The Management of Al-Ettifaq Settles on the Number of Foreign Players for the New Season

The management of Al-Ettifaq Club has finalized its choices regarding the foreign players who will represent the team in the new sports season, with the list including 11 professional players, among them three from the 'born' category.

The management retained prominent figures such as Slovak goalkeeper Marek Rodak, Scottish defender Jack Hendry, Spanish midfielder Alvaro Medran, Dutch star Gini Wijnaldum, and French player Moussa Dembélé, along with Portuguese João Costa and Tunisian Wassim Al-Shawali.

The team has added new names, most notably Slovak Andrei Duda and Egyptian striker Ahmed Hassan Kahraba, in addition to Costa Rican defender Francisco Calvo and promising South African Mohaou Nocuta, completing the foreign player roster.

Despite attempts to sign Gabonese striker Aubameyang, the deal did not materialize after the player and his agent rejected the offered contract, prompting the management to turn to Kahraba, a deal that sparked mixed opinions among fans.

Al-Ettifaq has released several of its players during the past period, most notably Mohamed Abdul Rahman, who transferred to Al-Ahli in a deal that bolstered the club's finances, in addition to selling the contract of Jamaican Demarai Gray to Birmingham and Thamer Al-Khaibari to Neom.

Coach Saad Al-Shahrani was also given full authority to dispense with unsuitable names, as the contract with Hamdan Al-Shamrani was mutually terminated after his return from a loan spell that did not yield a place for him in the main roster.

Al-Ettifaq concluded its external camp, which lasted from July 15 to early August in Portugal and Spain, where they played five friendly matches, and the team is set to return to Dammam on Friday, August 8, to complete the final preparations before the start of the Saudi Professional League.