The 2018 Saudi Super Cup was the 5th edition of the

Saudi Super Cup The Saudi Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر السعودي) is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. Founded in 2013 as a two-team competition, the current version has been c ...

, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

and

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nat ...

. It was played on 18 August 2018 by

Al-Hilal Hilal or Al-Hilal may refer to: *Hilal ( ar, هلال, ''hilāl''), a crescent ** the crescent Moon visible after a new Moon, determining the beginning of a month in the Islamic calendar * Banu Hilal, a confederation of tribes of Arabia Arts ...

, the winners of the 2017–18 Saudi Pro League, and

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

, the winners of the

2018 King Cup The 2018 King Cup, or The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup, was the 43rd edition of the King Cup since its establishment in 1957, and the 11th under the current format. It started on 3 January and concluded with the final on 12 May 2018. The w ...

. The match was held at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained i ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for the second time. Al-Hilal won the match 2–1 securing their second title in the competition.

Venue

was announced as the venue of the final on 27 July 2018. This was the second time Loftus Road hosted the final and was the third time it was hosted in

. Loftus Road was built in 1904 and has been used as the home stadium of

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

since 1917. Its current capacity is 18,439, and the record attendance was 35,353 in 1974.

Background

This was Al-Hilal's third appearance in the competition. Al-Hilal won the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

edition and finished as runners-up in 2016. This was Al-Ittihad's second appearance in the competition. They finished as runners-up in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

after losing to Al-Fateh. The 2017 edition which was supposed to be contested between Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad was canceled. The decision was based on the request of then-Saudi national team manager,

Edgardo Bauza Edgardo Bauza (born 26 January 1958) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defender. Before taking up management, he played over 300 games for Rosario Central. He also played for Independiente in Argentina, Atlét ...

, who expressed his desire to change the calendar of the season to help him set the ideal preparation program for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

. Al-Hilal qualified by winning the

2017–18 Saudi Professional League The 2017–18 Saudi Professional League (also known formerly as a Jameel League for sponsorship reasons), was the 42nd season of the Saudi Professional League, the top Saudi professional league for association football clubs, since its establishme ...

on the final matchday by defeating Al-Fateh 4–1. Al-Ittihad qualified by winning their ninth

King Cup The King Cup (sometimes spelled King's), officially known as The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Cup ( ar, كأس خادم الحرمين الشريفين), is the Saudi Arabian football knockout cup competition, run by the Saudi Arabian Foot ...

title by defeating Al-Faisaly 3–1 in the final. The was the 141st meeting between these two sides in all competitions. Al-Hilal won 56 times while Al-Ittihad won 42 times and the two teams drew 42 times. This was the tenth final between these two sides, with Al-Ittihad winning five times and Al-Hilal winning four times.

Match

Details

Statistics

References