Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Eyes Full Ownership of Al-Hilal

Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is on the verge of a move that could redraw the map of Saudi football.

The chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, and the man already in control of Al-Hilal, is expected to push his stake in the Riyadh powerhouse from 70% to full ownership, according to prominent Saudi media figure Waleed Al-Farraj. If completed, Al-Hilal would become the first major Saudi popular club to be entirely in private hands.

This is not a distant idea. Prince Al-Waleed secured 70% of Al-Hilal’s shares in April, under a binding agreement between Kingdom Holding Company and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). Now, with the landscape shifting again at the top of the Saudi game, the door has opened for an even more radical step.

The timing is no coincidence. On Wednesday, the Saudi Ministry of Sport confirmed it had transferred its remaining 25% stakes in each of the four heavyweights — Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli — directly to PIF. That move concentrated state ownership in the sovereign fund and cleared the way for private players to deepen their involvement.

Al-Farraj’s revelation did not come from the margins. He delivered it on his own programme, “Rotana Sport with Waleed”, broadcast on the “Rotana Khalijia” channel, which itself traces back to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. When he speaks on this subject, the football audience in Saudi Arabia listens.

If the prince follows through and lifts his stake to 100%, Al-Hilal would effectively step out from under the PIF umbrella, blazing a trail the other three giants are widely expected to follow in the coming period.

For now, one thing is clear: the blue of Riyadh is once again at the front of a revolution, and the rest of Saudi football is watching to see who dares to take the same leap.