Saudi Arabia beat South Korea 3–2 in a friendly at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha on Friday evening, continuing their impressive run under Georgios Donis and opening their November camp with a win over one of Asia’s leading sides.
The victory ended Saudi Arabia’s 21-year wait for a win over South Korea. Their previous victory came in 2005, when they won 1–0 in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup.
Marwan Al-Sahafi opened the scoring for Saudi Arabia in first-half stoppage time, but Oh Hyeon-gyu equalised in the 47th minute, just two minutes after the restart.
Mohamed Kanno restored Saudi Arabia’s lead in the 56th minute, and Abdulelah Al-Amri added a third three minutes later. Lee Jae-sung pulled one back in the 68th minute, but Saudi Arabia held on until the final whistle.
It was Saudi Arabia’s first match since winning the 27th Arabian Gulf Cup in October. Donis led his side to a 2–0 win over the United Arab Emirates in the final in Jeddah after they won all their group games and beat Qatar on penalties in the semi-finals.
Elsewhere in Doha, Qatar lost 3–0 to Australia at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium. Riley McGree, Tete Yengi and Nestory Irankunda scored all three goals before half-time. Qatar will round off the November international break against South Korea.
Saudi Arabia will wrap up their camp with a friendly against Uzbekistan on Tuesday, 17 November, at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. Kick-off is at 6:30pm in Mecca and Doha and 5:30pm in Cairo.
The Doha camp comes after the Asian Football Confederation rescheduled the Asian Cup, which Saudi Arabia will host. Originally set to run from 7 January to 5 February 2027, the tournament is now scheduled for 23 December 2027 to 21 January 2028, subject to FIFA approval.
The postponement prompted the Saudi coaching staff to cancel a training camp in Al Khobar that was due to begin on 21 December, along with friendlies against Qatar and Jordan that had been arranged as part of preparations for the original tournament dates.
