Mostafa Ali Matar (, ; born 10 September 1995) is a Lebanese

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 ...

who plays 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 ...

for Saudi club Al-Orobah, on loan from club Ahed, and the Lebanon national team. Matar began his senior career in 2015 with

Salam Zgharta Salam Zgharta Football Club ( ar, نادي السلام الرياضي زغرتا, lit=Zgharta Peace Sporting Club), known as Salam Zgharta or simply Salam, is a football club based in Zgharta, Lebanon, that competes in the . Founded in 1933 ...

in the Lebanese Premier League. In summer 2020, he joined league champions Ahed for a national-record fee of LBP 525 million, and was promptly moved to

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

on a one-year loan. Matar returned to Ahed in 2021 and was their first-choice goalkeeper in their 2021–22 league title win. In summer 2022, he moved to Saudi side Al-Orobah on loan. Having represented Lebanon internationally at under-23 level, Matar was called up for the senior team to the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

. He made his senior debut at the 2019 WAFF Championship, and participated in the

qualifications Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional expe ...

for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Club career

Following five years at

, Matar joined

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

champions Ahed on 2 July 2020, on a five-year deal for £L525 million (around $333,000). The fee was the highest ever paid by a Lebanese club. He joined

on a one-year loan on 29 September 2020. He returned from the loan on 5 May 2021, and was Ahed's main goalkeeper in their 2021–22 league title win, conceding only six goals in 19 games. On 21 June 2022, Matar moved to Al-Orobah in the

Saudi First Division League The First Division League (FDL for short), also called the Yelo league for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of professional football in Saudi Arabia. The First Division League is ranked below the Saudi Professional League and above the Sau ...

on a 10-month loan.

International career

Iran v Lebanon, 29 March 2022 (Tasnim) 17

2017–2019: Early career

Matar played for the Lebanon national under-23 team at the

2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was an international men's under-23 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship. A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, includi ...

, and was their

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on one occasion. In December 2018, Matar was called up for the

squad for the senior team. His debut came on 8 August 2019, against

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

at the 2019 WAFF Championship.

2021–present: Breakthrough

Having been called-up as Lebanon's third-choice keeper, Matar played as a starter in the third round of qualification for the

, following

Mehdi Khalil Mehdi Salim Khalil ( ar, مهدي سليم خليل, ; born 19 September 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Ahed and the Lebanon national team. Khalil is known as "the Mountain" () because of his height. K ...

's ACL injury and Ali Daher resulting positive to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

in the opening game, and was nominated Man of the Match. Matar continued playing as a starter for Lebanon at the

2021 FIFA Arab Cup The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup () was the 10th edition of the Arab Cup, the Arab world's national team football tournament; it was the first edition under FIFA's jurisdiction. It took place between 30 November and 18 December in Qatar, as a p ...

in December 2021 where, despite having conceded three goals to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, he was praised for his performances.

Style of play

A good shot-stopper, Matar is a quick and agile

with good positioning and handling.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Ahed *

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, ...

: 2021–22 *

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 ...

runner-up:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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 ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matar, Mostafa 1995 births Living people People from North Governorate Lebanese footballers Association football goalkeepers Salam Zgharta FC players Al Ahed FC players AC Tripoli players Al-Orobah FC players Lebanese Premier League players Saudi First Division League players Lebanon youth international footballers Lebanon international footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Lebanese expatriate footballers Lebanese expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia