Casteels stands tall as Al-Qadsiah continue to rise in the Saudi Pro League

LONDON: Something special is happening at Al-Qadsiah this season. Since returning to the Saudi Pro League after a five-year absence, coach Michel’s side — emboldened by a host of new summer arrivals — is defying expectations and stands on the brink of a historic campaign.

Currently third in the Saudi Pro League table after a 2-0 win over Al-Okhdood on Friday and with a King’s Cup semi-final against Al-Raed to come in April, Qadsiah have been one of the Kingdom’s most consistent sides in 2024-2025. Just as he did when winning the Saudi First Division title last season, Michel has built a team that is defensively sound, but sprinkled liberally with attacking stardust.

Providing Qadsiah’s solidity between the posts this time around is Belgium national team goalkeeper Koen Casteels, who ended a nine-year stint at Wolfsburg to move to the Kingdom last summer.

Casteels was one of several new arrivals, joining the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Julian Quinones and Nacho Fernandez in seeing Qadsiah’s potential to be more competitive than most normal newly-promoted sides.

“I think it was very clear from how the club talked to me before I signed, but also in the way they recruited other players, that there were big ambitions,” Casteels told Arab News. 

“But simply getting good players is not enough in football. I think the recruitment was very smart in every position — not only big names but smart decisions.

“Now we have a team that fits together very well and I think that’s one of the main reasons why we are now up there (at the top end of the table).”

Casteels admitted that seeing the exodus of talented players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema from Europe to Saudi Arabia piqued his interest in a move to