A spectacular start to the season

This weekend, Al-Nassr kicked off their 2026–27 Saudi Pro League season with a 3–0 victory over Al-Fateh.

The second goal of the match came in the 40th minute, scored by João Félix. The Portuguese player dribbled past the defenders before shooting with his left foot from a tight angle, finding the top corner.

Prior to the match, the 26-year-old attacking midfielder had been voted the Saudi Pro League’s Player of the Season for last term.

Player of the Season

Nominated for the Ballon d'Or and the Kopa Trophy in 2019, Félix joined the club in July 2025 from Chelsea and quickly became one of the team’s key players. With 20 goals in 33 Saudi Pro League matches, he was one of the standout performers in Al-Nassr’s historic campaign, which saw them win the title this year – the club’s first in seven years, having finished in the top three in each of the previous four seasons but failing to lift the trophy.

Félix provided 13 assists in the league last season, the highest tally by an Al-Nassr player in a single campaign. In doing so, he surpassed the club’s previous record of 11 assists, set by Moroccan winger Nordin Amrabat in 2019–20 and equalled by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2023–24.

Ronaldo applauds from the stands

On Saturday, the cameras showed Ronaldo standing in the stands, applauding Félix’s goal. Having returned to the squad just a few days before the season opener, the Portuguese striker, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, was rested for the match by the new manager, Ange Postecoglou.

Ronaldo had previously been named the competition’s Player of the Season twice – in 2022–23, his first season at the club, and again in 2023–24. In 2024–25, the award went to French striker Karim Benzema, winner of the 2022 ‘Ballon d'Or’, who was playing for Al-Ittihad at the time.

Now it was Félix’s turn to take the award home, having been named Man of the Match in nine games throughout the season and Player of the Month on two occasions.

A new generation on Saudi soil

Another of Ronaldo’s national team-mates, Samú Costa, scored Al-Nassr’s third goal against Al-Fateh. The 25-year-old defensive midfielder joined the club during this transfer window, having moved from Mallorca.

Félix and Costa are part of a new generation of players who have chosen to move to clubs in Saudi Arabia in recent seasons, a trend driven by CR7’s historic arrival at Al-Nassr in late 2022.

Félix, who was once a key player for both Benfica and Atlético Madrid, is now looking to build on his good form alongside Ronaldo this season for Al-Nassr.