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Saudi Arabia Names Bold Gulf 27 Squad Under Georgios Donis
Georgios Donis has wasted no time putting his stamp on Saudi Arabia. For his first major tournament squad, the Greek coach has made a series of ruthless calls that send a clear message ahead of Gulf 27 in Jeddah: reputations no longer guarantee a seat on the plane.
The headline shock is unmistakable. Captain Salem Al-Dawsari is out. So is Roma defender Saud Abdulhamid. Both played at the recent World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico; both now find themselves watching the Gulf Cup from home.
They are not the only high-profile casualties. Ahmed Al-Kassar, Ali Majrashi, Ali Lajami, Ayman Yahya, Saleh Al-Shehri and Khalid Al-Ghannam have also been cut. Eight World Cup players gone in one sweep. For a new coach trying to reset the national team, it is a dramatic, calculated break with the recent past.
In their place comes a fresh wave.
Donis has turned to eight new faces to reshape the Green Falcons: Hamed Al-Shanqiti, Mohammed Mahzari, Zakaria Hawsawi, Mohammed Al-Qahtani, Saleh Abu Al-Shamat, Abdullah Al-Salem, Rayan Hamed and Hammam Al-Hammami all receive call-ups as the squad takes on a younger, hungrier look.
Final Squad for Gulf 27
According to the Saudi Arabia national team’s account on X, the final list for Gulf 27 features 26 players:
- Mohammed Al-Owais
- Nawaf Al-Aqidi
- Hamed Al-Shanqiti
- Abdulelah Al-Amri
- Jihad Zikri
- Rayan Hamed
- Hassan Kadesh
- Hassan Tambakti
- Nawaf Boushal
- Mohammed Mahzari
- Mutaib Al-Harbi
- Zakaria Hawsawi
- 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
- Abdullah Al-Hamdan
- Firas Al-Buraikan
- Abdullah Al-Salem
There is experience in there – the likes of Al-Owais, Kanno and Tambakti know the demands of tournament football – but the spine of this group feels different. Less established star power, more players fighting to prove they belong at this level.
Gulf 27, hosted in Jeddah from 23 September to 6 October, offers an immediate test of that gamble.
Saudi Arabia kick off against Kuwait on 23 September at Al-Inma Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City, a fixture that will quickly reveal how fast Donis’s ideas have taken hold. Oman arrive three days later on 26 September, before a potentially decisive clash with Iraq on the 29th closes the group stage.
The draw has placed the hosts in Group One with Kuwait, Oman and Iraq. Group Two brings together Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Yemen, setting up the prospect of heavyweight meetings later in the tournament if Saudi Arabia navigate their way through.
For now, the focus sits squarely on this 26-man squad and the statement it carries. Donis has drawn a line under the World Cup cycle and thrown open the door to a new core of players. In front of a home crowd in Jeddah, the question is simple: can this reshaped Saudi side turn bold selection into silverware?
