Fajr Ibrahim ( ar, فجر إبراهيم) is a Syrian football coach and former

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 ...

Club career

Fajr started playing in the

Syrian League The Syrian Premier League ( ar, الدوري السوري الممتاز) is a professional association football league in Syria and the top division in of the Syrian football league system. The league comprises 12 teams and operates on a system ...

with Al-Wahda team in 1979. He remained with the club until he retired from the playing. He won the

Syrian Cup The Syrian Cup ( ar, سوريا) is Syria's premier knockout Cup tournament in men's football. It was first contested in 1959. Al-Ittihad SC has won the competition on 10 occasions. The final was first played in the 1960-61 season during the U ...

in 1993 with Al-Wahda team and won the title of best left back in 1986 season.

International career

Fajr played several international matches with Syria for five years from 1982 until 1987.

Coaching career

He managed the Syrian first team more than 50 matches between 2006 and 2019. He did an emergency mission and replaced the German manager Bernd Stange in the last match for the team in

2019 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 ...

against Australia. Many pundits referred that he had the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

visa since the middle of December, so he could be ready to replace the manager if the things went wrong. Widely unpopular with the fans and criticized by the media, Ibrahim is often considered one of the reasons for the Syria national team's poor results after their 2019 Asian Cup exit, citing his lack of achievements, and lack of vision, as some of his weakest traits, although Syria at that time had already in problem before Fajr took charge. However, he has repeatedly and openly refused to resign and has been kept as manager by the

Syrian Federation The Syrian Federation ( ar, الاتحاد السوري; french: Fédération syrienne), officially the Federation of the Autonomous States of Syria (french: Fédération des États autonomes de Syrie), was constituted on 28 June 1922 by High Comm ...

, despite losing to many lesser-ranked and weaker teams, much to the bewilderment of both fans and journalists. However, the sentiment changed surprisingly during the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round The AFC second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, which also served as the second round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification, was played from 5 September 2019 to 15 June 2021. Format A total of forty teams were drawn into eight groups ...

. Syria, under the same command of Fajr Ibrahim, surprised the whole qualifiers by topping the group with five straight victories, including two important victories against rising

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and a resounding 2–1 win in the UAE against China. However, he was later replaced by Tunisian coach

Nabil Maâloul Nabil Maâloul ( ar, نَبِيْل مَعْلُول; born 25 December 1962) is a Tunisian professional football manager and former player who is currently managing Espérance de Tunis. Maâloul was capped 74 times for his country, and participa ...

. In September 2020, Ibrahim joined newly-promoted club Al-Horgelah.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Club

** Winner 1993 with Al-Wahda *

Syrian Super Cup The Syrian Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر السوري) is a Syrian association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Syrian Premier League and the winners of the Syrian Cup The Syrian Cup ( ar, سوريا) i ...

** Winner 1993 with Al-Wahda

Manager

Club

Syrian Premier League The Syrian Premier League ( ar, الدوري السوري الممتاز) is a professional association football league in Syria and the top division in of the Syrian football league system. The league comprises 12 teams and operates on a system ...

: ** Winner 2011–12 with

Al-Shorta Al-Shorta Sports Club ( ar, نادي الشرطة الرياضي, lit=''Police Sports Club'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 17 different sports, more than any other Iraqi club, and the best known sectio ...

International

* Syria **

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international association football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation ( AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 t ...

(2):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

and

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; 2009 Iran ...

as a runner-up

Individual

* 1985–86 Syrian League: Best Left Back of the season

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibrahim, Fajr Living people Syrian football managers Syrian footballers Syria national football team managers Sportspeople from Damascus 1964 births Al-Wahda SC (Syria) players Expatriate football managers in Iraq Al-Mina'a SC managers Kelantan FA managers Association football defenders 2019 AFC Asian Cup managers Syrian Premier League players Syrian expatriate football managers