Anas Sharbini (; born 21 February 1987) is a Croatian 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 ...

, currently playing for NK Rječina Dražice. He played as an

attacking 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. ...

or winger, and was best known for his dribbling and crossing skills.

Club career

Rijeka

Born in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

, Sharbini rose through the ranks of his home-town club

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

, starting his professional career with the club in 2005. Despite his young age, he was chosen to captain the side in the 2007–08 season. At Rijeka, he gained a reputation as one of the league's best dribblers and was famous for often scoring late equalizers. He was also selected by IMScouting as a "Player to Watch". Sharbini was Rijeka's top scorer with 14 goals in 2008–09 and second top scorer with 11 goals in 2007–08. Overall, prior to his transfer, he scored 28 goals in 72 league appearances for Rijeka.

Hajduk Split

On 13 August 2009 he signed for

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

in a deal which included bringing his brother

Ahmad Sharbini Ahmad Sharbini (; born 21 February 1984) is a Croatian football former professional player who is playing as a striker, and working as a sporting director for OŠK Omišalj. Club career Ahmad Sharbini began his professional career with HNK Ri ...

to the Dalmatian club. The talented youngster had some troubles adjusting to his new environment and due to the club's struggles in finding and then keeping a coach for a longer term, he often found himself on and off the starting XI. He struggled to score as freely as he did at Rijeka but in between his consistent runs, he also put in some top notch performances carrying his struggling club on their way to consecutive second-place finishes in the

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

in 2009–10 and 2010–11. Sharbini reignited himself as a player in the 2011–12 season under coach

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov (, ; born 29 March 1966) is a former Bulgarian footballer and manager. A former attacking midfielder, he was a key member of the Bulgaria national team that finished fourth in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He is considered ...

, who employed him as a left winger. After receiving heavy criticism for underperforming for some time, he scored a brace against

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 (), commonly referred to as Istra 1961, is a Croatian professional football club based in Pula, that competes in the Croatian First League. It is a common opinion amongst many people that ''Istra 1961'' was founded i ...

in a 3–0 win for Hajduk.

Ittihad

In July 2012, Sharbini was transferred to Ittihad for a sum of €1.8 million and signed a two-year contract.

Return to Rijeka

On 23 May 2013, Sharbini returned to Rijeka. He signed a two-year contract with an option for an additional year. On 29 July 2015, Sharbini signed a new three-year contract with Rijeka, extending his stay at the club until June 2018. In November 2015, after finding out he would be on the substitute's bench, Rijeka's captain Sharbini refused to travel with his teammates to Rijeka's league match against

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

. He was fined €10,000 for the incident and stripped of the club's captaincy. On 2 February 2016, Sharbini was loaned to

Osmanlıspor Sincan Belediyesi Ankaraspor Kulübü, commonly known as Ankaraspor (), is a Turkish professional football club based in the country's capital Ankara. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the TFF Second League. The club was known as Osmanlıspor ...

, who play in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

, until June 2016. He did not make any appearances during his time with Osmanlıspor due to injury. After his loan to Osmanlıspor ended, Sharbini had two years of his Rijeka contract remaining. In an unusual situation, Sharbini was not wanted back at Rijeka by both the club and coach Kek, but refused to sign for another club. According to some sources Sharbini was Rijeka's second highest paid player in 2017, despite not having played a single game.

Grobničan

On 3 July 2018 Sharbini signed for fourth tier club Grobničan. Even though he played a friendly match against

Opatija Opatija (; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in northwestern Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic bu ...

during pre-season he did not play in any official matches for the club even though he was signed as a played and did not have any injuries.

OSK Omišalj

At the start of 2021, Sharbini returned to football, rejoining his brother

Ahmad Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root ( ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from ...

at OSK Omišalj.

International career

Sharbini won 29 caps and scored 10 goals in various youth levels of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and made his biggest impact with the Croatian U19 team. Due to his fine form in the 2007–08 season, national manager

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown club Hajduk Split, later having successful spells with Karls ...

called him up to represent Croatia in their

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

campaign as a reserve in case of injuries, and most recently, for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifier against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in September 2009. Finally, he made his first appearance in the match against

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 ...

on 8 October 2009, which Croatia won 3–2. He scored his first international goal in his second cap five years later, opening a 1–2 defeat in a friendly match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in London on 12 November 2014.

Achievements

Brothers Anas and Ahmad Sharbini are the only siblings to have each 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 the same match in top-tier European football leagues. In the first round fixture of the

2009–10 Croatian First Football League The 2009–10 Croatian First Football League (officially known as the T-Com Prva HNL for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croat ...

season against

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First Football League, the country's top division. Founded in 19 ...

, the brothers took turns. Ahmad opened the scoring after four minutes, Anas doubled the lead in the 27th minute and Ahmad made it 3–0 in the 35th minute. In the second half Anas converted a penalty in 51st minute, Ahmad completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute and two minutes later Anas scored his third goal. Anas Sharbini holds the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...

record in the number of assists since 2007–08, the first season for which assist data was collected. In 184 appearances for Rijeka and Hajduk Split, Sharbini set up 67 goals. With 39 goals to his account, Sharbini is Rijeka's third top scorer in the Croatian First League.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Personal life

Sharbini's older brother,

, was also a professional footballer who played with Rijeka. Sharbini is of Albanian, Palestinian and Croatian descent. He was born in Rijeka, to a local Albanian Croatian mother and

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

father, Jamal Al-Sharbini, from

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Honours

Croatian Football Cup The Croatian Football Cup (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the HNL championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS ...

(2): 2005–06, 2013–14 *

Croatian Football Super Cup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...

(1):

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 ...

(1): 2009–10 Individual * Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award (1): 2011–12 *Most assists in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* * *
Anas Sharbini
at the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation (, HNS) is the national governing body of football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIFA and UEFA, and is responsible f ...

Semafor site *
Anas Sharbini
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharbini, Anas 1987 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Croatian people of Palestinian descent Croatian people of Albanian descent Croatian Muslims Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers 21st-century Croatian sportsmen Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers HNK Rijeka players HNK Hajduk Split players Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) players Croatian Football League players Saudi Pro League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey