Muhieddine Itani

Muhieddine Itani was born in Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, on 6 September 1929.[1][2] In the winters, he spent time fishing with his father Abdul Razzak and in the summers he went swimming.[3] His father would send him to Sheikh Mohammed Itani to learn to read, write, and memorize the Quran.[3] Itani, however, often ran away from school to spend time playing football in the Nejmeh Stadium.[3] Itani was expelled from school multiple times, remaining illiterate throughout his life.[3]

Every afternoon while training at Nejmeh, Itani would see an Englishman called Chance watching him and his teammates train.[3] One day, Chance asked Itani to train in private with him;[3] Itani did "not hesitate to accept his offer".[4] Itani trained at least four hours a day with Chance.[4] Itani said that his training sessions with Chance developed him as a footballer and he learned the fundamentals of the sport.[3]

Itani began his senior club career in the early 1950s with Nejmeh under coach Salah Itani.[5] He helped Nejmeh gain promotion to the 1953–54 Lebanese Premier League for the first time after winning the Lebanese Second Division in 1952.[2][6] Itani's first game in the Premier League ended in a 3–0 win against Racing Beirut in which he scored a penalty kick.[4]

In 1959, Racing Beirut purchased Itani,[5] who was paid LBP 20,000, an Audi car, and a Vespa scooter, and secured a job at the Regie Company.[4][5] He was part of the team that won the 1964–65 Lebanese Premier League.[7] In the 1960s, Itani moved to Tadamon Beirut[3] before rejoining Nejmeh.[6] He was the Lebanese Premier League's top goalscorer of the 1968–69, scoring 15 goals.[8]

Despite playing in the Lebanese Second Division with Nejmeh in the early 1950s, Itani attracted the attention of the Lebanese national team coach and was called up.[5] On 17 May 1961, he represented Lebanon in an unofficial friendly against Brazil.[9] Itani was part of the team that played in the 1963 Arab Nations Cup, which was held in Lebanon;[10] he played in the opening game of the tournament, a 6–0 win over Kuwait, and scored an own goal for Tunisia in a game that ended in a 1–0 defeat.[11]

Itani's most memorable game was a 1–0 win against Libya on 8 March 1964, at the 1964 Tripoli Fair Tournament.[12] He scored the game's only goal through a penalty kick in the final minute.[5] Muhieddine stated he deceived the goalkeeper by "looking at the referee as if [he] was talking to him"; the goalkeeper was "busy looking at the goalposts" and "only noticed that the goal was scored when the crowd started cheering".[4]

Due to his ambidexterity, Itani played both as a left-back and a right-back.[3] He was a penalty-kick specialist who was noted for his technique and his movements.[5] He controlled the ball in unique ways, stopping it with both feet or with his lower back.[5] Despite his short stature of 1.61 m (5.3 ft),[2] Itani had a high elevation, which enabled him to reach higher balls.[3] Although he played in a more defensive role, often Itani used fast offensive breaks.[3] Once he had already dribbled an opponent, he would often go back to dribble him again because "the spectators enjoyed it".[3] He was also known for his shooting skills.[4]

After retiring from football, Itani was a long-distance swimmer who was considered to be the only swimmer in Lebanon to participate in every national race, competing symbolically during his old age.[1] In the 2008 annual Christmas race held by the Al Jazeera Sporting Club, at the age of 80, he was the eldest of the 112 participants.[1]

Itani was nicknamed Tabello (Arabic: طابللو‎) and was known for his humility and eagerness to help.[3] He was also famous for his pranks, which he especially perpetrated on trips abroad with his football teams.[5] During the 1961 Pan Arab Games, held in Morocco, the national team manager Joseph Nalbandian promised each player he would receive US$3 for every day spent in the tournament.[4] Following the tournament, because the players had not received their tournament bonus, Itani and his teammates came up with a plan.[4][13] Itani stripped naked in front of a balcony on the third floor of the University of Casablanca, where the national team was residing during the tournament.[4] Passers-by who overlooked the balcony would complain about Itani's nakedness to the hotel manager.[13] The manager spoke to Nalbandian, who asked Itani to "wear his clothes", giving him the money.[4][13]

Itani traveled with the Lebanese national team to Tunis, Tunisia, to play a friendly game on 9 June 1963 against the Tunisian national team.[12] The Lebanese team was well-received by the local Tunisians; among whom was a mizmar player wearing a skirt.[14] The Lebanese players were annoyed by the mizmar player and asked Itani to ask him to leave.[14] Itani started dancing next to him and put his hand below the musician's skirt.[14] The mizmar player continued to play while jumping up and down; the players were overwhelmed with laughter.[14]

In 1959, as part of his transfer to Racing Beirut, Itani was hired by the Regie Company.[4] In 1970, Itani established a fish shop in the Commodore area of Hamra, Beirut; in the 1990s he moved to the city's Karakas neighborhood and opened a fish shop called "Al Kalaa Fishery" (Arabic: مسمكة القلعة‎, lit. 'The Castle Fishery').[2] Itani's favourite players were Mahmoud Berjawi and Mardek Chabarian in Lebanon, and Pelé globally.[4] His favourite coach was Ion Bogdan during his time at Racing Beirut.[4]

Itani, who had eight children,[4] died on 5 August 2015 aged 85.[5]