Al-Hilal and Al-Shabab will compete in the AFC Champions League without their international players, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) said on Saturday. The SAFF has decided to hold a two-month training camp for the Saudi national team in preparation for the World Cup finals that will kick-off in Germany on June 9th. The decision means Hilal and Shabab will have to do without their international players in the preliminary rounds of the Asian competition on April 26th, May 3rd and 17th.
Yasser Al-Qahtani Hilal, who are second in their Asian Group B, have five players in the national team: Mohamed Al-Deayea, Sami Al-Jaber, Mohamed Al-Shalhoub, Nawaf Al-Temyat and Yasser Al-Qahtani. League leaders Shabab, who also hold second place in their Asian Group D, have in Zaid Al-Muwalad, Faisal Al-Sultan and Abdou Otaif representing Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia were drawn in Group H in the World Cup alongside Spain, Ukraine and Tunisia.