | W | W | D | W | L | W | D |
| Position | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

**Matches**

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Crown Prince Cup

Al-Hilal started the tournament directly to the round of 16, as one of last year's finalists. All times were local, AST (UTC+3).

### King Cup

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

### 2016 AFC Champions League

**Group stage**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | TRA | HIL | PAK | JAZ |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tractor Sazi | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 12 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 1–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 |
| 2 | Al-Hilal | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 11 | Advance to knockout stage | 0–2 | — | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Pakhtakor | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 10 | | 1–0 | 2–2 | — | 3–0 |
| 4 | Al-Jazira | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 1 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | — |

## Statistics

### Goalscorers

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | League | Super Cup | Crown Prince Cup | King Cup | 2015 CL | 2016 CL | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | MF | | Carlos Eduardo | 14 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| 2 | 9 | FW | | Aílton Almeida | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
| 3 | 20 | FW | | Yasser Al-Qahtani | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | 15 | FW | | Nasser Al-Shamrani | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 | 4 | DF | | Abdullah Al-Zori | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 6 | 19 | MF | | Khalid Kaabi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | 16 | FW | | Yousef Al-Salem | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | 29 | MF | | Salem Al-Dawsari | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | 7 | MF | | Salman Al-Faraj | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | 2 | DF | | Mohammed Al-Breik | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 12 | DF | | Yasser Al-Shahrani | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 70 | DF | | Mohammed Jahfali | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 24 | MF | | Nawaf Al-Abed | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | MF | | Mohammad Al-Shalhoub | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | 26 | DF | | Digão | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | 14 | MF | | Saud Kariri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | 25 | MF | | Faisel Darwish | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | 11 | MF | | Abdullaziz Al-Dawsari | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 52 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 95 |

Last Updated: 24 May 2016

### Assists

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | League | Super Cup | Crown Prince Cup | King Cup | 2015 CL | 2016 CL | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 10 | MF | | Mohammad Al-Shalhoub | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 1 | 24 | MF | | Nawaf Al-Abed | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | 25 | MF | | Faisel Darwish | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | 2 | DF | | Mohammed Al-Breik | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | MF | | Carlos Eduardo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | 29 | MF | | Salem Al-Dawsari | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | 15 | FW | | Nasser Al-Shamrani | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | 12 | DF | | Yasser Al-Shahrani | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | 4 | DF | | Abdullah Al-Zori | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | 9 | FW | | Aílton Almeida | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | 7 | MF | | Salman Al-Faraj | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | 14 | MF | | Saud Kariri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | 11 | MF | | Abdullaziz Al-Dawsari | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | 16 | FW | | Yousef Al-Salem | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | 19 | MF | | Khalid Kaabi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 23 | DF | | Kwak Tae-hwi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 26 | DF | | Digão | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 70 | DF | | Mohammed Jahfali | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | 20 | FW | | Yasser Al-Qahtani | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 37 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 63 |

Last Updated: 8 May 2016

### Clean sheets

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Player | League | Super Cup | Crown Prince Cup | King Cup | 2015 CL | 2016 CL | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | GK | | Khalid Sharahili | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 2 | 22 | GK | | Fahad Al-Thunayan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 16 |

Last Updated: 24 May 2016

