In front of over 60,000 fans at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on Dec. 14, Yousuf Al-Thunayyan said goodbye to professional football.
During the ceremony, this philosopher of the pitch was showered with gifts by one prince after another who all stood in line eager to hand him handsome checks and keys to new luxury automobiles, an unofficial end-of-service benefit for one of Saudi Arabia’s greatest athletes.
Al-Thunayyan leaves a legacy that began on the soccer fields nearly a quarter of a century ago, when sports scouts first spied a young boy who could dance around other players with the effortless agility and grace of an Arabian oryx. He completed his long and prosperous career in December with a 2-1 winning testimonial match against Spain’s Valencia.
The renowned midfielder broke into tears when he saw the crowd, and was taken around the stadium in a car accompanied by his son to bid farewell to the cheering crowd.
Al-Thunayyan’s Hilal proved a tough opponent for Valencia and played with an attacking flair reminiscent of the days when Al-Thunayyan dominated the pitch. Yasir Al-Qahtani wasted three chances in the first half before he scored the first goal for Hilal in the 31st minute. He outran Valencia defender and went with the ball inside the penalty box and struck true. Hilal continued to pressure Valencia and went into the break 1-0 up.
In the second half, Hilal’s striker Abdullah Al-Jamman scored the second goal in the 70th minute from a nice set piece. Valencia came alive in the 79th minute and pulled one back following a nice shot inside the penalty box. Al-Thunayyan was introduced into the game in the last 15 minutes of the match, and he showed flashes of his brilliance that had left many a defender bemused.
Al-Thunayyan, born in 1964 in Riyadh, started playing football at young age. After being spotted by scouts at a local match, the Hilal Club approached the young athlete. After his father raised objections to his son pursuing a career in the sport, Abdul Rahman ibn Saeed, the Hilal Club president at the time, paid a visit to the man and convinced him that his son had the right stuff for the game.
Joining the youth team of Hilal in 1983, Al-Thunayyan managed to win the youth championship against Ittihad by making the only goal of the game. It was the first cup he won with his new team. Al-Thunayyan joined the first team the following year, but, because of his young age, his participation was limited. In 1985 his career picked up when he managed to score 13 goals that season.
Al-Thunayyan’s participation with the national team began in 1986 when he went to the Eighth Gulf Cup in Bahrain. He was nominated MVP in the Asia Cup Finals in 1988 in Qatar when Saudi Arabia won the cup in a 5-4 penalty-kick showdown against South Korea. Al-Thunayyan also led the Saudi team to qualify for the World Cup in France in 1998. He then led the Saudi team to secure the Arab Championship title in Qatar in 1999.
Achieving more than 28 championships, 25 with Hilal and three with the national team, Al-Thunayyan is by far the greatest player in Saudi football history.
