Prince Al-Waleed's Move Towards 100% Ownership of Al-Hilal

Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is on the brink of making a decision that could redraw the map of Saudi club football – and Al-Hilal are at the heart of it.

The chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, which already controls a majority stake in the Riyadh powerhouse, is expected to move to take full ownership of the club, according to prominent Saudi media figure Waleed Al-Farraj.

Towards 100% Al-Hilal

Prince Al-Waleed acquired 70% of Al-Hilal’s shares last April under a binding agreement between Kingdom Holding Company and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). That deal already signalled a shift in how the country’s biggest clubs are run.

Now, Al-Farraj says the prince is poised to go further and request that his stake be raised to 100%. If completed, Al-Hilal would become the first major Saudi “popular club” to move entirely into private hands.

The message did not come from a marginal voice. Al-Farraj delivered it on his show “Rotana Sport with Waleed”, broadcast on the “Rotana Khalijia” channel – a network originally owned by Prince Al-Waleed himself. In Saudi football circles, that context makes the remarks impossible to ignore.

PIF steps back, private era steps in

This looming move comes hard on the heels of a major structural announcement. On Wednesday, the Saudi Ministry of Sport confirmed it had transferred its 25% ownership stakes in each of the four giants – Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli – to the Public Investment Fund.

That transfer consolidated state investment at the top level. Now, Al-Hilal look set to break away from that umbrella altogether.

At this stage, they are the only one of the four to be heading out of PIF’s orbit. The expectation, though, is that Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli will follow the same path in the coming period, opening the door to a new phase of full private ownership for Saudi football’s biggest institutions.

For Al-Hilal, the next signature from Prince Al-Waleed would not just be another boardroom formality. It would mark the moment the country’s most decorated club stepped fully into a new era – and dared the rest of the league to keep pace.