Mohammed Khalil Ibrahim Al-Owais (; born 10 October 1991) is a Saudi Arabian 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for the Saudi Arabia national team and

Al-Ula al-Ula (), officially AlUla, is an ancient Arabian oasis city and governorate located in Medina Province, Saudi Arabia, northwest of the city of Medina. Situated in the Hejaz, a region that features prominently in the history of Islam as well ...

. He is known for his quick reflexes and vigilance in goal.

Club career

On 26 July 2017, Al-Owais joined Al-Ahli on a free transfer. On 30 January 2022, Al-Owais joined Al-Hilal. On 28 May 2025, Al-Owais joined First Division League side

International career

2015-2016: FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers

Al-Owais was called up to the senior Saudi Arabia squad for a

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

qualifier against

Timor-Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

in September 2015. He made his debut 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 ...

2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

on 15 November 2016.

2018: FIFA World Cup 2018 performance

In May 2018, he was named in Saudi Arabia's preliminary

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

in Russia. He originally served as the second choice goalkeeper behind regular

Abdullah Al-Mayouf Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Mayouf (; born 23 January 1987) is a Saudi Arabian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Saudi Professional League club Al-Shabab. Club career Abdullah Al-Mayouf started his career at Al-Hilal. He made his ...

. However, Al-Mayouf performed horribly in the opener against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

as Saudi Arabia suffered a humiliating 5–0 defeat. This led to Al-Owais being promoted as the first-choice keeper instead. Al-Owais played in Saudi Arabia's 1–0 loss to

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 ...

, where he made some good saves even though that was not enough to save Saudi Arabia from elimination. This was Al-Owais' only game in Russia.

2019: AFC Asian Cup 2019 performance

Al-Owais was included in

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 ...

's squad for 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) ...

in the United Arab Emirates. However, he produced a rather mediocre performance, only keeping a clean sheet twice, against weaker

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 ...

and

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 ...

, as Saudi Arabia won both games. 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 ...

and

though, he conceding three goals, especially against the latter as his side lost an important game in the round of sixteen and thus Saudi Arabia crashed out.

2022: Impressive performance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup

On 22 November 2022, during a

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 ...

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 ...

, Al-Owais was named

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

for his goalkeeping performance, which contributed to a historic 2–1 upset victory for Saudi Arabia. Along with his teammates, Al-Owais was reportedly gifted a

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

as a result of the team’s significant victory. However, he then conceded twice to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, becoming the victim of

Robert Lewandowski Robert Lewandowski (; born 21 August 1988) is a Polish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of a ...

's first World Cup goal, as Saudi Arabia succumbed to the Poles and thus lost the advantage gained from the shock win against Argentina. Later, Al-Owais also gained prominence for his acrobatic saves against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, which contributed to the elimination of Mexico from the group stage for the first time since

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

. However, Saudi Arabia still suffered a 2–1 defeat to the Mexicans in the end and as for the result, despite heroic efforts by Al-Owais, his team failed to progress from the group stage once again as Saudi Arabia stood bottom.

Personal life

Al-Owais is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. On the 21st of March, He had a boy named Ahmed.

Career statistics

Club

''As of 31 May 2025.''

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 31 December 2024.''

Honours

Al-Shabab *

King Cup The King Cup (sometimes spelled King's Cup) (), officially known as The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Cup (), is the Saudi Arabian football knockout cup competition. The King's Cup is the second-oldest knockout competition in Saudi Arabian ...

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 ...

Saudi Super Cup The Saudi Super Cup () is the annual super cup tournament in Saudi Arabian football. Founded in 2013 as a two-team competition, the Super Cup has been contested by four teams since 2022: the winners and runners-up of the King's Cup and the Sa ...

Al-Hilal *

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 ...

: 2021–22, 2023–24 *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 *

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 ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual * Saudi Professional League Goalkeeper of the Season: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Owais, Mohammed Living people 1991 births Men's association football goalkeepers Saudi Arabian men's footballers 21st-century Saudi Arabian sportsmen Al Shabab FC (Riyadh) players Al-Ahli Saudi FC players Al Hilal SFC players Al-Ula FC players Saudi Pro League players Saudi First Division League players Footballers from Al-Hasa 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Saudi Arabia men's youth international footballers Saudi Arabia men's international footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players AFC Champions League Elite–winning players