Al-Hilal: First team footballers will not take part in Saudi Super Cup
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'The main purpose behind the withdrawal, the club stressed, was to ensure the health and readiness of its international players ahead of the national team camp and the rest of the domestic competitions,' said a statement posted on the team's website on Sunday.
The club described in detail the complications that the teams participation in the Club World Cup had caused to the amount of time off players would receive, and how taking part in the Super Cup would make the club fall foul of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation's rules on annual leave.
Al-Hilal reached the quarterfinals of the Club World Cup, held in the US, including a draw with Real Madrid and a memorable victor over Manchester City.
After the Blue's exit to Fluminese, 'The team had to remain in Orlando for three additional days due to flight constraints, which reduced the players' annual leave to only 24 days in the event of withdrawal, and to 21 days if the club participated in the Super Cup,' a club statement read.
'This violates clause (5.6) of the mandatory contracts included in the annexes of the Professionalism and Player Status Regulations issued by SAFF, which stipulates that players are entitled to a minimum of 28 days of annual leave—a condition already included in all professional player contracts of Al Hilal's first team.'
After this, the players' leave overlapped with the start of pre-season preparations.
'As a result, Al-Hilal was forced to delay the start of its own preparations for the upcoming season, which further increased the competitive imbalance among participating clubs.'
The statement also said the club became aware on June 13 that the competition would be held in Hong Kong, by which point the Al-Hilal players had already made the trip to the US for FIFA's elite club championship, and without knowing how far they would go in the competition.
Al-Hilal has won the Saudi Super Cup five times.
The club said: 'The decision came after a review of the physical and muscular condition of several players, which showed signs of extreme fatigue after a demanding season that lasted a full year and one week.'
The decision would also serve the Saudi national team, which features a number of Al-Hilal players, the statement said.
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