Almoez Ali Zainalabedeen Mohamed Abdulla (; born 19 August 1996) is a 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, rugby lea ...

who plays as a striker for

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

club Al-Duhail, whom he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Born in Sudan, he plays for the Qatar national team. Ali is currently the nation's all-time top goalscorer. He was a member of the Qatar squads which won back-to-back

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

titles in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

; at the 2019 Asian Cup, he scored a single-edition record nine goals, and was named the tournament's best player. He is also the only footballer to score in three different intercontinental championships — those being the AFC Asian Cup, the

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

and the

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

Club career

Early career

Ali was born in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and moved to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

as a child. He started playing for Al-Mesaimeer when he was 7 years old, then moved to

Aspire Academy Aspire Academy () is a sports academy based in the Aspire Zone in Qatar, founded in 2004 with the goal to scout and help develop Qatari athletes, whilst also providing them with secondary school education. History Aspire Academy was establis ...

and played youth football at

Lekhwiya SC Al-Duhail Sports Club (), formerly Lekhwiya SC, is a Qatari sports club, best known for its football team, which plays in the Qatar Stars League. The club is based in the Duhail district in the city of Doha and plays its home games at Abd ...

. He was also a part of the youth setup for Belgian club

Eupen Eupen (, , ; ; ; former ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian Liège Province, province of Liège, from the Germany, German border (Aachen ...

in 2015.

LASK

In July 2015, Ali joined the senior team of

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 ...

n club

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

. His first and only

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

league goal for the club's first team came on 27 November 2015 against

Floridsdorfer AC The Floridsdorfer Athletics Sports Club or simply Floridsdorfer AC or FAC is a professional football club based in Floridsdorf, the 21st district of Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria ...

, becoming the second Qatari to score a league goal in Austria’s top league, after Adel Jadoua Ali.

Cultural Leonesa

In January 2016, Ali left the club and joined Cultural Leonesa in Spain's third tier, the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. On 3 April 2016, he scored his first goal for Cultural Leonesa in a 1–0 victory over Arandina, becoming the first Qatari footballer ever to score in a Spanish league.

Al-Duhail

Ali rejoined his former youth club Lekhwiya SC for the 2016–17 season. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 September 2016 in a 5–4 win against Muaither. He went on to make 25 appearances and scoring 8 goals, as well as providing 8 assists and being awarded as the best U23 player of the season as his club won the

. In the following season, Ali was part of the newly rebranded Al-Duhail, as his former club was merged with El Jaish, and was part of the unbeaten 2017–18 Qatar Stars League title campaign.

International career

Ali unofficially made his inaugural appearance for the senior national team in a friendly against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

in December 2013. The match was not recognized by

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 ...

. In 2014, Ali was a part of the Qatar U19 team that won the

2014 AFC U-19 Championship The 2014 AFC U-20 Asian Cup, AFC U-19 Championship was the 38th edition of the biennial international youth association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for players aged 19 and below. Myanmar were a ...

. In 2015, he was part of the Qatar U20 squad for the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

. He played in the three group stage matches, but Qatar did not advance to the knockout stage. On 8 August 2016, Ali made his official senior debut for the national team as a substitute in 2–1 win against

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Furthermore, he was the top scorer in the

2018 AFC U-23 Championship The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2018 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the third edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) f ...

with six goals and played an instrumental role in Qatar's third-place ranking.

2019 AFC Asian Cup

Ali was selected for Qatar's squad in the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

. He found the net in his team's first group stage game against

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 ...

. In the next game 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 Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, he scored a four goals in a span of 51 minutes, the second fastest time to four goals after Iranian

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian Association football, football manager and former professional footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he was the captain (association football), captain of the Iran national footbal ...

, who scored four goals in 23 minutes against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in the

1996 AFC Asian Cup The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in the United Arab Emirates between 4 and 21 Decembe ...

. The following match, against

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 ...

