Sami Abdullah Al-Jaber ( ar, سامي الجابر; born 11 December 1972) is a Saudi Arabian
football manager
''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...
and former professional
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...
who played as a
striker. He spent the entirety of his career with
Al-Hilal apart from a five-month loan to English club
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
.
Al-Jaber is his country's second highest international goalscorer with 46 goals in 156 internationals from 1992 to 2006. He appeared in four consecutive
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
tournaments, from 1994 to 2006, scoring in three of them. He was also a member of the Saudi squads which won the
AFC Asian Cup
The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...
in 1996. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Saudi footballers ever.
Club career
Al-Jaber made his Al-Hilal debut in 1989 and spent nearly 20 years at the club. In 2000, he joined
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
on loan, where he made just five appearances in five months. After the club learned that Al-Jaber's father had been taken seriously ill, he was allowed to join United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain on loan, and this was to spell the end of his time in England. Even so, to this day Al-Jaber remains one of very few Saudi footballers to play outside their homeland.
On 21 January 2008, Al-Hilal held a
testimonial
In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...
for Al-Jaber against English
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
giants
Manchester United
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 City of Salford, Salford to ...
. Al-Jaber scored a penalty en route to a 3–2 victory over the visitors, in his last game for the club.
International career
On 27 May 1998, Al-Jaber made his
100th international appearance in a friendly against Norway. At 25 years, four months and 16 days old, this made him the youngest male footballer to reach 100 caps.
After gaining a runners-up medal in the
2000 Asian Cup
The 2000 AFC Asian Cup was the 12th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Lebanon between 12 and 29 October 2000. Japan ...
, he appeared in the
2002 World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
but only played in one game, a 0–8 hammering by
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He was ruled out of the rest of the competition when his appendix burst and he had to be rushed to hospital.
Managerial career
Al-Jaber was named as assistant coach of
Al-Hilal in 2009, one year after he retired from professional football. He worked under notable coaches like
Eric Gerets
Eric Maria Gerets (, born 18 May 1954) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a right back.
He started his playing career as an amateur for his local team AA Rekem, before achieving success with Standard Liège and PSV. ...
,
Gabriel Calderon
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ ...
and
Thomas Doll
Thomas Jens Uwe Doll (born 9 April 1966) is a German professional football manager and a former football player who is the current Manager of Persija Jakarta. He played as an attacking midfielder for F.C. Hansa Rostock, BFC Dynamo, Hamburger SV, ...
. In 2012, he became assistant coach of
Ligue 2
Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...
side
AJ Auxerre
Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...
.
On 27 May 2013, Al-Jaber was named the manager of
Al-Hilal, replaced former coach
Zlatko Dalić
Zlatko Dalić (; born 26 October 1966) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of the Croatia national team since 2017 and led them to a runners-up finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and third place at the ...
. He became the first Saudi coach to manage Al-Hilal after 14 years of
Khalil Ibrahim Al-Zayani
Khalil Al-Zayani ( ar, خليل أبراهيم الزياني) is a Saudi Arabian football coach. Al-Zayani is part of Al-Zayani family residing in Dammam city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
Playing career
Al-Zayani played for the ...
in 1999. After his first season in his new career, he was ranked 19th in Football Coach World ranking. Even though, Al-Hilal decided to replace him. On 19 July 2014,
Al Arabi announced his assignment as the technical manager of their football team.
Personal life
Al-Jaber is an advocate of football reforms, having criticised the Saudi Football Federation for its protectionist policy that prevented Saudi talents from going abroad to play better football after Saudi Arabia became the first team to be knocked out of
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
.
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Saudi Arabia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Al-Jaber goal.''
Honours
Al-Hilal
*
Saudi Premier League
The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...
:
1989–90,
1995–96,
1997–98,
2001–02,
2004–05
*
Crown Prince Cup
The Saudi Crown Prince's Cup ( ar, كأس ولي العهد) was the Saudi Arabian annual cup competition. It was the oldest domestic football competition in Saudi Arabia, its first edition was held in 1956–57, but was not crowned from 1975 unti ...
