Abbas Ahmad Hassan ( ar, عباس أحمد حسن; born 10 May 1985) is a former 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

. Born in Lebanon, Hassan moved to Sweden at a young age. Coming through the youth sector, Hassan made his professional debut at

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

in 2005. After a loan at

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curre ...

in 2009–10, Hassan joined

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play their ...

, with whom he stayed from 2011 to 2013. That year he returned to IF Elfsborg, playing three years, before moving to

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

in 2016. In 2017 Hassan moved for the first—and only—time away from Europe, playing in his country of origin, Lebanon. He played for

Nejmeh Nejmeh Sporting Club ( ar, نادي النجمة الرياضي, lit=The Star Sporting Club) is a football club based in Manara, a district in Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . The club was established in Beirut in 1945, and ...

between 2017 and 2020, when he retired. Despite representing Sweden at youth level between 2003 and 2006, Hassan played 25 games for

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

at senior level between 2012 and 2018.

Club career

Starting his career in Arvidstorps IK, Hassan moved north in 2002 to

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the ...

and

. He had to wait until 2005 before making his debut for the club. When first choice goalkeeper

Johan Wiland Johan Kristoffer Sellberg-Wiland (born 24 January 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Starting off his career in Sweden with IF Elfsborg in the early 2000s, he went on to represent F.C. Copenhagen and M ...

got injured, he played well enough to place

Håkan Svensson Alf Tommy Håkan Svensson (born 20 January 1970) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best remembered for representing Halmstads BK between 1990 and 2002, with which he won two Allsvenskan titles as well ...

, who had been brought in as a short-time replacement for the injured Wiland, on the bench. During the pre-season 2006 he became injured and Wiland reclaimed his place as first choice. In early 2008 Hassan was on trial with the English club

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Before the start of the 2009 season it was believed that he would replace Wiland who had left for

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, however the arrival of Australian goalkeeper

Ante Čović Ante Covic (born 13 June 1975) is an Australian former soccer goalkeeper. Covic is a member of the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and represented Australia on two occasions. Personal life Covic is of Croatian ...

and Swedish Joakim Wulff saw Hassan becoming third choice and he started to openly state that he wanted to leave the club. On 9 July, it was confirmed that Hassan would leave IF Elfsborg and move to the Danish side

, signing a one-year loan contract. On 29 June (formally on 8 July), he joined the Swedish

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

club

on a short term contract to replace the injured goalkeeper David Nilsson. On Friday 27 August, he made his debut in

for

against

Ljungskile SK Ljungskile SK is a Swedish football club located in Ljungskile, a town within Uddevalla Municipality. They currently play in the Swedish third tier, Division 1. History Ljungskile SK, formed in 1926, is famous for their promotions between 19 ...

when he replaced goalkeeper Niklas Westberg who had received a one match suspension for his three yellow cards. The match ended 2–1 to

. In December 2010 he signed a 3-year contract with

after the club got promoted to

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

and formally left

. On 6 February 2013, Abbas returned to 2012 Swedish champions

, after breaking his contract with

. Replacing Andreas Andersson who left as a Bosman from Elfsborg to

International career

Hassan has played his first game with the Lebanese national team against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

on 22 January 2012. Abbas' star moment for Lebanon was the game against Iran, where he was man of the match, and helped his team to win, 1–0. Selected and promoted by German goalkeeper coach Christian Schweichler and coach

Theo Bücker Johannes Theodor "Theo" Bücker (born 10 July 1948) is a German football manager and a former player, who is the current coach of the under-15 team of Lebanese club Athletico SC (Lebanon), Athletico SC. Coaching career Return to Lebanon On ...

, he was in inspired form throughout the 90 minutes, produced a string of fine acrobatic saves in the closing stages as Iran threw everything forward, which forced Iran coach

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirates, ...

to quote "I think a national hero was born today. For me the score was Abbas Hassan 1 Iran 0." Later, his skills also helped the team during the match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, until Kim Chi-Woo equalized in 97'.

Honours

IF Elfsborg *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

: 2013–14 *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Nejmeh *

Lebanese Elite Cup The Lebanese Elite Cup () is 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 contested by the top five finish ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

All-time Lebanon Men's Dream Team

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hassan, Abbas 1985 births Living people People from Marjeyoun District Lebanese men's footballers Swedish men's footballers Lebanese emigrants to Sweden Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Naturalized citizens of Sweden Men's association football goalkeepers IF Elfsborg players AaB Fodbold players IFK Norrköping players Örgryte IS players Nejmeh SC players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Lebanese Premier League players Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Lebanon men's international footballers Lebanese expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Lebanese expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark