Al-Ittihad Club announced that its player, Hassan Kadesh, suffered an injury to the quadriceps muscle of the left thigh, during his participation with the Saudi national team against Oman, in the Gulf Cup competitions.
The club explained that the medical examinations that the player underwent with an MRI and ultrasound confirmed that he had suffered the injury, while Kadesh left the national team camp and began his treatment and rehabilitation program under the supervision of the club’s medical staff.
The Saudi national team had announced the exclusion of Kadesh from its roster, due to the injury he suffered during the match.
The transfer of Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal to Al Hilal was not just a new huge deal in the transfer market, but rather came as a result of a common desire between the player and the English club to turn a new page after 7 years in North London. While the Spanish Mikel Arteta decided to remove the Brazilian striker from his calculations for the new season, Martinelli himself was looking for a change in the atmosphere and to take on a different challenge, despite having offers that would allow him to stay in the English Premier League, or move to Italy and Germany.
In the end, the Al Hilal project and the ambitions of the Saudi club decided the 25-year-old player’s decision, so he chose Riyadh as a new destination for his career, in a deal from which Arsenal received 60 million pounds sterling as a guaranteed value. Marcos Casab, Martinelli's agent, revealed the behind-the-scenes of the decision and the reasons that prompted the player to turn his back on European offers and choose to move to the Saudi League.
Kasib said, in statements to the global website “Gol”,: “There were offers from Italian and German clubs, in addition to other offers from the English Premier League, but it was a moment when he felt that he needed to change the atmosphere and clear his mind.” Martinelli's agent added: “Al Hilal is the largest club in Asia, and there is an ambitious project. “We see a new trend in Saudi football, which aims to reduce the average age of players in the league and attract younger talent.”
Martinelli, 25 years old, joined Al Hilal in early September 2026, after the Spanish Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s coach, informed him that he was no longer part of the London club’s first team plans during the current season. The decision to leave was not made by Arsenal alone, as the player’s desire was moving in the same direction, thus ending a journey that lasted 7 years during which Martinelli wore the English club’s shirt.
Arsenal received 60 million pounds sterling as a guaranteed value for the deal, while Martinelli signed a new contract in Riyadh under which he would receive a salary comfortably higher than his previous salary in North London, which was 180,000 pounds sterling per week, according to his agent. Kasib described the deal as “the largest sale in Arsenal’s history,” stressing that the player’s departure is in the interest of both parties, both financially and on the sporting level on the field.
Gabriel Martinelli was born on June 18, 2001 in the city of Guarulhos in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. He began his professional career with Ituano, before his level caught the attention of Arsenal, who signed him in the summer of 2019 when he was eighteen years old. The Brazilian winger quickly imposed himself in the first team of the London club thanks to his speed and ability to play in more than one attacking position, becoming one of the important elements in Arsenal during the following years.
During his journey with the Gunners, Martinelli won the FA Cup in the 2019-2020 season, and was also part of the team that won the English Community Shield. At the international level, Martinelli represented the first Brazilian national team, and he previously participated with the Brazilian Olympic team, which won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. His presence with the first team continued until the 2026 World Cup, after Italian Carlo Ancelotti included him in Brazil’s roster participating in the tournament. Martinelli left his mark during the World Cup, as he scored the goal of the 2-1 victory over Japan in stoppage time, a goal that gave the Brazilian team a pass to the round of sixteen.
Martinelli had also scored under Ancelotti in a friendly loss to Japan 3-2 in October 2025, then scored another goal during a 3-1 win over Croatia in March 2026, before his decisive goal in the World Cup. After 7 years spent in English football, Martinelli moved to a new phase of his career with Al Hilal, in a deal that reflects the increasing trend in the Saudi League towards attracting younger players at the peak of their careers, instead of limiting themselves to signing international names in the final stages of their careers.
With Al Hilal, Martinelli has played 4 official matches so far, 3 matches in the Saudi Roshen League and one match in the AFC Elite Champions League. He participated in approximately 250 minutes, during which he scored 3 goals, without any assists. It is noteworthy that his three goals all came in one match, when he scored a hat-trick against Al-Taawoun in Al-Hilal’s crushing 6-0 victory on September 12, and he scored his goals in the 18th, 43rd and 50th minutes. As for his first Asian match, it was against Al-Gharafa of Qatar, in which he participated for a full 90 minutes without scoring or assisting.
The Saudi show jumping team is looking to make its mark at the Asian Games in Nagoya, when it participates in a round on Thursday. The Saudi team arrived in Tokyo to prepare early for this competition, but in the absence of veteran Abdullah Al Sharbatly.
The green equestrian team is represented by Abdul Rahman Al Rajhi, Saad Al Ajmi, Ramzi Al Dahami, and Khaled Al Mabti. The official account of the Saudi team had previously announced the participation of the jockey Abdullah Sharbatly in the Asian tournament, but he was replaced by the jockey Saad Al-Ajmi, as a result of Sharbatly being suspended by the International Equestrian Federation for a period of 30 days after receiving two warnings recorded in two different tournaments, in accordance with Article (259) of the show jumping rules for the year 2026, which in this case relates to the detection of a small amount of blood on the horse during participation.
It is noteworthy that Saudi equestrian, through its current participation, is looking for its eleventh medal in the Asian Games, as the journey with medals began since its first participation in Doha 2006 AD, with team gold, which it maintained in Guangzhou 2010 AD, and was followed by individual gold and bronze by Ramzi Al-Dahami and Khaled Al-Eid, individual gold by Sharbatly, team silver in Inchon 2014 AD, and team gold and bronze. Al Sharbatly in the individual tournament in Jakarta 2018, up to the last edition, “Hangistu 2022”, in which the team gold was achieved, and the individual gold was achieved by Sharbatly.
In a related context, Saudi Arabia’s participation in “Nagoya”, the Saudi athletics team has qualified for the 4×100m relay final, which will be held at 10:23 pm on Monday evening, as part of the Asian Championship competitions. The relay team qualified after finishing the second heat of the race in third place with a time of 39.03 seconds.
Runner Abdullah Abkar participated in this race after receiving the green light from the medical team regarding participation. The qualifying team was represented by a quartet of Abdullah Abkar, Abdulaziz Atafi, Abdulaziz Al-Jadaani and Muhammad Daoud. The Saudi women's padel team will launch its participation in the Asian tournament, by meeting its Philippine counterpart, in the round of 32 of the women's competition, at eleven o'clock in the morning on Monday in Nagoya. Akhdar Al-Badel will be represented in the competition by Lina Al-Abdul Latif and Samaher Kurdi, who aspire during the match to overcome the Philippine obstacle and qualify for the round of 16 in the competition.
