Ibrahim Hilal

A match between Saudi teams Al Ahly and Al Ittihad took place on Saturday, November 9, 2025, at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah. The game concluded with Al Ahly securing a 1-0 victory over Al Ittihad.

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation's Appeals Committee confirmed the Disciplinary Committee's ruling against Al Ahly Club the day after the match. The decision included a 100,000 Saudi Riyal fine, a ban on their fans attending the following Saudi League match against Al Fateh, and the confiscation of the club's protest fees.

The Committee based its decision on the violations committed by Al Ahly fans, including the racist chants launched by the club's fans. However, this racist discourse, exchanged between the two teams' fans, also spread on digital platforms, under the hashtag #الاتحاد_الأهلي (Al Itihad – Al Ahly), where fans of both teams exchanged hate speech and racism, describing each other as "servants" and "expats".

Online Cheering turns into Name-Calling

Posting under the hashtag #الاتحاد_الاهلي (Al Itihad – Al Ahly) peaked on November 9th, the day of the match between the two Saudi teams, with the number of posts on that day alone reaching around 21,000.

Between November 9th and November 15th, the number of posts reached about 40,000, achieving an estimated 68,000 interactions and a total reach estimated at 140 million times.

The word cloud for the hashtag showed that its posts were linked to various sports hashtags, in addition to humanitarian hashtags and commercial advertisements.

The interaction with the hashtag was geographically focused on Saudi Arabia, as the location where the match took place and because the majority of both teams' fans are Saudi.

The hashtag included several posts containing hate speech launched by fans of both teams; immediately after the match, an account named "جلاد الخدم (Slayer of Servants) @M_B_S1990" published a post mocking Al Ittihad team under the hashtag "#خدم_جده" (Jeddah Servants).

The account "جلاد الخدم” (Slayer of Servants) is a recent account, dating back to 2025, and it has set its location to Nigeria. The account does not use a real profile picture, and its username consists of random letters and numbers, which indicates that it is an unreal or automated account.

As for the description "Khadam Jeddah" (Jeddah Servants), it has a story related to Al Ittihad; the club has historically been associated with the nickname "Al Khadamiyyin" (The Servants) due to its connection with the "National Service Association" which was established to serve the community and develop sports in the Kingdom; however, Al Ahly club fans use it to mock, insult, and abuse Al Ittihad players and fans.

This is the same insult used by the account "@b2der999" when describing Al Ittihad players as "servants who only move when kicked." This is a Saudi account that first appeared in 2021 and does not use a real profile picture. The account's username consists of random letters and numbers, suggesting it is not a genuine or is an automated account.

The same applies to the account “الملكي النخبوي القاري (The Continental Elitist Royal) @turkitu70101049," which used the description "servants" to refer to Al Ittihad club players and fans. This description quickly spread alongside the hashtag #الاتحاد_الاهلي (Al Itihad – Al Ahly).

Cheering Prevalent with Hate Speech

On the day of the match, the account of Saudi journalist Abdulrahman Al Gorni @A_algrni published a post on X criticizing the "racist" behavior of fans. But, the comment section soon filled with insults, and described him as racist himself.

Following the match, several Saudi accounts published hateful, classist, and racist discourse in reaction to the result. One such account, "بطل النخبة (Elite Champion) @bwkld3414081" , appears to be either an unreal or semi-automated account. This is suggested by its recent creation date (2024), the lack of a real profile picture, and an account identifier consisting of random letters and numbers.

A comment posted by the account described Al Ittihad club fans as "servants." The reply to this comment included a picture depicting Al Ittihad fans as servants in the act of washing a car. The same description was mentioned in a comment by another new account named "Nasser@Bmw2030Bmw". This account, in turn, does not have a profile picture, and its username consists of random letters and numbers.

The same hate speech was repeated in a comment by another account named "آهّلَآوُيْ نُخّـبَۆيْ سُۆبرٍيْ (Super Elitist Ahly fan) @Aloone111", describing Al Ittihad fans as "servants".

The account " "11 النخبوي سيد أسيا (Elite Master of Asia) @sr11972" repeated the same hate speech, describing Al Ittihad club fans as servants and explaining the context of its use by saying: "Servant means a slave who serves."

The account's name, a series of random numbers and letters, indicates that it is likely either an inauthentic or semi-automated account.

In addition to the description "servants," some accounts used other types of accusations; specifically, the accounts "Khaled AlZahrani" and "Bander" exchanged accusations regarding the presence of foreigners among the fans of the two teams, with both accounts using the word "expats" in a racist manner.

Mutual Insults

Hate speech was not one-sided, as fans of both Al Ahly and Al Ittihad exchanged insults and accusations. Just as Al Ahly fans described Al Ittihad fans as servants and slaves, Al Ittihad fans responded by describing Al Ahly fans as parasites and frogs.

Several new and fake accounts supporting Al Ittihad club became active in interacting with and echoing this discourse. Among these accounts is "OS @Oskkk9091," a new account created in 2025. This account uses a picture of Al Ittihad player Abderrazak Hamdallah as its profile picture, and the account's username consists of random letters and numbers, which suggests it is likely a fake account.

 Another recent account ("@4xs1927") also reacted, describing Al Ahly club fans as parasites. This account does not use a real profile picture, and the account ID also consists of random numbers and letters.

The account "ABU TURKI @asdf_4848," created in 2024 and composed of random characters, similarly appears to be fake.

"Abu Faisal" also described Al Itihad fans as parasites. The account shows no indicators of being a real account, as it has no profile picture or bio for the account owner.

Online hate speech between soccer fans quickly turns into real violence and clashes in reality. This violence not only affects the clashing parties but also targets other segments of society, such as foreign workers in Gulf communities, whom the fans referred to as expats.