Hassan Ali Chaito (, ; born 20 March 1989), also known as Moni (, ), is a Lebanese 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 lea ...

and former

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

player who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for club Bourj. Chaito began his career in the Lebanese Third Division at Jihad Hay Sellom, before moving to the

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 ...

at Ahed in 2009. Simultaneously he began his futsal career, first playing at the Lebanese Canadian Bank, then at Sadaka from 2010 to 2014, before going back to playing football. He joined Ansar, before moving to Bahrain the following year at Al-Shabab. Chaito moved to the Malaysian side

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu) is a sultanate and States and federal territories of Malaysia, federal state of Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l-Iman (c ...

, before returning to Ahed in 2015. In 2018. Chaito joined Ansar, then switched to cross-city rivals Nejmeh in 2021. Two years later, he signed for Bourj. Starting his international career with Lebanon in 2011, Chaito participated in the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Chaito also helped Lebanon qualify to the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

, their first participation through qualification.

Club career

Early career

Chaito started his

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 ...

career at Jihad Hay Sellom in the Lebanese Third Division before moving to

side Ahed in 2009, winning two league titles and two FA Cups in his four-year stay.

Futsal

In 2009 Chaito had begun his career in

, first playing for the Lebanese Canadian Bank, and then moving to Sadaka in 2010. He won the Lebanon Futsal League twice, in 2011 and 2013, and played in the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

editions of the

AFC Futsal Club Championship The AFC Futsal Club Championship is the current highest Asian futsal club competition, hosted by the Asian Football Confederation. It is futsal equivalent to AFC Champions League. For the inaugural edition, AFC Futsal Committee decided to make ...

for the Lebanese side, scoring seven goals in total during the two tournaments.

After futsal

Chaito joined Ansar in 2013, before moving abroad to Bahrain the following year to Al-Shabab. In 2014 he moved to Malaysia at

, before moving back to Ahed in 2015. Chaito helped his side win three more league titles and one FA Cup, finishing as the league's second top goalscorer during the 2017–18 season.

Return to Ansar

On 17 August 2018, Chaito returned to Ansar. On 23 October 2020, it was announced that Chaito had refused an offer from Iraqi club

Al-Talaba Al-Talaba Sports Club () is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. Its football team competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top flight of Iraqi football. Founded in 1969, the club was named Al-Jamiea but became known a ...

. In 2020–21, he helped Ansar win their first league title since 2007, and their 14th overall. Chaito also helped Ansar win the

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, beating Nejmeh in the 2020–21 Lebanese FA Cup final on penalty shoot-outs.

Nejmeh

Chaito moved to cross-city rivals Nejmeh on 21 June 2021. On 12 September, during a league game against Tripoli, Chaito sustained an ACL injury which kept him on the sidelines for six months.

Bourj

On 21 June 2023, Bourj announced the signing of Chaito.

International career

Chaito represented

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 ...

in the

2010 AFC Futsal Championship The 2010 AFC Futsal Championship was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 23 to 30 May 2010. Qualification Venues Draw The draw for the 2010 AFC Futsal Championship was held on 20 March 2010 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Group stage Group A ...

, before being called up for the under-23 football team for the 2012 Olympics Qualifiers in 2011. Chaito's senior football international debut came on 15 November 2011, in a 2–1 home win against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. On 22 March 2013, Chaito scored his first two goals in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, with the match ending 5–2 to

. His second brace came against

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

on 12 November 2015 in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, with the match ending 7–0 to Lebanon. In December 2018, Chaito was called up for the

, playing in the final group stage game against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, with Lebanon winning 4–1.

Style of play

A versatile player, Chaito mainly plays as an

, but can also play as a

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and in a false nine role. His main attribute is his finishing.

Personal life

Chaito's nickname "Moni" comes from his sister who, as a kid, mispronounced his name "Hassan" as "Moni". Indeed, in Chaito's first game broadcast on TV, the commentator Mahmoud Tarhini – who was aware of Chaito's nickname – called him "Moni" throughout the match.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Lebanon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Chaito goal''.

Honours

Sadaka * Lebanon Futsal League: 2010–11, 2012–13 Ahed *

: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2016–17, 2017–18 *

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� ...

: 2010–11, 2017–18 * Lebanese Elite Cup:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* Lebanese Super Cup: 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018 Ansar *

: 2020–21 * Lebanese FA Cup: 2020–21; runner-up: 2018–19 * Lebanese Elite Cup runner-up:

* Lebanese Super Cup runner-up:

Nejmeh * Lebanese FA Cup: 2021–22, 2022–23 * Lebanese Elite Cup:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...