“Last year, we won the Champions League and we will have to use all the things we did then to be successful this time, too. What could be Cristiano Ronaldo’s last chance to win a first Asian Champions League title for his Saudi club will get underway next week. Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr is one of five Saudi Pro League teams in the tournament. We are building year after year.”
Combined, they’ve spent more than $2 billion on foreign players since 2023, with Al-Ahli lifting the continental trophy in each of the last two seasons. Al-Ahli captain and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is hoping to make it three in a row in the 32-team tournament.
“This is the biggest club in Saudi Arabia and Asia and we will do everything to win,” Mendy, who signed from English Premier League club Chelsea in 2023, told The Associated Press.
Riyadh rival Al-Hilal has won a record four Asian titles. Al-Ahli starts its defense against Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan in the in the western zone. Al-Nassr was a finalist in the second-tier continental championship last season. “We want to win the league, the cup and the Champions League – everything. We don’t play to dream – we play to win.
The tournament is divided into two geographic zones until the playoffs, with the top eight teams from each progressing to the Round of 16. Saudi league champion Al-Nassr’s roster contains 41-year-old Ronaldo and his Portugal teammate Joao Felix, last year’s domestic league player of the season. Felix, who joined the Riyadh club in 2025 for a fee of around $60 million, is determined to win a major title under new coach Ange Postecoglou. After spending more than $200 million in the summer on English Premier League stars and three internationals – Ollie Watkins of England, Brazil’s Gabriel Martinelli and Crysencio Summerville of the Netherlands – Hilal will be dealing with high expectations.
“We have a really good squad, a deep squad, our goal is to win every competition we can,” Felix told AP.
