Mosab Balhous (; born 5 October 1983) is a

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

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 is currently playing for Al-Karamah in Syria. Balhous is

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 ...

's most-capped player ever with 86 caps.

Club career

Balhous's career began in the youth system of Al-Karamah before starting his professional career with the senior team. He won with Al-Karamah four

Syrian Premier League The Syrian Premier League () is a professional association football league in Syria and the top division of the Syrian football league system. The league comprises 12 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Syrian Le ...

titles, four

Syrian Cup The Syrian Cup () is Syria's premier knockout Cup tournament in men's association football, football. It was first contested in 1959. Al-Ittihad SC Aleppo, Al-Ittihad SC have won the competition on 10 occasions. The final was first played in the 1 ...

s, one

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

and helped the club reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

for the first time. Al-Karamah were defeated 3–2 on aggregate in the final by

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Jeonbuk have won the K League a record nine times, including ...

of the

K-League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League titles, the top conti ...

. Three years later, he was an important factor in his side's first-ever accession to

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

Final. Al-Karamah were defeated 2–1 in the

of the second most important association cup in Asia by

Kuwait SC Kuwait Sports Club () is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Kuwait City. Their football team has won Kuwait Premier League 19 times and has won over 50 trophies overall. The club plays in the Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium located i ...

of the

Kuwaiti Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as Zain Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Kuwait SC holds the best record in the competition, having won 20 times. History Th ...

. On 3 October 2011, Balhous joined Al-Wahda on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. On 26 August 2013, he signed a one-year contract with

Oman Professional League The Oman Professional League (; known as the ''Omantel Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the Omantel Elite League, is the top division of the Oman Football Association, and was officially created in 1976. Curren ...

club

Dhofar The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border with Saudi Arabia's Easter ...

. On 7 July 2014, he signed a one-year contract extension with Dhofar. Later on, he held the position of Goalkeeping Coach for Dhofar, and Syria national team during 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 February 2019, Balhous came out of retirement to sign for Al-Karamah until the end of the season.

International career

Balhous has been a regular for the Syria national football team since 2006. He made 10 appearances for Syria during the qualifying rounds of 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. ...

. He was selected as Syria's number one goalkeeper for the

AFC Asian Cup 2011 The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th 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 Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

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 ...

. He played full 90 minutes in all Syria's three group games 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 ...

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 ...

and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Personal life

Mosab is the brother of Al-Karamah's

Anas Balhous Anas Balhous (; born 1 January 1999) is a Syrian professional football (soccer), footballer who plays for Jableh SC, on loan from Al-Wahda SC (Syria), Al-Wahda in Syria. He is the younger brother of Mosab Balhous. References

Men's as ...

Honours

Al-Karamah *

: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 *

: 2007, 2008,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Syrian Super Cup The Syrian Super Cup () 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. First played in 1982, the competition has afterwards been played sporadic ...

: 2008 *

runner-up:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

runner-up:

Dhofar *

Oman Professional League Cup The Oman Professional League Cup () (known as the ''Mazda Professional Cup'' for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the Oman Federation Cup, is an Omani football competition. The first edition was played in 2007 and was known as the Oman FA ...

runner-up: 2014–15 *Baniyas SC International Tournament: 2014 Syria *

West Asian Football Federation 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 ...

: 2012

References

External links

* *
Mosab Balhous
at Goal.com (archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balhous, Mosab 1983 births Living people Footballers from Homs Syrian men's footballers 21st-century Syrian sportsmen Syria men's international footballers Syrian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers 2011 AFC Asian Cup players Al-Karamah SC players Al-Wahda SC (Syria) players Al-Shorta SC (Syria) players Dhofar Club players Oman Professional League players Expatriate men's footballers in Oman Syrian expatriate sportspeople in Oman Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for Syria Syrian Premier League players