6 Saudi Players Fined For Refusing To Join National Team
A pivotal issue in Saudi Arabia that had gripped the sports community reached its conclusion on Monday. The controversy centered around Roberto Mancini, the Italian technical director of the national team, and six players whom he had excluded from the preparatory camp for the Asian Cup in Qatar. The resolution came with the conviction of the six players, who were slapped with fines and penalties for their refusal to participate.
The Saudi Football Federation’s Professionalism and Players’ Status Committee announced a 5-month suspension and a financial fine for Al Nassr goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi due to events preceding his exclusion from the team’s lineup for the Asian Cup. The committee’s statement, which resonated strongly within the Saudi sports community, declared Al-Aqidi’s suspension for 5 months with a fine of SR300,000. This was after he requested Mancini postpone the team’s camp in Qatar for personal reasons or to grant him special leave. He also informed the goalkeeping coach of his feeling that he would be the third-choice goalkeeper, a situation he was not willing to accept.
The committee revealed that Al-Aqidi communicated with the team management, requesting to convey his unwillingness to join the camp to the coach.
Furthermore, the committee decided to suspend the trio of Khalid Al-Ghanam, Ali Hazazi, and Mohammed Maran for one month each, with a SR200,000 fine for each player, for their request to leave the camp after their names were omitted from the final roster. Despite the coach’s meeting and reminder that the final list could be adjusted until just before the first official match, the players refused and requested to leave.
A SR100,000 fine was imposed on Salman Al-Faraj after proving his expressed unwillingness to join the Saudi national team after being called up for the camp held in Portugal. Upon arrival at the airport before departing for the camp, he told the administrators, “Didn’t I tell you I don’t want to join?” This act of verbal dissent without corresponding action, violating commitments outlined in Article 10, paragraphs 1 and 5, of the Professionalism Regulation, was established by the committee after hearing testimonies from the player, coach Mancini, Hussein Al-Sadiq, the team manager, Mohammed Amin, the assistant coach, and Mohammed Al-Hamid, the first team’s administrator.
The committee also fined player Sultan Al-Ghanam SR200,000 for requesting the Saudi national team’s technical director to exempt him from joining the team. This request occurred during a meeting with the coach on December 28, where Al-Ghanam expressed reservations about certain technical decisions in friendly matches. The coach responded that such decisions were within his authority as technical director. The committee clarified that this request was not accompanied by any action violating his commitments under Article 10, paragraphs 1 and 5 of the Professionalism Regulation, which was confirmed after hearing testimonies from the player, coach Mancini, Hussein Al-Sadiq, and Mohammed Al-Hamid.
