Al-Hilal beats Al-Wehda to win its ninth Saudi Crown Prince Cup title

Saudi soccer club Al-Hilal won its fourth consecutive Crown Prince Cup title on Friday by crushing Al-Wehda 5-0 in King Abdul Aziz sport city stadium in Mecca.

Egyptian player Ahmed Ali opened the score for Al-Hilal at the 24th minutes of the first half. Abed Allah Azzouri, Mohammed al-Shalhoub, Sweden international Christian Wilhelmsson, and Nawaf el-Abed added four more goals in the second half.

Al-Hilal has won the Saudi Crown Prince title nine times, and this year’s is the club’s fourth consecutive one.

Al-Hilal, nicknamed “the leader,” began the tournament winning 4-0 over Najran in the round of 16. The club later beat al-Ahli in the quarterfinals in penalty shootouts and overcame al-Nasr 2-0 in the semi-finals.

Al-Wehda, nicknamed Knights of Mecca, were hopeful about putting an end to their 40-year absence in the list of title winners, especially that Friday’s final was played on their soil.

The Mecca club started off the tournament with a win over al-Faisaly in the round of 16. The club then proceeded to beat al-Raed in the quarterfinals and al-Ittifaq in the semi-finals.

Al-Wehda won all previous confrontations in the tournament in penalty shootouts.
A Spanish referee team led by Carlos Carballo and his assistants Roberto Fernandez, and Fermin Ibanez managed Friday’s match.

(Mustapha Ajbaili of Al Arabiya can be reached at: [email protected])