Al-Hazem began the 2026-27 Roshn Saudi League season with a 2-1 victory over Abha, while also producing a notable statistical repeat on the competition’s opening day.
Abdulaziz Al-Dhuwayhi scored after only three minutes to give Al-Hazem the lead in the first match of the new campaign. His early strike continued a sequence that has now appeared in two consecutive seasons of the Saudi top flight.
According to football statistics company Opta, Al-Hazem have scored the opening goal of the Roshn Saudi League in successive editions of the competition. The club achieved the same feat last season, when Portugal forward Fabio Martins scored the first goal of the campaign.
The result also delivered another milestone for Al-Hazem. It was the first time in the club’s history of competing in the Roshn Saudi League that they had won their opening fixture of a season.
The 2026-27 campaign got under way with the meeting between Abha and Al-Hazem, with Al-Hazem eventually securing all three points after scoring twice against their opponents. Al-Dhuwayhi’s goal arrived in the third minute and immediately placed the club at the centre of the opening-day narrative.
Although the match itself was the first fixture of the new season, the statistical achievement referred to by Opta relates to the identity of the team scoring the competition’s first goal. Al-Hazem had already been the club responsible for that moment in the previous edition, and their repeat this year has created a rare piece of continuity at the start of the tournament.
The club’s success in the fixture marked a significant contrast with its previous record in opening matches. Before the win over Abha, Al-Hazem had never begun a Roshn Saudi League campaign with victory.
The Roshn Saudi League has attracted growing international attention because of the high-profile players associated with clubs in the competition. Its squads include prominent names from a range of European countries, contributing to the league’s status as one of the leading competitions in world football.
For Al-Hazem, however, the immediate focus will be on a perfect start to the 2026-27 season. Their victory over Abha has combined a club first with a competition-wide statistical landmark, as Al-Dhuwayhi’s third-minute finish ensured Al-Hazem again supplied the opening goal of the Roshn Saudi League.