Al Qadsiah's ZIYAD on surpassing KSAA, football club money, and Chinese booing

Before the OWCS Champions Clash in Hangzhou, China, Kryix spoke over Discord with ZIYAD, tank player for Al Qadsiah.

Al Qadsiah was the only team from OWCS EMEA or North America not to bootcamp in South Korea. While Al Qadsiah did bootcamp in Korea, it was before OWCS Stage 1. During Stage 1, Al Qadsiah operated a hybrid setup. The Saudi Arabian players, including ZIYAD, played matches from their homes (Riyadh, in ZIYAD’s case), while the international players (Landon, Tred, and Checkmate) played from Al Qadsiah’s esports facility in Riyadh. Despite Al Qadsiah Football Club playing in Khobar, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the team’s esports operations are in Riyadh. ZIYAD said that nearly all Saudi esports teams operate out of Riyadh, since it is the country’s capital.

Khobar is a beachfront city in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.

Al Qadsiah are the only active professional Overwatch team to be part of a professional sports team. The club had a strong presence in Saudi football in the 1980s and early 1990s, but following their first relegation in 1997, they became a yo-yo club, oscillating between the first and second tier of Saudi Arabian football. This all changed in 2023. As part of massive state investment in Saudi football, Al Qadsiah was placed under the ownership of Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company. While clubs like Al Hilal and Al Nassr splashed millions, Al Qadsiah acquired stars of their own, like former Premier League star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and former Real Madrid player Nacho.

Al Qadsiah FC signed major stars after the Aramco takeover.

I asked ZIYAD how he felt about being part of such an organization.

Ben: Were you familiar with the football club before joining the OW team last year?

ZIYAD: Yeah, of course I know Al Qadsiah, they are so famous in Saudi

Ben: Is that something that appealed to you?

ZIYAD: Yes. Every football team, they are rich. You know what I mean? xD

Al Qadsiah first signed ZIYAD in June 2024. He was supposed to play with the team in OWCS 2024 Stage 3, but he barely missed the age eligibility cutoff. It’s evidence of Al Qadsiah’s long-term planning, as both main support Haku and backup hitscan Qlm have been with the team since last year.

Ben: Did you have to retrial for your roster spot?

ZIYAD: No, because I was already the solo tank, but when Tred came, I had to fight for the spot. When we were in Korea, I was playing a lot, but when we came back and started scrimming in EU, Junkbuck felt like I was good in Korea but now I wasn't good. That’s what he felt. Then, we played our first match against Peps and we lost. So we went back to scrim, and I just played. Tred wasn’t the reason why we lost against Peps. We lost cause we were bad.

Ben: A lot of fans like to compare you to KSAA, or call you “the next KSAA,” and you were even his backup once for a little bit. What impact has he had on Saudi tank players? And then, how did it feel to beat him to qualify for Hangzhou?

ZIYAD: KSAA is the best Ramattra I’ve ever seen. When anyone says to me “you are the next KSAA,” I feel happy, but I felt more happy when we won against The Ultimates. I feel so, so happy because I beat the best tank of EMEA. So nice.

Al Qadsiah defeated The Ultimates to guarantee their qualification to Champions Clash. 

In their first match of Champions Clash, Al Qadsiah face Team Falcons. ZIYAD’s coach Junkbuck was part of Team Falcons' coaching staff last year.

Junkbuck departed Team Falcons before the 2025 Overwatch Champions Series season.

Ben: How are you preparing for Team Falcons? Especially with Junkbuck being on the Falcons last year.

ZIYAD: When we talk about Falcons we are talking about the best team right now, but with this team and with Junkbuck everything will be easy. 🙏 I trust my team.

Ben: A lot of teams would try and exploit their lack of a super strong Winston player, except you don’t really have a great Winston player on Al Qadsiah either! Do you think you can beat them at their own game?

ZIYAD: No need to play monkey, just play any other hero and we're gonna win. We can't beat a Korean team on dive. I am excited to play against Hanbin, though.

At the 2024 EWC, there was some controversy after Twisted Minds player Youbi accused players on Once Again of deliberately not shaking his hand after a match. Notably, Team Saudi Arabia defeated Team China (comprising most of Once Again) to win the 2023 Overwatch World Cup. Al Qadsiah players LBBD7 and Haku were on Team Saudi Arabia.

Ben: Do you think the Chinese crowd will be rooting against Al Qadsiah due to the past incident between Saudi and Chinese teams? Not because of anything you did, just because the team is majority Saudi Arabian.

ZIYAD: LOL yeah. Of course they’re gonna be cheering against us but that will be useless, cause we will try to not get nervous or anything. Just focus in game. So good luck to the Chinese fans.

Al Qadsiah kicks off their Champions Clash campaign against Team Falcons on Friday, April 18th at 1:10 AM EDT (8:10 AM KSA).