, he increased his tally in the competition to seven goals after scoring both goals in the 2–0 win. In doing so, he became the joint-top scorer in the AFC Asian Cup Group Stage, sharing the record with

of Iran,

Choi Soon-ho Choi Soon-ho (; born 10 January 1962) is a South Korean football manager and former player. International career Choi was named in South Korean squad for the 1980 AFC Asian Cup. He scored seven goals including two goals against Kuwait, an ...

of South Korea and

Naohiro Takahara is a Japanese Association football, football manager and former Football player, footballer. He also played for Japan national football team, Japan's national football team. Currently, he is working as president for Okinawa SV. Club career Tak ...

of Japan. He also broke Mansour Muftah's all-time record of five goals scored for the Qatar national team in the AFC Asian Cup. In the

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

against

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, Ali scored his eighth goal of the competition in a 4–0 win, equalling Ali Daei's mark established in 1996 as the most goals scored in a single

edition. He broke that record in the following game after scoring the opening goal with a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Final match against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Eligibility dispute

On 30 January 2019, soon after the 4–0 defeat at the

semifinal, the UAE FA lodged a formal appeal to the AFC over the eligibility of Sudanese-born Almoez Ali and

i-born Bassam Al-Rawi, claiming that they did not qualify to play for Qatar on residency grounds based on Article 7 of the FIFA statute which states that a player's eligibility to play for a representative team if he has "lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association". It was alleged that Almoez had not lived continuously in Qatar for at least five years over the age of 18, although the player claimed that his mother was born in Qatar. On 1 February 2019, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee dismissed the protest lodged by the United Arab Emirates Football Association without further comments or explanation. In August 2020, the case was finally settled at CAS (Court of Arbirtration for Sport, based in Lausanne, Switzerland) with the UAE losing its appeal against the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) decision.

2019–2022: Invitation tournaments and 2022 FIFA World Cup

On 16 June 2019, Ali scored in Qatar's 2–2 draw with

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

in the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 Ju ...

. Ali was included in Qatar's squad for the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's association football, soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean regions organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was ...

. He scored four goals in the competition to clinch the top scorer award. In November 2022, he was included in Qatar's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He started in all three group matches as Qatar made its first appearance at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

tournament.

2023 AFC Asian Cup

On 3 January 2024, Ali was named in Qatar's squad for the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

. In the team's opening match of the tournament, he scored Qatar's second goal in a 3–0 win over

in Lusail. In the semi-final match against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, he scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory, which qualified his country to their second final in a row. On 10 February 2024, Ali won the

which was his second in a row for him. On 16 November 2023, Ali scored his second poker goal (4 goals) for Qatar during the

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...

match against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

in a thrashing 8–1 victory.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Al-Duhail *

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2019–20, 2022–23 *

Emir of Qatar Cup Emir of Qatar Cup (), also known as the Emir Cup, but changed to Amir Cup starting in 2019, is an association football tournament played every season by all first and second division teams in Qatar. The tournament is played in a knockout system, ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Qatar Cup The Qatar Cup (formerly known as Qatar Crown Prince Cup) is a tournament in men's 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), go ...

Qatari Stars Cup The Qatari Stars Cup is a Qatari football competition known as Ooredoo Cup due to sponsorship reasons. The knockout competition, which involves a round-robin structure, was first started in 2009 when the Qatar Stars League structure was amen ...

: 2022–23 *

Sheikh Jassim Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup () is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held in 1977. Prior to the 2014 She ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Qatar U19 *

AFC U-19 Championship The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Qatar *

WAFF Championship The West Asian Football Federation Championship (), or simply WAFF Championship, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the ...

Individual *

AFC U-23 Championship The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 n ...

top goalscorer:

Best Player:

* AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament:

* IFFHS AFC Men's Team of the Decade 2011–2020 *

Golden Boot:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Best XI:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Almoez 1996 births Living people Sudanese emigrants to Qatar Naturalized citizens of Qatar Footballers from Khartoum Qatari men's footballers Men's association football forwards Mesaimeer SC players K.A.S. Eupen players FC Juniors OÖ players LASK players Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Al-Duhail SC players 2. Liga (Austria) players Austrian Regionalliga players Austrian 2. Landesliga players Segunda División B players Qatar Stars League players Qatar men's youth international footballers Qatar men's under-20 international footballers Qatar men's international footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players 2019 Copa América players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players AFC Asian Cup–winning players Qatari expatriate men's footballers Qatari expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Qatari expatriate sportspeople in Austria Qatari expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Naturalised association football players FIFA Men's Century Club 21st-century Qatari sportsmen