Mubarak Mustafa Fazli (; born 30 March 1973) is a Qatari 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 lea ...

who formerly worked as a sports analyst for Al Kass and now works for

BeIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its ...

as a sports analyst. He is known for his numerous achievements with Qatari club Al-Arabi, as well as being the former captain of the Qatar national team. He is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Qatari football and was an integral component of one of Qatar's best-ever national sides in the early 1990s alongside Khalid Salman,

Mahmoud Soufi Mahmoud Yassen Soufi (20 October 1971 – 2 June 2019) was a naturalized Qatari footballer. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Biography Born in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, Soufi moved to Qatar as a young adu ...

and

Adel Khamis Adel Khamis (born November 11, 1965) is a retired Qatari footballer who played as a defender. He is the first Qatari footballer to play abroad. Career Khamis started his career in the youth teams of Al Gharafa in 1979. He eventually progressed to ...

. According to

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

, he was previously the top scorer for Qatar with 41 goals.

Personal life

Mustafa was born in Umm Ghuwailina, a suburb of

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

located near Al Arabi's club headquarters.

Club career

Al-Arabi

Mustafa was spotted by a talent scout while playing in a domestic school league at an early age. He accepted an offer to play in Al-Arabi's junior teams where he instantly stood out among his peers. Capitalizing on this shortly after, Al-Arabi placed Mubarak Mustafa in the successful senior squad, although it was initially difficult to get a starting position in the squad. He eventually earned a permanent place in the squad after showcasing his goal-scoring ability, securing Al-Arabi's place as Qatar's best club side at the time. He reached the peak of his career in 1994, when he led the dream team into the finals of the 1994

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 ...

, eventually losing to

Thai Farmers Bank Kasikornbank (, , Teochew dialect, Teochew: Khai-thài Ngîng-hâng, , stylised in all caps), often stylised as KBank and formerly known as the Thai Farmers Bank, is a banking group in Thailand. KBank was established on 8 June 1945 (2488 Buddhis ...

with a score of 1–0. In the process of Al-Arabi's Champions League campaign, they became the second Qatari team to make it to the finals of the AFC Champions League, the other club being Al Sadd. Mustafa is also the only player in history to win the Arab Golden Boot and Arab Player of the Year award in a single season. He was also the top scorer in the

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 ...

three times: the first being in the 1991–1992 season, the second in the 1992–1993 season, and the final time being in the 1996–1997 season. His exploits earning him recognition internationally; he represented the Asian XI in a match in 1999 against the Thailand national team. Asian XI lost 4–1, with Mustafa netting the team's only goal from a spot kick in the 75th minute.

Al-Khor

In a move which shocked many fans, Mustafa left Al-Arabi in 2003 to join

Al Khor Al Khor (; also spelled ''Al Khawr''), officially Al Khor and Al Thakhira, is a Municipalities of Qatar, municipality in northeastern Qatar. Al Khor (city), Al Khor City, the municipal seat, is located on the northeast coast of Qatar, around f ...

after a string of disappointing seasons for Al-Arabi, due to personal disputes with certain officials and players in the club. Mustafa led Al-Khor to their first major trophy in 46 years in just two seasons after Al-Khor beat Al Gharafa in 2005 to claim the

Qatar Crown Prince Cup The Qatar Cup (formerly known as Qatar Crown Prince Cup) is a tournament in men's football. It is played by the top 4 teams of the Qatar Stars League after each season. In 2013, the tournament was renamed Qatar Cup. Previous winners All-time ...

for the first time in the club's history.

Al-Gharafa

In 2006, Mustafa moved to

Al-Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club () is a Qatari multi-sports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Ar Rayyan, Al Rayyan municipality. The club is best known for its association football, football team, although it also has teams for other sports. The ...

, one of the most successful teams in the

. He helped them finish second in the league, as well as making it to the finals of the

. He retired from professional football in 2007, at the age of 34.

