Abdullah Al-Garni (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: عبد الله القرني; born 18 February 1987) is a Saudi Arabian

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, rugby lea ...

. He currently plays as a defender for

Al-Nassr Al-Nassr Football Club () is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The club competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of the Saudi football league system. Al-Nassr is one of only three clubs to have participated ...

in the

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

Early club career

Al-Garni joined his birthplace football club Al-Zaytoon FC in Sabt Alalaya town. He first played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. At this time his team was competing the

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

n 3rd division league. After a while he decided to leave his hometown to complete his education in Aramco Institute. He was playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

non-professionally with colleagues in Aramco football team.

Abha 2008/2009

After

Abha Abha (, ') is the capital of Asir, Asir Province in Saudi Arabia. It is situated above sea level in the fertile Asir Mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia, near Asir National Park. Abha's mild climate makes it a popular tourist destination fo ...

's promotion to the

, Al-Garni went back to get closer to his hometown and signed a one-year contract with Abha. That is when he first played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

under a supervision of the technical manager Mahdi Al-Ragdi. He made his debut with Abha against

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad may refer to: Sports Football Men Teams * Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia * Al Ittihad SCSC (Tripoli), Tripoli, Libya * Al Ittihad Gheryan, Gharyan, Libya * Al Ittihad Misurata SC, Misurata, Libya * Al Ittihad SC ...

in the sixth round of the Saudi Professional League 2008–09. Since then, Al-Garni continued in Abha's line-up squad until ending the season with relegation to the

Saudi First Division League The Saudi First Division League (), currently known as the Yelo League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of professional football in Saudi Arabia. It ranks below the Saudi Pro League and above the Saudi Second Division League in the ...

Al-Nassr 2009/2010

As the previous technical manager,

Edgardo Bauza Edgardo Bauza (born 26 January 1958) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defender. Before taking up management, he played over 300 games for Rosario Central. He also played for Independiente in Argentina, Atlét ...

, was looking for young defenders. He scouted Al-Garni and requested the youngster's service from Abha.

management signed, after a dramatic transfer, a five-year contract with Al-Garni, together with his Abha teammate

Khaled Al-Zylaeei Khaled Mohammed Isa Al-Zylaeei (; 16 May 1987 – 30 September 2022) was a Saudi Arabian association footballer who played as a winger. He joined Al-Nassr coming from Abha in the summer of 2009 to 2016 and achieved three titles with Al-Nassr. I ...

, starting from 15 July 2009 Al-Garni participated in a preparatory training camp in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain, with the new

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

an manager, Jorge da Silva. However, Al-Garni was deemed not yet mature enough to assume the reserve position for his team. He played a couple of matches with Al-Nassr U-23 team, which is considered to be team B in some countries, where he scored the first goal with Al-Nassr against Al Shabab. In the ninth round of the Saudi Professional League, Al-Nassr played the worst 45 minutes against Al-Ahli from

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

when they received three goals ending the first half 3-0 for Al-Ahli. Al-Garni joined as a substitute at the beginning of the second half and Al-Nassr succeed to get to end up the tough match with a big draw 3-3. Since then, he kept his position in the team until the end of the season.

International career

Al-Garni called up for the Saudi Arabia national team for the first time at the end of the season 2009–10 He suffered a knee injury during the training camp which was in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

.The Green Falcons continue preparations for Nigeria (Arabic)
He could not make his debut for the national team yet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garni, Abdullah Living people Saudi Arabian men's footballers 21st-century Saudi Arabian sportsmen 1987 births Al-Zaytoon Club players Abha Club players Al-Nassr FC players Al Qadsiah FC players Al Fateh SC players Al-Khaleej FC players Saudi Fourth Division players Saudi First Division League players Saudi Pro League players Men's association football defenders