Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao of the Al-Ittihad team has called up several players from the club's under-21 team to compensate for the lack of numbers in training, which began with the start of the international break on Sunday, as part of the FIFA days agenda.

A private source revealed that Conceição's decision came after the team lost a significant number of its key players, as 11 players are absent from the current training camp due to their call-ups to their national teams, which forced the coaching staff to rely on young players.

The "Al-Omda" team will be missing players such as Predrag Rajkovic, Mario Mitaj, Roger Fernandez, Hossam Aouar, N'Golo Kante, Fabinho, Abdul Rahman Al-Aboud, Saleh Al-Shehri, Hamid Al-Shanqeeti, Mohammed Barnawi, and Ahmed Al-Jlaydan, who have joined their respective national teams.

The Portuguese coach aims to maintain the rhythm of team training by involving players from the Olympic team, in addition to monitoring the performance levels of young talents who could support the team in upcoming competitions.

These developments came after Al-Ittihad's loss to Al-Ahli in the Jeddah derby with a score of one goal to none, marking the team's third defeat this season after previously falling to Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr in the Roshn Saudi League.

The defending champion, Al-Ittihad, is in eighth place in the league standings with 11 points, trailing the leader Al-Nassr by 13 points, following the conclusion of the eighth round of the local competition.