Ali Al-Habsi

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This is an Arabic name; the family name is Al-Habsi.

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Ali Al-Habsi
Ali Al Habsi portrait, Wigan Athletic v Birmingham, 19 March 2011.jpg
Al-Habsi with Wigan Athletic in 2011
Personal information
Full name Ali Abdullah Harib Al-Habsi[1]
Date of birth (1981-12-30) 30 December 1981 (age 42)[1]
Place of birth Al-Mudhaibi, Oman
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Reading
Number 26
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2002 Al-Mudhaibi ? (?)
2002–2003 Al-Nasr ? (?)
2003–2006 Lyn Oslo 62 (0)
2006–2011 Bolton Wanderers 10 (0)
2010–2011 → Wigan Athletic (loan) 34 (0)
2011–2015 Wigan Athletic 102 (0)
2014 → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 1 (0)
2015– Reading 32 (0)
International career‡
2002– Oman 116 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:10, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 08:12, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

Ali Abdullah Harib Al-Habsi (Arabic: علي بن عبد الله بن حارب الحبسي‎‎; born 30 December 1981) is an Omani professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for English club Reading and captains the Oman national team.

Club career

Early career

After playing a season at Al-Nasr, Ali Al-Habsi signed to Lyn Oslo, and played three seasons for the Norwegian club. Following his signing with the club, he became the first Omani to play international football in Europe. He was also voted "Norwegian Goalkeeper of the Year" in 2004.[2]

Bolton Wanderers

His transfer from Lyn Oslo to Bolton Wanderers in January 2006 was a transfer highlighted in the Stevens inquiry report, in June 2007. The report expressed concerns because of the apparent conflict of interest between agent Craig Allardyce, his father Sam Allardyce – and the club itself.[3]

Al-Habsi did not make any first team appearances in his first year at Bolton. Al-Habsi made his full Bolton debut in the 2–1 extra time League Cup victory over Fulham in September 2007.

Al-Habsi then went on to make a further 15 appearances during the course of the 2007/08 season, most notably his performance against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup against whom he produced several good saves against the star studded German team. He made his first Premier League start against Wigan Athletic.[4] In December 2008, he was rewarded for his work with an extension to his contract until 2013. Despite this, Al-Habsi lost his place when Jussi Jääskeläinen returned from injury.

Wigan Athletic (loan)

Al-Habsi warming up for Wigan Athletic, prior to their match against Birmingham City on 19 March 2011

In July 2010, Al-Habsi joined local rivals Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan.[5] He made his debut on 24 August 2010 in a League Cup match against Hartlepool United[6] and made his League debut four days later against Tottenham Hotspur. He was named Wigan's player of the season for the 2010–11 season.[7]

Wigan Athletic

On the 4 July 2011 Al-Habsi joined the club permanently, signing a four-year contract for an estimated £4 million transfer fee from Bolton.[8] Al-Habsi established himself as an outstanding penalty saver, saving approximately 50% of all the penalties he faced since joining Wigan. Robin van Persie, Carlos Tevez, Javier Hernández and Mikel Arteta are among the penalty takers Al-Habsi has stopped. This earnt him links to Liverpool and Arsenal.[9] During the back end of the 2012–13 season, Al-Habsi was dropped to the bench as his position as Wigan's number one was threatened by the arrival of the athletic, young Spaniard Joel Robles on loan.[10] The following season after being on the bench for Wigan's FA Cup win over Manchester City, Wigan were relegated back to the championship.

Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)

On 31 October 2014, Al-Habsi signed for fellow Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion on a one-month loan.[11] After playing only one game for the club, Al-Habsi returned to his parent club Wigan.

Reading

Following his release from Wigan Athletic, Al-Habsi went on trial with Reading in July 2015.[12] This ended in Al-Habsi signing a two year contract with the club on 14 July 2015.[13]

International career

Al-Habsi began playing in his native country Oman at the age of seventeen, and joined the ranks of the Oman under-19s squad, before he was spotted by John Burridge in 2001. Due to the difficulty of securing a work permit, he was unable to move to Europe at this early stage of his career.

He was called up for Oman, and played in all of their three group matches at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup in China and also made four appearances for the team in their qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which they excelled in the first group stage after finishing second in a group with Japan, India and Singapore. He was also Oman's first-choice goalkeeper at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, appearing in all of their three group matches.[14]

Al-Habsi also has appeared as main keeper in four consecutive Gulf Cups. In each tournament he earned the award for best goalkeeper, most recently at the 2009 Gulf Cup of Nations. He kept a clean sheet throughout the 2009 tournament that Oman eventually won.[citation needed] He earned his 100th cap with Oman in a 0–4 loss to Australia in 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Personal life

Ali Al-Habsi is a practising Muslim.[15] and says that his faith plays a big part in his life.[16] He is also married and has two daughters.[citation needed]

After finishing high school,[17] Ali was a fireman in the Seeb International Airport in Muscat.[18] In an interview with Al-Jazeera Sports, Ali accredited his previous profession with teaching him patience, hard work and patriotism.[19] In another interview with AMF, Ali says if he hadn't played professional football, he would have most likely continued with being a fireman.[20]

Al-Habsi is the co-founder of Safety First, a non-profit road safety organisation in Oman that seeks to decrease car accident fatalities in the country.[21]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 7 May 2016[22][23]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Lyn 2003 Tippeligaen 13 0 3 0 - 2 0 - 18 0
2004 24 0 4 0 - - - 28 0
2005 25 0 2 0 - - - 27 0
Total 62 0 9 0 - - 2 0 - - 73 0
Bolton Wanderers 2005–06 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
2006–07 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 0 0
2007–08 10 0 1 0 1 0 4 0 - 16 0
2008–09 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 0 0
2009–10 0 0 1 0 1 0 - - 2 0
2010–11 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 0 0
Total 10 0 2 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 18 0
Wigan Athletic (loan) 2010–11 Premier League 34 0 2 0 4 0 – – 40 0
Wigan Athletic 2011–12 Premier League 38 0 1 0 1 0 – – 0 0
2012–13 29 0 2 0 3 0 – – 34 0
2013–14 Championship 24 0 4 0 0 0 – 0 0 28 0
2014–15 11 0 1 0 1 0 – – 13 0
Total 102 0 8 0 5 0 - - 0 0 115 0
Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 2014–15 Championship 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – 1 0
Reading 2015–16 Championship 32 0 5 0 3 0 – – 40 0
Career total 241 0 26 0 14 0 6 0 - - 287 0

International

Oman national team
Year Apps Goals
2002 1 0
2003 11 0
2004 16 0
2005 0 0
2006 5 0
2007 14 0
2008 10 0
2009 11 0
2010 4 0
2011 9 0
2012 8 0
2013 3 0
2014 10 0
2015 14 0
Total 116 0

Statistics accurate as of match played 17 November 2015[23]

Honours

Club

FK Lyn Oslo
Wigan Athletic
National Team

Individual awards

  • Best Goalkeeper of the Gulf Cup: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011
  • Arab Goalkeeper of the Year: 2004
  • Norwegian Goalkeeper of the Year: 2004
  • Wigan Athletic Player of the Year: 2011
  • Nominated for the Best at Sport award at the British Muslim Awards: 2015[24]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1300694.html – FIFA – Al-Habsi won Norwegian Goalkeeper Award
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Goal.com – Asia – Ali Al-Habsi Focused On Bolton Survival
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ [1]
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ [2]
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpk-dQQsOEY - AMF interview
  17. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQj5YD5lZo - 6:30 -- Al-Jazeera interview
  18. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQj5YD5lZo - 6:35 -- Al-Jazeera interview
  19. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQj5YD5lZo - 6:50 -- Al-Jazeera interview
  20. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpk-dQQsOEY - 6:30 -- AMF interview
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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