The 2023 King Cup Final was the 48th final of the

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 ...

, Saudi Arabia's main football knock-out competition since its inception in 1957. The final was played at the

King Abdullah Sports City King Abdullah Sports City (Arabic: مدينة الملك عبدالله الرياضية), also nicknamed The Shining Jewel, in Arabic (al-Jawharaa Al-Moshe'ah) (Arabic: الجوهرة المشعة) or simply The Jewel, in Arabic (al-Jawhara) (A ...

in Jeddah, on 12 May 2023. The match was contested 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 ...

and Al-Wehda. It was Al-Hilal's 18th King Cup final and Al-Wehda's 8th.

defeated Al-Wehda on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * P ...

in the final following a 1–1 draw after extra time to win their 10th title.

Teams

Venue

The

, also known as the Jewel Stadium, was announced as the venue of the final on 27 April 2023. This was the seventh time the King Abdullah Sports City hosted the final following those in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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 ...

, 2016,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

and was the fifteenth time it was hosted in Jeddah. The King Abdullah Sports City was built in 2012, and opened in 2014 as the home of Al-Ahli,

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 ...

and the

Saudi Arabia national team Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia {{disambiguation ...

. Its current capacity is 62,345, and the record attendance was the opening match which was the

2014 King Cup The 2014 King Cup, or The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques Cup, was the 39th season of King Cup since its establishment in 1957, and the 7th under the current edition. Al-Ittihad was the defending champion but was eliminated by Al-Ahli in semi-f ...

final. The stadium also hosted many other finals including the

2019 Saudi Super Cup The 2019 Saudi Super Cup was the 6th edition of the Saudi Super Cup, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Saudi Pro League and King's Cup. It was played on 4 January 2020 by Al-Nassr, the winners of the 2 ...

, the

2018 Supercoppa Italiana The 2018 Supercoppa Italiana was the 31st edition of the Supercoppa Italiana, the Italian football super cup. It was played on 16 January 2019 at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With Juventus winning both the 2017–18 Serie A c ...

and the

2019–20 Supercopa de España The 2019-20 Supercopa de España was the 36th edition of the Supercopa de España, an annual football competition for clubs in the Spanish football league system that were successful in its major competitions in the preceding season. In February ...

Background

reached their record-tying 18th final after a 1–0 win against

. This was Al-Hilal's second consecutive final, third final in four years, and sixth final since the tournament was reintroduced. Al-Hilal lost last season's final on penalties after a 1–1 draw against Al-Fayha. Al-Wehda reached their eighth final after a 1–0 win against

Al-Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yellow ...

. This was Al-Wehda's first final since the tournament was reintroduced in 2008. It was also Al-Wehda's first final since 1970, setting the record for the longest gap between final appearances at 53 years. The two teams met twice earlier in the season with the first fixture ending in a 3–0 victory for Al-Hilal and the second ending in a 3–3 draw. This will be the second King Cup final between these two sides after the 1961 final which ended in a 3–2 win for Al-Hilal. This was the eighth meeting between these two sides in the King Cup with Al-Hilal winning six times and one draw between them. In the clubs' 103 previous meetings, Al-Hilal won 75, Al-Wehda won 8 and the remaining 20 were drawn.

Road to the final

''Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).''

Match

Details

Statistics

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:King Cup Final 2022

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Sports competitions in Saudi Arabia May 2023 sports events in Asia Al Hilal SFC matches Al Wehda FC