Adnan Mahmoud Haidar ( ar, عدنان محمود حيدر, ; born 3 August 1989) is a professional football player and coach. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he is a player-assistant coach for Norwegian club . Born and raised in Norway, Haidar represented them at youth level internationally before switching allegiance for

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

at senior level. He represented Lebanon at the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

Early life

Haidar was born in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konner ...

, Norway and grew up in the capital

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, where he lived in the neighborhood.

Club career

Vålerenga

2008 season

Haidar played for 's youth sector until he joined

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for its ...

's youth department in 2001. He signed a professional contract with the club in 2008, making his debut against

Lyn Ubisoft Montpellier is a French video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Castelnau-le-Lez. Founded in 1994 as Ubi Pictures, it is best known for developing the ''Rayman'' and ''Beyond Good & Evil'' series. At 350 employees as of S ...

on 15 September as a substitute. In total, Haidar made three appearances for Vålerenga in all competitions in the 2008 season, also winning the

Norwegian 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 footbal ...

in his first season as a professional.

2009: Loan to Skeid

In 2009, he was loaned out to

Skeid Skeid is a Norwegian alliance sports club from Nordre Åsen, Oslo. It has sections for association football (one for elite and one for grassroots football), Nordic skiing and bandy. General history The club was founded as ''IK Skeid'' on 5 De ...

for the entire season, where he made 11 appearances in the First Division.

2010 season

He returned to Vålerenga for the 2010 season and scored his first and second ever senior goals for Vålerenga in his first game since returning from loan against

Oppsal Oppsal is a suburb in the borough of Østensjø in Oslo, Norway. The modern history of Oppsal starts with villas and summer homes built during the Interwar period. The Oslo Tramway was extended to Oppsal in 1926. Oppsal was developed as a plann ...

in the

of 2010. He then played his first

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...

game of the season against

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms * ...

in an 8–1 win. He finished the season with six appearances and scoring two goals in all competitions.

2011 season

In the 2011 season, he played ten games in the Tippeligaen, one game in the Norwegian Cup and one game in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

before getting injured late into the season. It was later confirmed that Haidar had been ruled out for the rest of the season. At the end of the season he was released by Vålerenga and became free agent, but before being released he was offered a new contract at Vålerenga but chose to reject the offer because he wanted more first team football. In total he made 21 appearances and scored two goals over three seasons for Vålerenga. He later went to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

on trial, but returned without a contract. He rejected a new trial proposal at Burnley two weeks later.

Stabæk

In January 2012, Haidar signed for Stabæk as a free agent, and was given the shirt number 10. He made his debut for Stabæk on the first day of the new season, on 25 March 2012 in a 0–0 draw against Aalesund. Haidar stayed with Stabæk after the team was relegated to the First Division, and was a part of the team that won promotion to the Tippeligaen after only one season at the second tier. After the promotion was secured, Haidar was released from his contract and free to find himself a new club.

Return to Norway

In summer 2021, Haidar joined

Holmlia Holmlia is a neighborhood in Oslo, Norway with around 12,000 residents. It is located in the south-western part of Søndre Nordstrand, the southernmost borough in Oslo. The neighborhood is served by Holmlia Station on the Østfold Line, whi ...

in the

4. divisjon The Norwegian Fourth Division, also called 4. divisjon, is the fifth highest division of the men's football league in Norway. Like the rest of the Norwegian football league system, the season runs from spring to autumn, running approximately fro ...

. On 22 February 2022, he joined as a player-assistant coach.

International career

Lebanon v North Korea, 19 November 2019 01

Norway

Haidar has represented Norway at youth international level: he played nine matches for the under-16s in 2005 and as seven matches for the under-19 in 2008.

Lebanon

In October 2012, Haidar was called up to represent

, and made his debut for Lebanon in the friendly match against

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

on 16 October. Haidar scored his first goal for Lebanon in the

2012 WAFF Championship The 2012 WAFF Championship was the 7th WAFF Championship, an international tournament for member nations of the West Asian Football Federation. It was hosted by Kuwait from 8 to 20 December 2012. The defending champions were Kuwait. However, the ...

match against

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 ...

on 8 December 2012 when his team won 1–0. In December 2018, Haidar was called up for the

squad; he played against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

in a 4–1 win, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute.

Style of play

An all-round

, Haidar is not only a physical presence on the pitch but also has good ball control.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Lebanon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Haidar goal.''

Honours

Vålerenga *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

runner-up:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Ansar *

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the league, ...

runner-up: 2018–19 *

Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is a Lebanese football annual cup competition. The first edition, held in 1937, was won by Nahda. The most successful club in the competition is Ansar with 15 titles, followed by Nejme ...

runner-up: 2018–19 *

Lebanese Elite Cup The Lebanese Elite Cup () is a Lebanese football annual cup competition contested by the top six teams of the previous Lebanese Premier League season. Founded in 1996 as the Super League Cup, the first edition was contested by the top five finish ...

runner-up:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Lebanese Super Cup The Lebanese Super Cup () is Lebanese football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Lebanese Premier League season and the holders of the Lebanese FA Cup. If the Lebanese Premier League champions also won the Lebanese ...

runner-up: 2017,

Individual *

Lebanese Premier League Team of the Season The Al-Manar Football Festival () was an event organised by the Al-Manar television station between the 1996–97 and 2018–19 seasons in order to award players, managers, referees and teams who were considered to have performed the best over ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the

Norwegian Football Federation The Norwegian Football Federation ( nb, Norges Fotballforbund, nn, Noregs Fotballforbund; NFF) is the governing body of football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the men's and women's national teams, as well as the league systems ...

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haidar, Adnan 1989 births Living people Norwegian people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Sportspeople from Drammen Lebanese footballers Lebanese men's futsal players Norwegian footballers Norwegian men's futsal players Association football midfielders Vålerenga Fotball players Skeid Fotball players Stabæk Fotball players Bryne FK players Hamarkameratene players Moss FK players KFUM-Kameratene Oslo players Al Ansar FC players Holmlia SK players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian Second Division players Norwegian Third Division players Norwegian Fourth Division players Lebanese Premier League players Norway youth international footballers Lebanon international footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Association football coaches