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Salem Al-Dawsari Breaks Aboutrika’s Club World Cup Record

Salem Al-Dawsari led his team, Al-Hilal, to a crucial 2-0 victory over Pachuca in the final round of the group stage of the 2025 Club World Cup.

The Saudi international scored for the Blue Wave in the 22nd minute. His goal, along with Marcos Leonardo’s, secured Al-Hilal’s place in the Round of 16 by finishing second in the group after Salzburg stumbled to a 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid.

In addition to the importance of the goal for Al-Hilal, it established Salem Al-Dawsari as one of the most important Arab players in the history of the Club World Cup, a fact that is now fully confirmed by the numbers.

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Salem Al-Dawsari is the Arab’s top scorer at the Club World Cup

Salem Al-Dawsari’s goal against Pachuca was his fifth goal in the Club World Cup in four appearances, all with Al-Hilal.


In his first participation in 2019, Al-Dawsari scored a goal against Flamengo in the semi-finals, and then scored another goal in his second participation in the 2022 edition against Al-Jazira of the UAE.

The 33-year-old’s third participation saw him score two goals against Flamengo in the semi-finals, along with an assist for another goal. Finally, in 2025, under the new format of the competition, he scored a crucial goal against Pachuca, leading his team to the Round of 16 as the only Asian and Arab team to advance past the group stage.

Al-Dawsari surpasses Mohamed Aboutrika and approaches Messi

The all-time leading Arab scorer in the Club World Cup was Egyptian star Mohamed Aboutrika, who scored four goals in 11 matches with Al-Ahly, alongside Hussein El-Shahat, who scored the same number of goals, but between Al-Ahly and Al-Ain of the UAE.

Thus, Al-Dawsari surpasses Abu Trika and El-Shahat to lead the Arab scorers list in the Club World Cup. He still has a good chance to increase his tally if he scores more goals this edition.

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It’s worth noting that Al-Dawsari is now one goal behind Lionel Messi, who has scored six goals in the World Cup (five with Barcelona and one with Inter Miami), and two behind the competition’s all-time top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has seven goals with Real Madrid and Manchester United.

The next challenge for Al-Dawsari and Al-Hilal

By finishing second in Group H, Al-Hilal will face Manchester City in the round of 16 of the 2025 Club World Cup.

Al-Dawsari commented on the upcoming challenge after the victory over Pachuca, “We didn’t come to participate, but to honor Saudi Arabia. Our goal was clear, and it wasn’t just to attend. We succeeded in achieving the goal of qualifying. We are celebrating today, and we hope to go as far as possible in the tournament.”

It should be noted that Manchester City, led by Pep Guardiola, is the only team to achieve a perfect record in the group stage, having won all of its matches against Wydad Casablanca, Al Ain, and finally Juventus.