Al Ohdood vs Al Ittihad. Will the champion start the new season with a win?
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Al Ohdood vs Al Ittihad
Al OhdoodThe team of Portuguese coach Paulo Sergio, who took over Al-Ohdud at the beginning of the calendar year and managed to achieve the main goal of the last season – to maintain their place in the elite division, is approaching the new campaign with its face practically unchanged. The management of Al-Ohdud was unable to make any high-profile signings for a number of valid reasons, the main one being the relatively modest financial situation of the club from Najran.
The team was replenished with only two Turkish-German legionnaires – defender Koray Gunter from Verona and midfielder Gokhan Gul from Kasimpasa. There were also a couple of internal Saudi transfers, but the names of those involved are unlikely to mean anything to the general public.
Al-Ohdud’s task for the new season does not change dramatically, compared to the last one – they need to avoid relegation “one floor below” again.
Al Ittihad
The current Saudi Arabian champions have not had the best start to the new 2025/26 campaign. In the Super Cup semi-final, French coach Laurent Blanc's men lost to Al-Nasr 1-2, despite playing with a man advantage for more than half of the game.
Overall, Al-Ittihad's results in recent weeks have been pessimistic. In addition to the defeat to Al-Nasr in the Super Cup, there were also three consecutive failures in friendly matches - against Fenerbahce (0:4), Fulham (2:4) and Portimonense (1:2). And even if these are just "training with increased responsibility", the trend is clearly not positive.
The club has not impressed in the transfer market either. If the task was to preserve the championship squad, then Al-Ittihad has coped with it. All the stars who won the title for the club are in place - Benzema, Kante, Fabinho, Bergwijn and others. But we should not forget that in the last campaign Al-Ittihad did not have to be torn apart by many "tournament fronts", primarily continental competitions. And even then, at some stages of the season, Blanc's charges clearly lacked the length of the bench. Is the club afraid of stepping on the same rake?

Al Ohdood vs Al Ittihad facts
- Al-Ittihad's squad is more than 11 times "more expensive" than Al-Ohdud's, according to Transfermarkt (111.5 million euros versus 9.5 million)
- Al-Ittihad have never lost to Al-Ohdud in official matches, although they have played only 4, 3 of which the champion won.
- At the same time, Al-Ittihad has never defeated Al-Ohdud with a difference of more than one goal - all 3 victories of the team from Jeddah were minimal, and the last match in the championship season for Karim Benzema and company with this opponent ended in a 1:1 draw
Odds from download 1xbet
In the bookmaker's office 1xbet you can bet on Al-Ohdud's victory with a coefficient of 6.45. But you can pick up the 1xbet bonus and use it to bet on Al-Ittihad's victory with a lower coefficient - 1.48, and accordingly - with a higher chance of success. The probability of a draw in this duel is estimated at a coefficient of 4.90. Install the 1xbet app and place a bet on the favorite!Game Totals Prediction
The champion is clearly not in the form to expect a crushing victory in the opening match of the season, and bookmakers' odds also hint at this. Let's assume that the tradition of minimal victories of Al-Ittihad over Al-Ohdud will continue in the new "date" of the rivals, and therefore our forecast for this match is Al-Ohdud with a handicap (+1.5) with a coefficient of 1.66.For a more risky bet, you can consider the option “Al-Ittihad win + both teams to score” with odds of 2.60.
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