Oday Dabbagh (; born 3 December 1998) is a Palestinian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

on loan from

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

club

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, and the Palestine national team. Dabbagh won the top scorer award in the

2020–21 Kuwaiti Premier League 59th edition of the tournament. Kuwait SC are the defending champions. Teams Main league table The main league, consisting of 15 teams, was played between 15 October, 2020 and 26 December, 2020 to determine the clubs competing in the league ...

with Al-Arabi. With a tally of 16 goals, Al-Dabbagh stands as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the national team.

Club career

Hilal Al-Quds

Dabbagh made his professional debut at the age of 16 for Hilal Al Quds in the 2016–17 season. He scored his first professional goal on 26 December 2015. He scored two more goals that season, narrowly helping Hilal Al-Quds avoid relegation. The following season saw Hilal Al-Quds increase their goalscoring tally with 9, 12 and 16 goals respectively as

Hilal Al-Quds Hilal Al-Quds Club () is a Palestinian sports and cultural club. Its professional football section was established in 1972 within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The club's motto is "Development, training and rehabilitation of Jerusalemit ...

won the

West Bank Premier League The West Bank Premier League is one of the two Football in the State of Palestine, top divisions of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA). The other is the Gaza Strip Premier League. Palestinian clubs have a rich history stretching back to t ...

for the third time in a row. He won the WBPL Golden Boot Award for scoring 16 goals in the 2018–19 season. On 6 May 2019, Dabbagh became Palestine's all-time top scorer in the

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 ...

with a double goal against

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 ...

Nejmeh Nejmeh Sporting Club () is a football club based in Manara, a neighbourhood in Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . The club was established in Beirut in 1945, and received its license in 1947. Nejmeh have won nine Lebanese Pre ...

Al-Arabi

Dabbagh joined Al-Arabi on 14 January 2021, until the end of the season. Dabbagh helped Al-Arabi win the

title, and finished the season as league top-scorer with 13 goals.

Arouca

On 21 August 2021, Dabbagh joined Arouca in the Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

, on a two-year contract. He made his debut on 28 August, as an 80th-minute substitute in a 3–0 defeat to

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. On 18 September, Dabbagh scored his first goal in a 2–2 draw to

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

. In a 2–0 win over

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

on 7 January 2023, he scored his first brace for the club. Two games later he scored twice in a 4–0 victory over

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football ...

Charleroi

On 1 July 2023, Dabbagh officially signed for

in the

on a three-year contract. He scored his first competitive goal for the ''Zebras'' on his debut in a 1–1 draw against

OH Leuven Oh, OH, or Oh! is an interjection, often proclaiming surprise (emotion), surprise. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * Oh! (Girls' Generation album), ''Oh!'' (Girls' Generation album), 2010 * Oh! (ScoLoHoFo album), ''Oh!'' (S ...

Aberdeen

On 2 February 2025, Dabbagh was loaned to

in the

until the end of the season, with an option to buy. On 24 May 2025, he won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Palestine national team debut on 27 March 2018, in a

2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification was the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the international men's football champions ...

match against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. He later appeared with the senior national team in the

2018 Bangabandhu Cup The 2018 Bangabandhu Gold Cup or simply 2018 Bangabandhu Cup was an international association football tournament organized by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) as a tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This was ...

, which Palestine won. Dabbagh's first senior goal came on 6 September 2018, in a 1–1 draw with

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

. At 20 years of age, Dabbagh was called up 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) ...

, and appeared against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 ...

. On 1 January 2024, he was named in the Palestinian squad for the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

in Qatar. On 23 January 2024, he scored a brace in a 3–0 victory over

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, which granted his country their first win in the competition, and first ever qualification to the knockout phase as one of the best third-placed teams. On 21 March 2024, Dabbagh scored his first international hat-trick during the

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...

match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in a 5–0 victory.

Personal life

Dabbagh was born in the Old City of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. As a child, he admired Dutch striker

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional association football, footballer who is the head coach of Eredivisie club Feyenoord. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and was ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Hilal Al-Quds * West Bank Premier League: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Palestine Cup The Palestine Cup is the main national association football competition in Palestine. It is sanctioned by the Palestinian Football Association. Past competitions were more expansive including clubs from all tiers of Palestinian football. For the ...

: 2017–18 * West Bank Cup: 2017–18 Qadsia *

Kuwait Super Cup The Kuwait Super Cup () is football competition in Kuwait organised by the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) since 2008. Until the 2022–23 season, the competition served as the opening match of the season and was played between the champions of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Al-Arabi *

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 ...

2020–21 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 ...

Aberdeen *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2024–25 Palestine *

Bangabandhu Cup The Bangabandhu Cup, also known as the Bangabandhu Gold Cup, is an international football tournament organised by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) as a tribute to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who is the founding father of Banglad ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual *

Islamic Solidarity Games The Islamic Solidarity Games () is a multinational, multi-sport event. Managed jointly by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), the Games involve elite athletes of the OIC competing in a ...

top goalscorer:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

top goalscorer:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dabbagh, Oday 1998 births Living people Footballers from Jerusalem Palestinian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Hilal Al-Quds Club players Al-Salmiya SC players Qadsia SC players Al-Yarmouk SC (Kuwait) players Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) players F.C. Arouca players Royal Charleroi S.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players West Bank Premier League players Kuwait Premier League players Primeira Liga players Belgian Pro League players Palestine men's youth international footballers Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Palestine men's international footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players Palestinian expatriate men's footballers Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Kuwait Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland