Ali Al-Habsi

Ali Abdullah Harib Al-Habsi (Arabic: علي بن عبد الله بن حارب الحبسي‎; born 30 December 1981) is an Omani retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

In this Arabic name, the surname is Al-Habsi.
Ali Al-Habsi
Al-Habsi playing for Reading in 2016
Personal information
Full name Ali Abdullah Harib Al-Habsi[1]
Date of birth (1981-12-30) 30 December 1981[1]
Place of birth Buraimi, Oman
Height 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2002 Al-Mudhaibi 35 (0)
2002–2003 Al-Nasr 4 (0)
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)
2015–2017 Reading 78 (0)
2017–2019 Al-Hilal 34 (0)
2019–2020 West Bromwich Albion 0 (0)
Total 360 (0)
National team‡
2002–2019 Oman 135 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:22, 30 August 2019 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:07, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Early career

Al-Habsi was born in Oman and started his early career in the country, racking up appearances before his move.

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.[2]

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.[3] 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 training with Wigan Athletic in 2011

In July 2010, Al-Habsi joined local rivals Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan.[4] He made his debut on 24 August 2010 in a League Cup match against Hartlepool United[5] 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.[6]

Wigan Athletic

On 4 July 2011 Al-Habsi joined the club permanently, signing a four-year contract for an estimated £4 million transfer fee from Bolton.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] Al-Habsi started Wigan's FA Cup semi-final win over Millwall but was on the bench for the final itself.[10][11] Shortly after the final Wigan were relegated back to the championship.[12]

Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)

On 31 October 2014, Al-Habsi signed for fellow Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion on a one-month loan.[13] 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.[14] This ended in Al-Habsi signing a two-year contract with the club on 14 July 2015.[15] On 5 January 2017, Al-Habsi extended his contract with Reading until the end of the 2018–19 season.[16]

2016–2017

On 17 March 2017, Al-Habsi made several crucial saves in a 2–0 victory against playoff rivals Sheffield Wednesday. This performance and others throughout the season saw Al-Habsi named in the EFL Championship team of the season and awarded the Reading player of the season award.

Al-Hilal

On 17 July 2017, Al-Habsi moved to Al-Hilal for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year contract.[17]

West Bromwich Albion

On 29 August 2019, Al-Habsi moved to Championship side West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer, signing a deal until the end of the season with the West Midlands club.[18] Al-Habsi was released by the club in June 2020 without having made an appearance for the club. West Brom manager Slaven Bilić stated that he had been keen to extend Al-Habsi's contract until the end of the delayed 2019–20 season, but this was not pursued as he had returned to his native Oman and would have to undertake a two-week quarantine period before rejoining the squad.[19]

Retirement

On 21 August 2020, Al-Habsi announced his retirement.[20]

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 exited 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.[21]

Al-Habsi also has appeared as main keeper in four consecutive Arabian Gulf Cups. In each tournament he earned the award for best goalkeeper, most recently at the 19th Arabian Gulf Cup. He kept a clean sheet throughout the 2009 tournament that Oman eventually won. He earned his 100th cap with Oman in a 0–4 loss to Australia in 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

On 5 January 2020, Al-Habsi announced his retirement from international football.[22]

Personal life

Al-Habsi is a practising Muslim[23] and says that his faith plays a big part in his life.[24] He is also married and has three daughters.

After finishing high school,[25] he was a fireman in the Seeb International Airport in Muscat.[26] In an interview with Al-Jazeera Sports, Al-Habsi accredited his previous profession with teaching him patience, hard work and patriotism.[27] In another interview with AMF, he says that if he had not played professional football, he would have most likely continued with being a fireman.[28]

