Haitham Ali Mohamad Al Haj Ali Zein (; born 6 January 1979), or simply Haitham Zein, is a Lebanese 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 le ...

who played 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) ** Sm ...

. He played for numerous

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the league, ...

clubs, mainly at

Tadamon Sour Tadamon Sour Sporting Club ( ar, نادي التضامن الرياضي صور, lit=Solidarity Sporting Club Tyre), or simply Tadamon, is a football club based in Tyre, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Tyre ...

, and represented

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 ...

internationally.

Early life

Zein was born in Iraq to parents from Borj Ech Chemali, Lebanon; he began playing football aged 11 in the street. He moved to Lebanon with his family due to the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

Club career

Tadamon Sour

Zein signed for

's youth team in 1994. He made his senior debut in 1995, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute against Bourj at the

Saida Municipal Stadium The Saida Municipal Stadium (), also known as the Martyr Rafic Hariri Stadium ( ar, ملعب الرئيس الشهيد رفيق الحريري, links=no), is a 22,600 capacity multi-purpose stadium in Sidon, Lebanon. The stadium was built in 19 ...

; trailing 2–1, Zein scored a goal and assisted two, helping his side overturn the result to 4–2. He played with Tadamon until 2005, scoring 94 league goals.

Nejmeh

On 9 November 2005, Zein moved to

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 ...

, spending half a season. He described his short experience at Nejmeh as negative.

Bahrain SC

He moved abroad to

Bahrain SC Al-Bahrain Sports Club (), otherwise simply known as Bahrain, is primarily a Bahraini football club based in the island-governorate of Al-Muharraq. Their football team plays in the Bahraini Second Division. Their home football stadium is the Al ...

in 2006.

Return to Lebanon

He returned to Lebanon in 2008, signing for Chabab Ghazieh, before moving to Islah Borj Shmali the following season. Zein was among the league top scorers in the 2010–11 Lebanese Premier League, scoring eight goals. In October 2011, he signed for

Salam Sour Salam Sour Sports Club ( ar, نادي السلام الرياضي صور) is a football club based in Tyre, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Sour Stadium. Club rivalries The club plays the Tyre derby again ...

, retiring that season. Zein scored 113 goals in the

– 138 considering his goals scored in the cancelled 2000–01 season.

International career

In 2002, Zein played for the Lebanon Olympic team at the

2002 Asian Games The 2002 Asian Games ( ko, 2002년 아시아 경기대회/2002년 아시안 게임, Icheoni-nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheoni-nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the XIV Asian Games ( ko, 제14회 아시아 경기대회/제14회 아시안 � ...

, scoring a goal in an 11–0 win against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. He played for the senior team between 1998 and 2004. He played 50 international matches, scoring 17 goals.

Managerial career

Between 2016 and 2017, Zein was part of the technical staff of his former club Islah Borj Shmali.

Personal life

Zein's nephew, Mahdi Zein, also plays football.

Honours

Tadamon Sour *

Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is a Lebanese football annual cup competition. The first edition, held in 1937, was won by Nahda. The most successful club in the competition is Ansar with 15 titles, followed by Nejmeh ...

: 2000–01 Individual * Lebanese Premier League top scorer: 1998–99, 2000–01 *

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 ...

: 1998–99

References

External links

*
Haitham Zein
at

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

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zein, Haitham 1979 births Living people People from Fallujah Lebanese footballers Association football forwards Tadamon Sour SC players Nejmeh SC players Bahrain SC players Chabab Ghazieh SC players Islah Borj Al Shmali Club players Salam Sour SC players Lebanese Premier League players Bahraini Premier League players Lebanon youth international footballers Lebanon international footballers Asian Games competitors for Lebanon Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games 2000 AFC Asian Cup players Lebanese expatriate footballers Lebanese expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Expatriate footballers in Bahrain Lebanese Premier League top scorers