International career

Mustafa started his senior international career at the age of 19. He helped establish the Qatar football team on the international stage, claiming many achievements in his time playing for the Qatar national team, most notably the

11th Arabian Gulf Cup The 11th Arabian Gulf Cup () was held in Qatar, in November 1992. The tournament was won by Qatar for the first time. Iraq were excluded from the tournament because of the invasion of Kuwait. Tournament The teams played a single round-robin ...

in 1992, where he won the top scorer and man of the tournament award. He also led Qatar to the quarter-finals of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and won the

1998 Arab Nations Cup The 1998 Arab Cup was the seventh edition of the Arab Cup hosted by Qatar, in the city of Doha. Saudi Arabia won their first title. Qualifying The 12 qualified teams are: Venues Squads Overview Algeria, Egypt and Morocco did not send the ...

. He played for

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 ...

in the 1998 World Cup Qualifiers, scoring two goals in the group stage and securing the top position in their group before getting eliminated in the final round. In a match at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Mustafa scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Egypt, registering the first competitive win in

's history against an African nation. Mustafa had a reputation of being a fair player, having been shown no red cards in his international career. He later received the World Fair Play Trophy in 2005. Mustafa officially retired from international football in 2004.

Post-retirement

After retiring from professional football, Mustafa was appointed the

Director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

of Al-Arabi. He still occasionally manages the first team. In 2009, Mubarak Mustafa received the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

's annual ideal player award. In doing so, he is the first Qatari to ever win the award. He expressed his deep happiness for receiving IOC Award, which represents a great honor for Qatar sport in general and Qatar Olympic committee (QOC) in particular. On 17 October 2011, Mustafa played a tribute game in honour of deceased Emirati player Theyab Awana. The game was between

Al-Salmiya Al-Salmiya Sporting Club () is a Kuwaiti professional football club in Salmiya. They have won the Kuwaiti Premier League four times, most recently in 2000. They were founded in 1964 and the club covers a total area of 94 thousand square metres ...

Stars and Arab Stars, with Mustafa playing for the former. Adel Khamis also took part in the match. The match took place in

Thamir Stadium Thamir Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Al Salmiya, Kuwait. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home stadium of Al Salmiya Club. The stadium holds 16,105 people. See also * List of football stadi ...

. Mustafa scored 2 early goals to give him a brace, however the visitors equalized in the second half and eventually narrowly won 7–6. On 28 April 2012, after a very unsuccessful season for Al Arabi which saw them finish on par with their joint lowest standing in the league, he announced that he would be leaving the club as director of football at the end of the 2011/12 season. Shortly after, he joined Al Kass as a sports analyst.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Al Arabi *

: 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 *

Runner up: 1994 *

Sheikh Jassem 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 Sheik ...

: 1995 *

: 1997 *

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, ...

: 1993 Al Khor *

: 2005 Individual *

Top Scorer: 1992 *

Arabian Gulf Cup The Arabian Gulf Cup (, ''Kaʾs al-Khalīj al-ʿArabī''), also referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial association football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nations. The history of ...

Top Scorer:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Best Player:

* Arab Golden Ball: 1992 *

Top Scorer: 1993 * Arab Golden Boot: 1993 *Arab Player of the Year: 1993 *

Most Assists: 1996 *

Top Scorer: 1997 *

Most Assists: 1998 *

Arab Cup The FIFA Arab Cup (), or Arab Cup, is an international association football competition organized by FIFA. It is held every four years with the participation of senior men's national teams of the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA), ...

Most Valuable Player:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

*World Fair Play Trophy by the

International Fair Play Committee The International Fair Play Committee (), abbreviated as the CIFP or the IFPC, is a not for profit international non-governmental organisation which serves to foster sportsmanship in international competition. It presents awards annually at the ...

: 2005 *

Ideal Player Award: 2009

References

External links

Qatar – List of Top Scorers

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustafa, Mubarak 1973 births Footballers from Doha Living people Qatari men's footballers Qatar men's international footballers Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Qatar 1992 AFC Asian Cup players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Qatar Stars League players Al-Khor SC players Al-Gharafa SC players Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Men's association football forwards Asian Games footballers for Qatar Qatari people of Iranian descent