When the Local Whistle Takes Center Stage: Saudi Derby Heads Behind a Domestic Referee

A bombshell report from Saudi outlets confirms that the King Salman Cup clash between Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad will be officiated by a local official, a move that has sports desks buzzing and fans joking that the whistle will come with a regional dialect. The match will take place on Tuesday, October 28, at Al-Nassr Park, in the knockout round of the King Salman Cup, a fixture that always promises fireworks beyond the starting XI.

Local Whistle

Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadia reported that the clash will be handled by a Saudi refereeing crew, with no foreign official involved in the whistle-blowing duties.

Neither club submitted a request to bring in a foreign referee, a process that requires advance notice and pre-set fees. With nine days remaining, the balance of probabilities points toward a domestic officiating trio taking charge.

Regulations on foreign referees require clubs to file requests accompanied by the predetermined fees at least 14 days before the match. The timing makes it more likely that the match will fall under a local officiating team, easing some travel and compliance concerns for both clubs.

Easy Qualification

Both teams reached the Round of 16 with straightforward progress over Al-Jeddah and Al-Wehda, signaling strong form entering the high-stakes derby.

Al-Nassr defeated Al-Jeddah 4-0 in the Round of 32, while Al-Ittihad advanced after defeating Al-Wehda. The last win for Al-Ittihad came against Al-Wehda, and since then they have played three games, collecting two losses and one draw.

Following that run, Al-Ittihad suffered a 0-2 defeat to Al-Nassr in the league’s fourth round, then a 0-1 loss to Shabab Al-Ahli in the AFC Champions League’s elite stage. Despite a coaching change—from Laurent Blanc to Sérgio Conceição—the squad again drew 1-1 with Al-Fayha in the league, underscoring a season of fits and starts.

Third Clasico

This will be the third time Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad meet this season, spanning three competitions and keeping the rivalry red-hot.

The two sides met on August 19 in the King’s Cup semi-final, where Al-Nassr claimed a 2-1 victory thanks to Sadio Mané and Kingsley Coman, while Steven Bergwijn scored for Al-Ittihad. That match marked the start of a tough phase for Al-Ittihad and Blanc, with talk of squad changes surfacing, though no wholesale moves materialized.

After that result, Al-Ittihad began the league with three straight wins, only to run into Al-Nassr again in the fourth round. Al-Nassr’s 2-0 win at the venue known as Al-Inma Stadium became the turning point of Blanc’s tenure, culminating in his dismissal and a fresh start with Conceição.

Jesus vs Conceição

The Blanc dismissal followed a defeat to Jorge Jesus, the Portuguese coach who had guided Al-Nassr in the recent past. The club turned to another Portuguese coach, Sérgio Conceição, who was well known to Jesus from their battles in Portugal.

The upcoming encounter will be their 20th meeting as coaches, having previously faced each other 19 times in Portugal when Jesus managed Benfica and Sporting CP, and Conceição guiding Porto on several occasions. Historically, Jesus has claimed seven wins to Conceição’s six, with six draws in those duels.

In cup competitions, Conceição has the edge, with three wins against Jesus in key fixtures, including the 2020 Portuguese Super Cup final, while Jesus has two wins in head-to-head cup clashes. The head-to-head narrative adds a tactical chess game to the derby, beyond the usual fanfare and social media volleys.

Season of Rivalry

The 2020-2021 season remains the apex of the rivalry’s intensity, when Jesus returned for a second stint at Benfica while Conceição was in his fourth season with Porto. The January 15, 2021 league clash finished 1-1 and featured heated exchanges off the pitch, with officials briefly separating the managers. Jesus later described the moment as a breaking point in his friendship with Conceição, saying he hasn’t spoken to him since the incident.

Conceição’s Porto then defeated Benfica 3-0 in the Portuguese Cup quarterfinals, a result that seemed to tip the balance in their ongoing duel. In the subsequent four meetings since Jesus returned to Benfica, Porto has not been beaten, collecting two wins and two draws. In cups, Conceição has the edge over Jesus in three occasions, including the 2020 Super Cup final, while Jesus has two cup wins over Conceição.

All of this has contributed to a season where the derby has felt less about a single 90 minutes and more about a clash of ideologies, management styles, and the weight of expectation on a Saudi football landscape hungry for domestic glory. It’s the kind of story that writes itself into the headlines, only to be rewritten inside the 90 minutes of a late-season classic.

Punchline time: If the whistle could talk, it would probably ask for hazard pay, because local or foreign, it’s blowing more drama than a telenovela arc. Punchline two: in football, as in life, if you can’t beat them on the pitch, at least you can out-signal them with a well-timed whistle—and maybe charm the crowd with a dialect that says, “I’m from around here, and I’ve got your back.”