The Saudi Super Cup kicks off with a match between Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad

The 12th Saudi Super Cup, the fourth edition under its new format, kicks off on Tuesday in Hong Kong. The first semi-final will be between Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad, a match between two teams competing strongly for the league title, which Al-Ittihad won last season. The second semi-final will be held on Wednesday between Al-Qadisiyah and Al-Ahli Jeddah, with the final culminating next Saturday. The tournament has been hosted outside Saudi Arabia four times previously, three in London and once in Abu Dhabi. Six clubs have won the title in previous editions, with Al-Hilal leading the way with five titles, followed by Al-Nassr with two, and Al-Fateh, Al-Shabab, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad each with one title. Al-Nassr enters the match after a training camp that extended from Austria to Portugal and concluded with a friendly match in Spain. During the camp, they played four matches, winning three and losing one. Al-Ittihad, on the other hand, held their training camp in two stages between Spain and Portugal, playing five friendly matches, winning the last one and losing the first four. In terms of acquisitions, Al-Nassr signed veteran Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, who previously coached Al-Hilal, and strengthened the team with three distinguished foreign players: Joao Felix from Portugal, Inigo Martinez from Spain, and Kingsley Coman from France, in addition to Nader Al-Sharari. Jesus confirmed that bringing Joao Felix to Al-Nassr was an important step after he had sought to join Al-Hilal last season. Meanwhile, Al-Ittihad kept its French coach Laurent Blanc after his success in leading the team to the league and King's Cup titles last season. He also kept all of its foreign players and made three local deals to strengthen the team, including purchasing the contracts of Hamed Al-Ghamdi, right-back Ahmed Al-Julaidan, and young goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Absi. Blanc explained that the goal of the preparatory phase was to improve the players' fitness after some of them stopped training for a period exceeding six weeks, stressing that the team is fully prepared to face Al-Nassr. Al-Nassr is counting on its new signings in addition to its prominent stars, most notably Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic, and Brazilian goalkeeper Bento, while Koeman expressed his happiness to join the team and his desire to achieve victory and shine in the Saudi League. As for Al-Ittihad, its ranks include French captain Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kanté, Moussa Diaby, Steven Bergwijn, Fabinho, and Mario Metay, but it will miss its Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic due to his lack of readiness following the surgery he underwent last June.