Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah)

Al-Ittihad Club Saudi Arabia (), also known as Al-Ittihad Jeddah or simply Al-Ittihad, meaning The Union, is a Saudi Premier League football club based in Jeddah.
The club was founded on January 4, 1927 before the third Saudi state was declared, making it the oldest and first sports club in Saudi Arabia. The most successful period in Al-Ittihad's history was the 1990s and mid 2000s, when the club won numerous honours both domestically and continental. The team won Cup Winners Cup in 1999 and two Champions League titles in 2004 and 2005 and as far as going on to compete in the 2005 FIFA Club World Cup. The club has the distinction of being one of the only three Asian clubs to have won the AFC Champions League twice in a row.
History.
Foundation.
The club was founded after a meeting, on January 4, 1927, of some of the notable football enthusiasts of the city of Jeddah. They met in the offices of the radio broadcasting company and discussed the idea of forming a football club to compete with various traveling teams and be a source of entertainment for inhabitants and an outlet for the city youth to practice organised sport. Everyone agreed that they should go ahead with creating the team that unites them and Ittihad Jeddah was born. The attendees were Hamza Fitaihi, Fahad Badkook, Abdulsamad Najeeb Alsaady, Ismail Zahran, Ali Yamani, Abdulaziz Jameel, Abdulateef Jameel, Abdulateef Linjawi, Othman Banajah, Ahmad Abu Talib, Ali Sultan, Ahmed Almir and Saleh Salamah.
Club name "United".
 the name of club which contains from this wisdom, Mazen Mohammed words that created the current club name. Club owners agrees with him to put the club name Al-Ittihad (United or Union, jointly) in Arabic.
Earlier.
Ismail Zahran team player who was working as in Radio Office in Jeddah to the possibility of electing the head of the works Mr. Sultan to be a President of the club, However, Ali Sultan became the first official president of the club. Al-Ittihad did not find at first a strong support, there wasn't an official clubs (communities) such as Al Riyadhi, Because the presence of powerful culture in the city of Jeddah only. the established of Saudi Federation was slowly in the 50s, was established after 29 years from Ittihad foundation year. In their first meeting with Al-Riyadhi, Al-Ittihad make it victory with 3–0 won.
Their first championship (1933).
The club has achieved a historic first tournament, which was called "the cup of Nishan Nazer", counted as an official tournament, The cup have formed a popularity of Al-Ittihad, Because of a challenge between them in the final. Depending on the narrator, the winner can burn the Embassy wood's. The Championship attended by several of the clubs, communities, fought Al-Ittihad where several games to achieve access to the final. with Al-Mukhtalat. The weather was dust, did not complete the first half, the match was stopped about 10 minutes. the referee stopped the game to rest for 8 minutes, the weather was changed for the better with the second half, Al-Mukhtalat squad had led to fail, it was a low attacking level. The most prominent player in the game is Al-Itithad defender Safwan which was sacrificed for his team. the club won the championship by 3–0 against Al-Mukhtalat. The most important characteristic of this tournament is the first sporting event held in the reign of the founder King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud.
Rivalries.
Saudi Derby.
The Jeddah derby between Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli is known to be the most competitive match in the Saudi league, where all fans await for it, although recently, Al-Ahli has been dominating the derby. From the start of national competitions the clubs were seen as representatives of two rivals from the same city: Jeddah. On the other side, Al Ittihad has won two titles in two years, they produced arguably the biggest shock in Asian club history when they overturned a 3–1 home defeat by Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, pulling off a 5–0 away win to secure the Asian crown. Al Ittihad is also known as "club of the people" such as Barcelona or Liverpool. Although the club is known to have a strong fanbase, it does not come near its rival Al-Ahli who is living better days than the other neighbor, who is going through a financial crisis. 
Saudi Classico.
Al-Ittihad also has a rivalry with the capital city Riyadh club, Al-Hilal. Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal have the biggest fansbase in Saudi Arabia. Al-Ittihad is known to always play fiercely in the Classico no matter how much the team was going through difficulties. The largest victory was for Al-Hilal when they defeated Al-Ittihad 5–0 in 2009.
Present-day.
Ittihad's success is not limited only to football, but also in basketball, water polo, table tennis, volleyball, and swimming, amongst others. In total, Ittihad has won 8649 trophies. However, football remains the primary sport.
Ittihad is now based in Sahafa street, Mushrefa district, in east Jeddah, where they have a large sports complex. Senior teams play official games at the municipal sports centre, in the south of the city, while youth teams play at the club.
In December 2006, the club offered what was thought to be the most lucrative deal in Arabian football to Portuguese midfielder Luís Figo. It was said that Luís Figo will join the club on July 1, 2007 after his current contract with Internazionale expires. However, not long after, Figo's current club, Internazionale released report that Figo had yet to sign a contract with Al-Ittihad and will not be joining. Figo has since extended his contract at Inter until the end of the 2007–08 season citing that the terms of the agreement were not kept and thus voided the contract.
In January 2010, the club convened an extraordinary club meeting after losing their 4th game of the 2009–10 season 1–2 to Al-Nasr. A decision was made to sack the head coach Gabriel Calderón and replace him with local coach Hassan Khalifa assisted by former striker Hamzah Idris. On January 27, 2010, the club hired Argentinean coach Enzo Trossero to take over the reins of the team. On Dec 15, 2015 Ittihad FC appointed Victor Piturca as their manager for the second time after a string of bad results by the other coach. He lost his first game in AFC this season against Al-Nasr FC 2–1 on March 13, 2016.
Support and Stadium.
Al-Ittihad has built a strong fan-base across Saudi Arabia, amongst the Arab League and in Asia. The club supporters are renowned for being spirited and for their chants. Since its opening on May 1, 2014, Al-Ittihad shares the newly built King Abdullah Sports City Stadium with local rival Al-Ahli, with their previous home the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium facing construction delays.
Sponsorship.
Official sponsor.
In a press conference on January 9, 2006; president of the club Mansour Albalawi announced that Sela Sport Co (which is the sponsor of Saudi National Team) will pay 350 million riyals to sponsor Al-Ittihad for 5 seasons. Al-Ittihad was later on sponsored by the Saudi Telecom Company, however the team has not renewed STC's contract.
Club statistics.
Friendly.
1
AFC club rankings.
Rankings are calculated by the AFC.
"Last update: December 1, 2017"
Source: Global Football Ranks
Players.
Current squad.
"As of 25 January 2019"