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.[29]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 20 January 2018[30]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Lyn 2003 Tippeligaen 13030-20-180
2004 24040---280
2005 25020---270
Total 62090--20--730
Bolton Wanderers 2005–06 Premier League 00000000-00
2006–07 000000--00
2007–08[31] 10010104[lower-alpha 1]0-160
2008–09[32] 000000--00
2009–10[33] 001010--20
2010–11[34] 000000--00
Total 10020204000180
Wigan Athletic (loan) 2010–11[33] Premier League 3402040––400
Wigan Athletic 2011–12[35] Premier League 3801010––400
2012–13[36] 2902030––340
2013–14[37] Championship 2404000–00280
2014–15[38] 1101010––130
Total 136010090--001550
Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 2014–15[38] Championship 100000––10
Reading 2015–16[39] Championship 3205030––400
2016–17[40] 4601010–3[lower-alpha 2]0510
Total 7806040--30910
Al-Hilal 2017–18[30] Saudi Professional League 9010—3[lower-alpha 3]000130
Career total 295028015090303500
  1. Appearances in the UEFA Cup
  2. Appearances in the Championship play-offs
  3. Appearances in the AFC Champions League

International
As of 19 November 2019[41][42]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Oman 200120
200210
2003110
2004180
200500
200650
2007140
2008110
2009130
201060
201180
201290
201330
2014100
2015130
201620
201740
201830
201920
Total1350

Honours

Club

Lyn Oslo

Wigan Athletic

Al Hilal

Oman

Individual
  • 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: 2010–11
  • Nominated for the Best at Sport award at the British Muslim Awards: 2015[43]
  • Reading FC Player of the Year: 2015–16, 2016–17

See also

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Mainstream Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
  2. "What Stevens said about each club". www.telegraph.co.uk. London. 16 June 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  3. "Goal.com – Asia – Ali Al-Habsi Focused On Bolton Survival".
  4. "Latics sign goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi on loan for the season". 15 July 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  5. "Hartlepool 0–3 Wigan". BBC Sport. 24 August 2010. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Al Habsi Signs Permanent Deal at Wigan". 4 July 2011.
  8. Law, Matt (17 November 2012). "Arsenal will rival Liverpool for Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi". Mirror. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  9. "Wigan sign Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Joel Robles on loan". BBC Sport. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  10. "Millwall v Wigan: FA Cup semi-final – as it happened". Guardian. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  11. "Wigan 1-0 Man City". BBC. 11 May 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  12. "Arsenal 4-1 Wigan". BBC. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  13. "Ali Al-Habsi: Brighton sign Wigan goalkeeper on loan". BBC Sport. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  14. "Breaking news: Al-Habsi training with Royals". readingfc.co.uk/. Reading F.C. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  15. "Ali Al-Habsi signs for Royals". readingfc.co.uk/. Reading FC. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  16. "Ali signs new Royals deal!". readingfc.co.uk. Reading F.C. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  17. "Al Habsi completes move to Al-Hilal". readingfc.co.uk. Reading F.C. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  18. "Ali Al-Habsi: West Brom sign veteran goalkeeper on deal until end of the season". BBC Sport. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  19. Masi, Joseph. "New West Brom contracts are a big boost for Slaven Bilic". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  20. "Wigan Athletic hero announces retirement". Wigan Today. 21 August 2020.
  21. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. "Oman's Al Habsi announces international retirement". AFC. 5 January 2020.
  23. Ronay, Barney (9 December 2011). "Ali al-Habsi of Wigan Athletic is a goalkeeper with a difference". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpk-dQQsOEY – AMF interview
  25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQj5YD5lZo – 6:30 – Al-Jazeera interview
  26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQj5YD5lZo – 6:35 – Al-Jazeera interview
  27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQj5YD5lZo – 6:50 – Al-Jazeera interview
  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpk-dQQsOEY – 6:30 – AMF interview
  29. Mrudu Naik (23 May 2012). "Sport stars blow the bugle of road safety". Times of Oman. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  30. Ali Al-Habsi at Soccerway. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  31. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  32. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  33. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  34. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  35. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  36. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  37. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  38. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  39. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  40. "Games played by Ali Al-Habsi in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  41. Mohammed, Husain; Mamrud, Roberto (14 February 2019). "Ali Abdullah Harib Al-Habsi - Century of International Appearances". RSSSF.
  42. "Ali Al-Habsi". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  43. "British Muslim Awards 2015 finalists unveiled". Asian Image. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
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