In a historic football night, Saudi Arabia's Al-Shabab secured their place in the semi-finals of the Gulf Champions League after a resounding and unprecedented 13-0 victory over their Yemeni visitors, Al-Tadhamon Hadramout. The match was played at the STC Arena in Riyadh, concluding the Group B fixtures of the tournament.
Match details and goal fest
Al-Shabab dominated the match from the first minute, giving the Yemeni team no chance to catch their breath. English striker Josh Brownhill opened the scoring in the fourth minute, before Belgian Yannick Carrasco added a second in the 11th minute. Al-Tadhamon's woes deepened when Abdulqawi Al-Hadrawi was sent off in the eighth minute, forcing them to play with ten men for over 80 minutes, which opened the floodgates to Al-Shabab's relentless attack.
The goals kept coming in abundance, with Moroccan star Abderrazak Hamdallah scoring six goals (a double super hat-trick) in the minutes (34, 58, 62, 65, 68, 89), while Yannick Carrasco and Josh Brownhill each completed a hat-trick, and Jordanian player Ali Al-Azaizeh added a goal in the 76th minute to conclude the goal-scoring festival.
General context and importance of the championship
The Gulf Champions League, formerly known as the Gulf Clubs Cup, is a prestigious regional tournament that began in 1982. The tournament aims to foster sporting competition among the champion clubs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and has witnessed fierce competition and the emergence of some of the brightest stars in Gulf football throughout its history. This resounding victory for Al-Shabab reaffirms the strength of Saudi clubs on the regional stage and strengthens the team's ambitions to reclaim the title that has eluded them for so long.
Impact of the result and the future of the teams
With this resounding victory, Al-Shabab raised their points tally to 7, securing second place in Group B, level on points with Oman's Al-Nahda but behind on goal difference, and trailing Qatar's Al-Rayyan, who had already qualified. This win provides a tremendous morale boost for Al-Shabab's players ahead of the semi-finals, where they enter as one of the favorites to win the title. On the other hand, this heavy defeat reflects the significant technical and financial disparities and highlights the difficulties faced by Yemeni clubs under the current circumstances, which are impacting the stability and development of football in the country.
