Four Riyadh qualifying teams await Jeddah qualifiers

The qualifiers for the unique football tournament held for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—have begun, with Riyadh, the capital, hosting the first stage of the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five competition, which ended with four teams qualifying for the male category final.

Held in partnership with Ministry of Sport, Vision 2030, Red Bull Mobile, Sports For All, Blink Experience, Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr and Quality of Life Program, the tournament will come to a close with the crowning of a champion team from both the male and female category to represent Saudi Arabia in the world finals, which will take place in Qatar for the first time, with five-a-side teams from around the world competing in a unique football format in hopes of winning and facing the Brazilian star and his team.

The Riyadh qualifiers were held over two days, on the 8th and 9th of April, at Koora Park stadiums, where 64 five-a-side teams competed against each other, their players seeking to win and qualify for the Saudi national final. After intense competitions during which players of a team eliminated a player from the other team when scoring a goal, in matches held without goalkeepers, according to the rules of the game, the Fury, AQ, Edward and awruqit teams succeeded in outperforming the rest of the participants, thus qualifying for the final in Jeddah.

After Riyadh, the Saudi qualifiers will move to the Bride of the Red Sea, where it will see 64 teams compete in Jeddah on the 15th and 16th of April at the Koora Arena stadiums, with 14 teams eventually qualifying for the national final. Thus, the number of teams participating in the Saudi finals—hosted in the old historical city in Jeddah on April 19—will be 16 teams, competing in fierce matches until one team emerges triumphant and will have the honor of representing the Kingdom at the world finals in Qatar.

It is also worth mentioning that the tournament also includes women's competitions, where 16 teams will play against each other for the chance to represent Saudi Arabia in this category at the world finals.

The Red Bull Neymar Jr's Five tournament is touching down in Saudi Arabia for the first time this year and will set the scene for Saudi football fans and enthusiasts of the most popular international game to showcase their skills and compete in a tournament that thousands of football fans around the world wait for every year. The one-of-a-kind tournament has seen an increasing demand in recent years, and it returns this year on a much larger scale, with new features that promise to make it the most amazing version yet.

This unique event comes at a time when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is seeing an increase in the number of major international events it’s hosting, including various cultural, sports, and touristic fields, all in line with the Kingdom’s aspirations and with Vision 2030.