Early struggles (2002 – 2009)
Having picked up their most recent Asian Club Championship (pictured below) trophy at the turn of the millennium, the first few years of the newly branded competition brought little success to the Riyadh based side.

 

Their maiden adventure in 2002-03 saw them finish top of the group, and despite marginal improvement the following campaign, a 5-2 collapse against Sharjah remains one of their worst defeats to date. That second consecutive group stage exit was followed by failure to qualify to the continental competition in 2005, one of just two times they missed out on the AFC Champions League.

Upon their return in 2006, Al Hilal came close to finally navigating the group stage but a shock 2-1 loss to Uzbek side Mish’al Mubarek proved fatal as they crashed out at the first hurdle once more. But the hoodoo was finally broken the following year as they finished top of a three-team group that saw Esteghlal disqualified. A first knockout stage appearance ended in heartbreak; after drawing 0-0 against Al Wahda in Abu Dhabi, a 1-1 tie in Riyadh meant the Saudi side was eliminated on away goals.

 

Once more it was Jeddah duo Al Ittihad and Al Ahli who kept Al Hilal out of contention for Asian glory in 2008. The pursuit of the dream resumed a year later, and on the first time the Round of 16 was introduced, it spelled a penalty shootout loss for the team from the Saudi capital.

Building momentum (2010 – 2018)
With the arrival of the new decade, a new era for the club started. A squad featuring the likes of Christian Wilhelmsson and Lee Young-pyo made a deep run into the 2010 edition, but the journey came to an abrupt end at the penultimate stop, with Zobahan stunning their opponents 1-0 in both legs to deny them the final ticket.

Al Hilal’s back-to-back appearances in the knockout stage proved to be just the start of a run that continued all the way to 2017, with the Blues never exiting at the group stage in any of the next seven editions.

 

After a quarter-final and a Round-of-16 eliminations in 2012 and 2013, it was finally time for a return to the most glamorous tie in the Asian club calendar in 2014. A campaign that began with club legend Sami Al Jaber at the helm until the Round of 16 then Romanian Laurentiu Reghecampf taking over from the quarter-finals onwards, saw Al Hilal overcome the likes of Bunyodkor, Al Sadd and Al Ain to set-up a date with debutants Western Sydney Wanderers.

With the core of players that first featured in the 2014 final including the likes of Salman Al Faraj and Salem Al Dawsari now maturing, Al Hilal entered their golden years from 2017 onwards.

 

A stellar year for Syrian forward Omar Khribin saw him win the AFC Player of the Year as his 11 goals in the 2017 AFC Champions League led Al Hilal to a return to the final, but the millions of supporters hoping to finally see their team lift the coveted trophy were once more left disappointed as Urawa Red Diamonds ran away with it, beating Al Hilal 1-0 in Saitama after having come back from Riyadh with a 1-1 draw.

Reaping rewards (2019 – )
It took just two years for the squad that was bolstered with the addition of high-profile foreign players like former internationals Bafetimbi Gomis and Sebastian Giovinco as well as Peruvian ace Andre Carrillo, and there was a date with destiny as they took on Urawa in the final again.

 

This time, head coach Razvan Lucescu delivered the moment every Al Hilal fan had long dreamed of. Carrillo, Gomis and Al Dawsari scored as their side won both legs 1-0 and 2-0 to get the party started.

Hot on the heels of their most recent victory, Al Hilal are back in pursuit of a fifth star. Should they overcome Urawa in the two-legged final, they will become the first side to retain their AFC Champions League title since their compatriots Al Ittihad in 2004 and 2005.