Abbas Saad (; born 1 December 1967) is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

manager and former player. Born in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, Saad played for the Australia national team.

Club career

Saad began his playing career in 1985 at Sydney City, before moving to Sydney Olympic. In 1990, he was awarded the Joe Marston Medal for the being the Player of the Match in the NSL final in which Sydney Olympic beat the Marconi Stallions 2–0. He then played in the Malaysian League for

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in the early 1990s. He was a key member of teams which won the League and Malaysia Cup double with both Johor in 1991 and Singapore in 1994. In the 1994 Malaysia Cup final, Saad scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in Singapore's 4–0 victory over

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

. Initially offered a one year contract, Saad was offered two years on his contract after the Malaysia Cup win.

Conviction for match-fixing in Singapore

In 1995, Saad was charged with match-fixing in Singapore. He has always maintained he was innocent of this charge. During his trial, he admitted that he had been approached by his teammate Michal Váňa (a Czech player who was also charged with match-fixing but who jumped bail and left Singapore before he could be tried), who asked Saad to help him win certain matches by large margins during the 1994 season as Váňa was betting on the outcome of the games. However Saad stated that he had refused to help Váňa try to fix the scores of any games, and had merely told Váňa that he would try to help the Singapore team win the games by as many goals as possible as this was his job. Saad had not reported Váňa's requests or his knowledge that Váňa was betting on games to team officials or the authorities, but stated during his trial that he had told Váňa that he should stop betting on matches. In June 1995, the Singapore courts convicted Saad of match-fixing and fined him S$50,000. Saad received a lifetime ban from the

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of ...

(FAS) from football activities in Singapore.

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

then issued a worldwide ban for Saad for life which was lifted after one year. Saad appealed to the FAS to lift the ban immediately after the ban but was rejected. Saad continues to maintain that he was innocent of match-fixing, and that he merely knew that Váňa was betting on the outcomes of matches but was not involved himself. Speaking about the verdict in an interview in 2009, Saad said: "(Váňa) approached me once and said 'you score goals?' and I said 'of course I score goals, I'm a striker'. And so that conversation was taken out of context. There was no money received or nothing like that. I don't know how they built a case, I think it was a technical thing. I'm not a lawyer." In 2009, FAS lifted Saad's ban in Singapore.

Resumption of career

After his FIFA ban ended, Saad played for several teams in the National Soccer League in Australia – Sydney Olympic in 1996–97, Sydney United from 1997–99, and for Northern Spirit FC in the 1999–00 season. In 2003, Saad retired from playing.

International career

An attacking midfielder with a good eye for goal, Saad represented the Australian national team in a match against Russian club Torpedo Moscow and earned his first full cap against

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

two years later. After a six-year gap, he was recalled by then Socceroos coach Terry Venables for three games in 1998.Abbas: Finally My Hell Is Over
, ''Australian FourFourTwo'', 16 March 2009 In all, he played six times for Australia, earning four full caps.

Managerial career

Saad was coach at New South Wales Premier League side Penrith Nepean United, and in 2009 was named as Technical Youth Director by Sydney Olympic FC. He has also been the head coach for the Australian Deaf Football team. Saad has also served as the head coach of the GIS Academy at the Garden International School in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. In 2018, Saad returned to Sydney Olympic and led the team to win the New South Wales Premier League and Finals series championships double. He was named Coach of the Year. In 2021, Saad started on his Asian Football Confederation Pro Licence course and returned to Singapore with an attachment to Singapore Premier League (SPL) Geylang International FC as an assistant coach. During the stint with Geylang, Geylang won two out three matches and improved its position from sixth to fifth in the SPL. Geylang offered Saad to lead its youth development programme until the end of the SPL season with an option to extend for the next season. Saad accepted the offer but his application for a S Pass to work in Singapore was rejected by the Ministry of Manpower, citing his "adverse record". An appeal was made and was rejected similarly.

Broadcasting career

In August 2009, Saad appeared as a football expert in the studios of ESPN STAR Sports and for the SingTel coverage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

in Singapore, where his popularity once saw him dubbed as "The Singapore Beckham". He is also a regular studio guest for the English Premier League coverage and the FourFourTwo TV Show with the SuperSport channel on Malaysian network, Astro.I was convicted of match-fixing: Abbas Saad
, ''New Straits Times'', 7 March 2011

Personal life

Saad was born in Lebanon as the fourth child out of seven children to his parents. When the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

broke out in 1975, Saad's eldest brother, Hussein died in an explosion. Saad's family then left for

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia where his eldest sister Namat had moved to after she was married. Abbas married Rania, an Australian of Arab descent, in 2000. They have two sons and a daughter. He named his sons after boxer

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

and his football teammate, Malek Awab

References

External links

Abbas Saad
at Aussie Footballers
Abbas Saad
expat profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Saad, Abbas Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Lebanese emigrants to Australia Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar APIA Leichhardt FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney United 58 FC players North West Sydney Spirit FC players Sydney Olympic FC managers St George FC players Singapore FA players Hakoah Sydney City East FC players 1967 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Qatar Stars League players People from Baalbek Sportsmen from New South Wales Australian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Soccer players from Sydney Central Coast Mariners FC non-playing staff Central Coast Mariners FC managers Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC managers 20th-century Australian sportsmen