Marwan Al-Sahafi was born on 17 February 2004 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He grew up inside Saudi Arabia's increasingly competitive domestic football environment and developed through Al-Ittihad's pathway before loan moves to Belgium, where the emphasis on technical security and tactical discipline shaped the first stage of his career. By the time he reached senior football, he had already been identified as a forward capable of handling the tempo and pressure of the Saudi Pro League.
His middle-career rise came through the domestic league, where he turned regular club minutes into national-team credibility. His Belgian loan spell at Beerschot gave him a European education, and the follow-up move to Antwerp showed that his pace and directness could translate outside the Saudi league. That period coincided with a wider Saudi football surge: the national team remained a World Cup regular after its famous 2022 win over Argentina, while local clubs invested heavily and raised the level around Saudi internationals.
As of May 2026 he is with Royal Antwerp, on loan from Al-Ittihad. At Antwerp he works as a winger who attacks space early, a role that suits a young player still refining his end product. His current role is best understood as a continuation of that domestic pathway rather than a sudden breakthrough: he has stayed close to the core of Saudi elite football, kept his match rhythm, and given the national staff a familiar profile in a squad that mixes Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Qadsiah players.
For Saudi Arabia he has been part of the national-team picture through the 2026 World Cup cycle. He debuted for Saudi Arabia in 2024 and has become one of the more exciting young attackers in the 2026 cycle. Saudi Arabia reached the 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018 and 2022 World Cups before the expanded 2026 tournament, and the squad entered this cycle carrying both the confidence of that history and the frustration of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup exit to South Korea on penalties.
Standing 1.82 m, he is a right-footed forward. He is a vertical winger with acceleration, long strides and the courage to attack full-backs repeatedly. In stylistic terms he can be compared with Ayman Yahya and a young Moussa Diaby: not as a direct copy, but as a useful reference for the way his body shape, decision-making and role fit into a modern Saudi side that values speed, compactness and disciplined transitions.