Ziad Ali Al Samad (; born 6 August 1978) is a Lebanese professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who is the goalkeeper coach of club Ansar and the Lebanon national under-23 team. As a player, Al Samad played 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 ...

. With 47 caps for the Lebanon national team, Al Samad is his country’s all-time most capped goalkeeper.

Club career

Al Samad started his senior club career at

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division (), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. Established in 1934 and organized by the Lebanese Football Association (LFA), the Lebanese Premier Leagu ...

club Riada Wal Adab, before moving to Ansar during the 1999–2000 season. In his first season at the club, Al Samad won both the

Lebanese Federation Cup The Lebanese Federation Cup () is an annual cup competition in men's domestic football in Lebanon. Organised by the Lebanese Football Association (LFA), it serves as the domestic league cup to the Lebanese Premier League and is contested before ...

, and the

Lebanese Super Cup The Lebanese Super Cup () is Lebanese football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Lebanese Premier League season and the holders of the Lebanese FA Cup. If the Lebanese Premier League champions also won the Lebanese FA ...

. The following season, in 2000–01, Al Samad helped Ansar win both the

Lebanese Elite Cup The Lebanese Elite Cup () was a Lebanese football annual cup competition contested by the top six teams of the previous Lebanese Premier League season. Founded in 1996 as the Super League Cup, the first edition was played by the top five finisher ...

, and the Federation Cup. In 2001–02, Al Samad won the Lebanese FA Cup, before helping Ansar winning two consecutive domestic doubles (league and cup), in 2005–06 and 2006–07. In 2008, Al Samad moved to

Racing Beirut Racing Club (), known as Racing Beirut or simply Racing, is a football club based in Achrafieh, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Fouad Chehab Stadium and are primarily supported by the ...

, staying there for three seasons season. In 2011 he moved to

2008 AFC Cup The 2008 AFC Cup was the fifth edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualified teams 20 Football team, clubs competed, including champions of the :National association football ...

runners-up Safa. In his three seasons at the club, Al Samad would help Safa win two league titles ( 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

), an FA Cup (

), another Elite Cup (

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

), and a Super Cup (2013). On 30 September 2014, Safa sold Al Samad to Bahraini side

Saham Saham () is a coastal town in Al Batinah North Governorate, in northeastern 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 ...

on a one-season deal. Following the

2014–15 Oman Professional League The 2014–15 Oman Professional League (known as the ''Omantel Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 39th edition of the top football league in Oman. The season began on 11 September 2014, and concluded on 28 May 2015. Al-Nahda C ...

season, Al Samad retired from football.

International career

Al Samad made his senior international debut for

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 ...

on 1 September 2002 at the

2002 WAFF Championship The 2002 West Asian Football Federation Championship took part in Syrian Capital of Damascus. Iraq national football team, Iraq won the final against Jordan national football team, Jordan 3–2 after extra time coming back from 0–2 at half tim ...

, against

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 ...

; Lebanon lost 1–0. The goalkeeper's first

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

came on 26 December 2002, at the

2002 Arab Nations Cup The 2002 Arab Cup was the eighth edition of the Arab Cup football competition, hosted in the nation of Kuwait. Saudi Arabia, who were the defending champions from the last Arab Cup, again won the title for a 2nd time at the conclusion of the compe ...

, in a goalless draw against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Al Samad ended his international career with 47 caps for the Lebanon national team, as his country’s all-time most capped goalkeeper.

Managerial career

On 12 August 2020, Al Samad was appointed goalkeeper coach of the Lebanon national under-23 team. He became goalkeeper coach of

side

AC Sporting BFA Sporting (), or simply Sporting, is a association football, football club based in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . The club was founded in 1963, and first competed in the Lebanese football league system in 1997. BFA Sporting first c ...

on 18 June 2021. On 27 September 2021, following

Jamal Taha Jamal Khamis Taha (; born 23 November 1966) is a football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Lebanon national under-23 team. Born in Egypt, he played for the Lebanon national team between 1993 and 2000, whom he captained at ...

's appointment as head coach, Al Samad was confirmed goalkeeper coach of Lebanon U23. On 28 June 2022, he was appointed goalkeeper coach of Ansar.

Honours

Ansar *

: 2005–06, 2006–07 *

Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in domestic Lebanese football. In the first FA Cup final, held on 26 June 1938, Nahda beat Hilmi-Sport 3–2 in the replay (after drawing 1� ...

: 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07 *

: 2000 *

: 1999, 2000 *

: 1999 Safa * Lebanese Premier League: 2011–12,

* Lebanese FA Cup:

* Lebanese Elite Cup:

* Lebanese Super Cup: 2013 Individual *

Lebanese Premier League Team of the Season The Al-Manar Football Festival () was an event organised by the Al-Manar television station between the 1996–97 and 2018–19 seasons in order to award players, managers, referees and teams who were considered to have performed the best over ...

: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2011–12, 2012–13

References

External links

*
Ziad Al Samad
at

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 ...