Casteels, Rodak enter Eastern Derby with Golden Glove still up for grabs

Casteels, Rodak enter Eastern Derby with Golden Glove still up for grabs This season’s second Eastern Derby will be fascinating for a whole host of reasons. First, there's the element of Al Qadsiah looking to keep in touch in the Roshn Saudi League title hunt, for which they need maximum points to maintain pressure on the three teams above them. Heading into the closing gameday of Matchweek 27, Al Qadsiah are fourth, five points off second place and 10 back from leaders Al Nassr .

Then there's Julian Quinones and his battle with Ivan Toney and Cristiano Ronaldo for the 2025-26 golden boot. At present, he is joint-second with holder Ronaldo, both three back from Toney . Looking at the derby, the mighty Mexican has an individual head-to-head with Georginio Wijnaldum; as the standout player and highest scorer for Al Ettifaq , the latter represents Quinones’ counterpart at Al Qadsiah’s fierce East Coast foes.

There’s also, of course, local bragging rights in a fixture that Al Qadsiah haven’t lost since 2020. Sunday at EGO Stadium in Dammam offers the opportunity for visitors to do the double; little more than one month ago, in the rescheduled Matchweek 10 fixture, Brendan Rodgers’ men put four past Saad Al Shehri’s side . And then there’s one element that may go slightly more under the radar, even if it supplies an interesting subplot to the clash, but also the remainder of the RSL season.

That, intriguingly, is the battle of the goalkeepers: Koen Casteels, for Al Qadsiah, and Marek Rodak, at Al Ettifaq. Both are still in the running for this year’s Golden Glove, the prize awarded to the goalkeeper who keeps the most clean sheets in a RSL season. The pair have registered seven so far, behind Al Ahli’s Edouard Mendy (12), Al Nassr’s Bento (10) and Al Hilal’s Yassine Bono (nine).