:
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
,
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
,
2004–05,
2005–06
*
Saudi Federation Cup
Prince Faisal bin Fahd League U-21, formerly Saudi Federation Cup/Prince Faisal bin Fahd Cup U-21/Prince Faisal bin Fahd Cup and currently known as Prince Faisal Bin Fahad Cup, is an association football league of Saudi Arabia. It was founded in t ...
: 1990, 1993, 1996, 2000
*
Saudi Founder's Cup
Saudi Founder's Cup (Arabic: كأس المؤسس الملك عبدالعزيز), is an official Centennial football tournament, held every hundred years. organized by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation
The Saudi Arabian Football Federation ( ...
:
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
*
AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...
:
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
*
Asian Cup Winners Cup:
1996–97,
2001–02
*
Asian Super Cup
The Asian Super Cup was an annual football competition between the winners of the Asian Club Championship and the Asian Cup Winners' Cup.
The competition started in 1995, but came to an end in 2002 after both major AFC tournaments were merged int ...
:
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
*
Arab Champions League
The Arab Club Champions Cup ( ar, كأس العرب للأندية الأبطال, french: Ligue des Champions Arabe) is an annual regional club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by eli ...
:
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
,
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
*
Arab Super Cup
The Arab Super Cup ( ar, الكأس العربية الممتازة) was an Arab football competition, held between four teams (the winners and runners-up of both the Arab Club Champions Cup and the Arab Cup Winners' Cup
The Arab Cup Winners' ...
:
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
*
Gulf Club Champions Cup
The GCC Champions League ( ar, دوري أبطال الخليج للأندية), formerly known as the Gulf Cup for Clubs ( ar, كأس الخليج للأندية), was an annually organized football league tournament for clubs of the Arabian penin ...
:
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
*
Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup The Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup was a competition organised by the Saudi and Egyptian football federations, between the league and cup champions from each federation. The cup winners from each federation participated in the President el-Sisi's Cup Winn ...
:
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
Saudi Arabia
*
AFC Asian Cup
The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...
:
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
; runner-up:
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
*
FIFA Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...
runner-up:
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
*
Gulf Cup of Nations
The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nat ...
:
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
,
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
Individual
*Asian Player of the Month: February 1998
*Asian Goal of the Month: April 1998
*
Saudi Premier League
The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...
top scorer:
1989–90 (16),
1992–93 (19)
*
Arab Champions League
The Arab Club Champions Cup ( ar, كأس العرب للأندية الأبطال, french: Ligue des Champions Arabe) is an annual regional club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by eli ...
top scorer:
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
(7),
2004–05 (9)
*
1994 Arab Club Champions Cup
The 1994 Arab Club Champions Cup was played in Saudi Arabia in the city of Riyadh. Al-Hilal won the championship for the first time beating in the final Al-Ittihad.
Participants
Preliminary round
Zone 1 (Gulf Area)
'' Al-Arabi & Al-Ittihad D ...
: Best Player
*
Gulf Club Champions Cup
The GCC Champions League ( ar, دوري أبطال الخليج للأندية), formerly known as the Gulf Cup for Clubs ( ar, كأس الخليج للأندية), was an annually organized football league tournament for clubs of the Arabian penin ...
top scorer:
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
See also
*
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
In men's association football, a cap is traditionally awarded in international football to a player making an official match appearance for their national team. In total, over 600 players have played in 100 or more international matches. The re ...
References
External links
sami al jaber injured at AlHilal.com
*
*
*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaber, Sami
1972 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Riyadh
Saudi Arabian footballers
Saudi Arabia international footballers
Saudi Arabian expatriate footballers
Al Hilal SFC players
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
Al-Gharafa SC players
English Football League players
1992 King Fahd Cup players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
1995 King Fahd Cup players
1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
1992 AFC Asian Cup players
1996 AFC Asian Cup players
2000 AFC Asian Cup players
AFC Asian Cup-winning players
FIFA Century Club
Association football forwards
Saudi Arabian football managers
UAE Pro League managers
Al Hilal SFC managers
Al Wahda FC managers
Al Shabab FC (Riyadh) managers
Saudi Professional League players
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in Qatar
Saudi Arabian expatriate sportspeople in England
Saudi Arabian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar