Al Sadd face Morocco’s Wydad in their King Salman Club Cup opener on Thursday, July 27, 2023. The kick-off is at 4pm at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium in Abha, Saudi Arabia. The tournament will end on August 12.

Both teams go into the match targeting three points. Although the tournament is held at the beginning of the season, the preparations of the two sides demonstrate the importance of participation, especially that of the distinguished players either side.

Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Ahli Tripoli of Libya are the other teams in Group B.

The Al Sadd squad consists of 27 players – Saad Al Dossari, Meshaal Barshim, Yousef Al Balooshi, Hassan Al Haydous, Guillerme Torres, Pedro Miguel, Ahmed Sayyar, Paolo Otavio, Abdullah Al Yazidi, Mateus Uribe, Baghdad Bounedjah, Akram Afif, Boualem Khoukhi, Salem Al Hajri, Ahmed Al Saeed, Hashem Ali, Amin Hazbawi, Gonzalo Plata, Romain Saiss, Ali Asad, Musab Khader, Mustafa Tariq Meshaal, Yousef Abdulrazaq, Ahmed Suhail, Mahdi Salem, Tarek Salman and Mohammed Waad.

Al Sadd rely mainly on Al Haydous, Akram, Bounedjah, goalkeepers Saad and Meshaal, in addition to new professionals Otavio, Uribe, Iranian Hazbawi, Ecuadorian Plata and Moroccan Saiss.

On the other hand, Wydad seek to compensate, after losing out on their domestic league title in addition to the African Champions League final against Al Ahly of Egypt. New coach Adil Ramzi wants his team to strike a right balance, given the presence of many young players in the team.