Georgios Donis Names Bold Saudi Arabia Squad for Gulf Cup 27
Georgios Donis has wasted no time making his mark.
The Greece-born head coach of Saudi Arabia has named his squad for the Gulf Cup “Gulf 27” in Jeddah – and dropped some of the biggest names in the country to do it.
Big calls, big casualties
The headline omission is brutal and clear: captain Salem Al-Dawsari is out. So is Roma defender Saud Abdulhamid. Both were part of the Green Falcons’ World Cup campaign in the United States, Canada and Mexico, yet neither will lead Saudi Arabia into a regional tournament on home soil.
They are not the only casualties of Donis’ first major squad shake-up.
Ahmed Al-Kassar, Ali Majrashi, Ali Lajami, Ayman Yahya, Saleh Al-Shehri and Khalid Al-Ghannam have all been cut as well. Eight World Cup players gone in one sweep, a bold statement from a coach clearly intent on reshaping the core of this team.
The message? Reputation counts for less than form and fit.
New blood for a home Gulf Cup
Into the gaps step eight fresh faces, many of them still largely unknown outside domestic circles but now thrust into the regional spotlight.
Donis has called up Hamed Al-Shanqiti, Mohammed Mahzari, Zakaria Hawsawi, Mohammed Al-Qahtani, Saleh Abu Al-Shamat, Abdullah Al-Salem, Rayan Hamed and Hammam Al-Hammami. For them, Gulf 27 is no warm-up; it is a launchpad.
According to the Saudi national team’s account on X, the final list for the tournament features 26 players:
- Goalkeepers: Mohammed Al-Owais, Nawaf Al-Aqidi, Hamed Al-Shanqiti
- Defenders: Abdulelah Al-Amri, Jihad Zikri, Rayan Hamed, Hassan Kadesh, Hassan Tambakti, Nawaf Boushal, Mohammed Mahzari, Mutaib Al-Harbi, Zakaria Hawsawi
- Midfielders: Musab Al-Juwayr, Mohammed Al-Qahtani, Mohammed Kanno, Ziyad Al-Johani, Abdullah Al-Khaibari, Nasser Al-Dawsari, Alaa Haji, Sultan Mandash, Mohammed Abu Al-Shamat, Hammam Al-Hammami, Saleh Abu Al-Shamat
- Forwards: Abdullah Al-Hamdan, Firas Al-Buraikan, Abdullah Al-Salem
It is a group that blends a handful of established names with a clear injection of energy and competition in almost every line.
Group of demands, not death
Saudi Arabia will not have long to settle. The hosts open their Gulf 27 campaign against Kuwait on 23 September at Al-Inma Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City. That curtain-raiser will set the tone in a group where every mistake will be punished.
Oman await on 26 September, always awkward, always disciplined. Iraq follow on the 29th to close out the group stage, a fixture that rarely passes without edge or emotion.
The draw placed Saudi Arabia in Group One with Kuwait, Oman and Iraq. Group Two brings together Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Yemen, a pool that looks tight but keeps several regional heavyweights away from the hosts until the knockout rounds.
For Donis, though, the real battle starts inside his own dressing room. He has ripped up part of the old hierarchy and handed the shirt to a new generation.
Now the question hangs over Jeddah: will those bold selections ignite a Gulf Cup charge, or will the absence of star names come back to haunt Saudi Arabia on home turf?
