Prince Al-Waleed Poised for Full Control of Al-Hilal

Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is on the verge of a move 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 Al-Hilal, is expected to push to increase his stake in the Riyadh powerhouse from 70% to full, 100% ownership, according to prominent Saudi media figure Waleed Al-Farraj.

If completed, the move would make Al-Hilal the first major Saudi popular club to be entirely privately owned, a landmark break from the state-linked model that has dominated the domestic game for decades.

From majority control to total ownership

Prince Al-Waleed secured his 70% share of Al-Hilal last April under a binding agreement between Kingdom Holding Company and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). That deal already marked a significant shift in the club’s structure.

Now the stakes are about to rise again.

Speaking on his programme “Rotana Sport with Waleed” on the “Rotana Khalijia” channel – a network originally owned by Prince Al-Waleed himself – Al-Farraj revealed that the prince is expected to formally request the jump to full control.

His comments did not sound speculative. They landed with the weight of someone who understands both the media and the ownership corridors around Al-Hilal.

A decisive week for Saudi giants

The timing is no coincidence.

On Wednesday, the Saudi Ministry of Sport announced it had transferred its 25% ownership stakes in each of the four major clubs – Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli – to the PIF. That move effectively concentrated state-linked ownership under a single powerful umbrella.

Now Al-Hilal stand on the brink of stepping out from under it.

If Prince Al-Waleed completes the buyout, Al-Hilal would become the only one of the four giants to fully leave the PIF structure. For the moment, they are the outlier. The expectation, according to local reports, is that Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli could follow down the path of increased private ownership in the coming period.

For Al-Hilal, the question is no longer whether they are leading Saudi football on the pitch. It is whether they are about to lead it into a new era off it.