Al-Hilal Nears Historic Full Private Ownership by Prince Al-Waleed

Saudi giants Al-Hilal are edging towards a seismic moment in the kingdom’s football history, with Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal poised to take complete control of the club.

Prince Al-Waleed, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, already holds a 70% stake in Al-Hilal after a binding agreement signed last April between his company and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). That deal alone marked a major shift in the country’s push towards club privatization.

Now the move could go even further.

Saudi media personality Waleed Al-Farraj revealed that Prince Al-Waleed is expected to request an increase of his share to 100%, a step that would make Al-Hilal the first major Saudi popular club to move entirely into private ownership.

The timing is no coincidence. On Wednesday, the Saudi Ministry of Sport confirmed it had transferred its 25% stakes in the four heavyweight clubs — Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli — to PIF, consolidating state-related ownership before any further structural changes.

From there, the picture started to sharpen.

Al-Farraj’s comments did not land as idle speculation. He delivered them on his programme “Rotana Sport with Waleed” on the “Rotana Khalijia” channel, a network originally owned by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal himself. When that platform speaks on this subject, people inside Saudi football tend to listen.

If the expected request goes through and is approved, Al-Hilal would step out from under the PIF umbrella entirely, standing alone as a fully privately owned powerhouse. At present, they are already the outlier among the four major clubs; the other three remain under the PIF structure and are anticipated to move towards similar private models later.

For now, all eyes are on Riyadh and on Prince Al-Waleed’s next move, which could redraw the ownership map of Saudi football.