Ali Abdullah Harib Al-Habsi ( ar, علي بن عبد الله بن حارب الحبسي; born 30 December 1981) is an Omani retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

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 Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

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. 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 In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

victory over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

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 Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

against whom he produced several good saves against the star-studded German team. He made his first Premier League start against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. 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 Jussi Albert Jääskeläinen (; born 19 April 1975) is a Finnish football coach and retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During his career, Jääskeläinen most notably represented Bolton Wanderers from 1997 until 2012, making 530 app ...

returned from injury.

Wigan Athletic (loan)

Ali Al Habsi portrait, Wigan Athletic v Birmingham, 19 March 2011

In July 2010, Al-Habsi joined local rivals

on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 24 August 2010 in a

match against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

and made his League debut four days later against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He was named Wigan's player of the season for the 2010–11 season.

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 Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

. Al-Habsi established himself as an outstanding penalty saver, saving approximately 50% of all the penalties he faced since joining

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Van Persie was known for his excellent technique and ball c ...

, Carlos Tevez, Javier Hernández and Mikel Arteta are among the penalty takers Al-Habsi has stopped. This earned him links to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

. 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 Joel Robles Blázquez (; born 17 June 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Leeds United. Robles started his professional career at Atlético Madrid, initially in the C team in 2008, befor ...

on loan. Al-Habsi started Wigan's FA Cup semi-final win over

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

but was on the bench for the final itself. Shortly after the final Wigan were relegated back to the championship.

Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)

On 31 October 2014, Al-Habsi signed for fellow

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side Brighton & Hove Albion on a one-month loan. After playing only one game for the club, Al-Habsi returned to his parent club

Reading

Following his release from

, Al-Habsi went on trial with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

in July 2015. This ended in Al-Habsi signing a two-year contract with the club on 14 July 2015. On 5 January 2017, Al-Habsi extended his contract with Reading until the end of the 2018–19 season. 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 The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

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.

West Bromwich Albion

On 29 August 2019, Al-Habsi moved to

side

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

on a free transfer, signing a deal until the end of the season with the West Midlands club. 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.

Retirement

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

International career

Al-Habsi began playing in his native country Oman at the age of seventeen, and joined the ranks of the

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

under-19s squad, before he was spotted by

John Burridge John Burridge (born 3 December 1951), nicknamed Budgie, is an English former goalkeeper who is now working with Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters as their goalkeeping consultant and senior goalkeeping coach for their goalkeeping academ ...

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 The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. The defending champio ...

in China and also made four appearances for the team in their qualifying campaign for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, which they exited in the first group stage after finishing second in a group with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. He was also Oman's first-choice goalkeeper at the

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

, appearing in all of their three group matches. Al-Habsi also has appeared as main keeper in four consecutive

Arabian Gulf Cup The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member na ...

s. 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 201 ...

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

Personal life

Al-Habsi is a practising

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and says that his faith plays a big part in his life. He is also married and has three daughters. After finishing

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, he was a fireman in the

Seeb International Airport Muscat International Airport , formerly Seeb International Airport, is the main international airport in Oman and is located in Seeb, 32 km from the old city and capital Muscat within the Muscat metropolitan area. The airport serves as the ...

in Muscat. In an interview with Al-Jazeera Sports, Al-Habsi accredited his previous profession with teaching him patience, hard work and patriotism. 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. Al-Habsi is the co-founder of Safety First, a non-profit road safety organisation in

that seeks to decrease car accident fatalities in the country.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

International

Honours

Club

Lyn Oslo *

Norwegian Football Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest footba ...

: Runners-up

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

Wigan Athletic *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

: 2012–13 Al Hilal * Saudi Professional League: 2017–18 *

Saudi Super Cup The Saudi Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر السعودي) is an annual super cup football match organised by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. Founded in 2013 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2022 ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Oman *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

; Runner-up:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

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 The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013. Overview The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consult ...

: 2015 * Reading FC Player of the Year: 2015–16, 2016–17

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Habsi, Ali Al- 1981 births Living people People from Muscat, Oman Omani footballers Omani expatriate footballers Oman international footballers Omani expatriate sportspeople in England Omani expatriate sportspeople in Norway Omani Muslims Association football goalkeepers Al-Nasr SC (Salalah) players Lyn Fotball players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Reading F.C. players Eliteserien players Premier League players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Norway 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Kniksen Award winners FIFA Century Club Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Al Hilal SFC players Saudi Professional League players English Football League players Asian Games competitors for Oman Omani expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia

Club career

Early career

Bolton Wanderers

Wigan Athletic (loan)

Wigan Athletic

Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)

Reading

Al-Hilal

West Bromwich Albion

Retirement

International career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Individual

See also

References

External links