Al-Ittihad played its opening match of the 2025\u20132026 Roshn Saudi League against Al-Okhdood last Saturday, missing three key players that posed early challenges for the coaching staff. International goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovi\u0107 was sidelined due to injury, Hamed Al-Shanqeeti was away on duty with the Saudi U-20 national team at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and defender Hassan Kadesh was still unfit following recovery from a recent injury.<\/p>\n
Despite these setbacks, Al-Ittihad approached the game with determination, relying on young and backup players to fill the gaps. The match became an early test of the team\u2019s ambitions in a season where fans expect strong competition for the league title.<\/p>\n
These developments coincided with Saudi Arabia\u2019s growing international presence, as the national team recently participated as a guest in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, further underscoring the Kingdom\u2019s expanding role in global football and reflecting positively on domestic clubs like Al-Ittihad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Al-Ittihad played its opening match of the 2025\u20132026 Roshn Saudi League against Al-Okhdood last Saturday, missing three key players that posed early challenges for the coaching staff. International goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovi\u0107 was sidelined due to injury, Hamed Al-Shanqeeti was away on duty with the Saudi U-20 national team at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and defender Hassan Kadesh was still unfit following recovery from a recent injury. Despite these setbacks, Al-Ittihad approached the game with determination, relying on young and backup players to fill the gaps. The match became an early test of the team\u2019s ambitions in a season where<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Al-Ittihad Faced Al-Okhdood with Three","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Al-Ittihad Faced Al-Okhdood with Three Key Absences as Saudi Football Expanded its Global Footprint .. Al-Ittihad played its opening match","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n