Tha'er Fayed Al Bawab (; born 1 March 1985) is a

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian

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 ...

who plays 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) ** Smal ...

. He spent most of his professional career in Spain and Romania.

Club career

Early years and Real Madrid

Born in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

descent, Bawab's family moved to

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Spain when he was a child. He started playing for the youth teams of local

UE Cornellà Unió Esportiva Cornellà, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S. A. D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Cornellà de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1951 it plays in , holding home gam ...

, leaving at the age of 18 to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

where he completed his development,Thaer: "El Barça sigue apostando más por la cantera que el Madrid" (Thaer: "Barça still bet more on their youth system than Madrid")

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

, 12 November 2013 (in Spanish) and scoring 30 goals in his sole season with the ''Juvenil'' side.El curioso caso de Tha’er Al Bawab (The curious case of Tha'er Al Bawab)
Panenka, 13 December 2013 (in Spanish) In 2004, Bawab signed a professional contract with Real Madrid, and the club also agreed to pay a college scholarship for him, as he went on to make his senior debut with the third team in the

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. At that time, talks had started where people compared his style of play to

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

(even though they did not play in the same position).

Barcelona, journeyman in Spain

Bawab split the 2006–07 season with

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in . It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capacity of 6,000 seats. Reserve teams in Spain play in the ...

– for whom he did not appear officially – and another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

FC Barcelona B FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

, scoring three goals for the latter as both sides suffered relegation (the former in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, the latter in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

). In the following three seasons, he competed in the country's third tier, being relegated with all the clubs –

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in , holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Futbol de L'Hospitalet, wit ...

CD Alfaro Club Deportivo Alfaro is a Spanish football team based in Alfaro, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1922 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio La Molineta'', with a capacity of 4,000 seats. History In the 2013– ...

(which he joined in January 2009) and Moratalla CF.

Romania

Bawab signed a two-year contract with

ACF Gloria 1922 Bistriţa ACF or acf may refer to: Organizations Asia * Adivasi Cobra Force, extremist Santal organisation in Assam * Arab Chess Federation * Asian Chess Federation Australia * Australian Cat Federation, a standards organization for cat breeds * Australian ...

in late June 2010. Midway through the season, as his team would eventually suffer relegation, he joined fellow Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

side CS Gaz Metan Mediaş. On 4 August 2011, Bawab scored two goals against

1. FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

in the last qualifying round of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, one in each leg as Gaz Metan eventually won on penalties. On 26 September, he added two more in a 2–1 league home win over

FCM Târgu Mureș The word FCM may refer to: Science and technology * FCM (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen * Flow cytometry * Food contact materials * Fuel-containing material * Flight control module, a computer that assists in the control of an aircraft C ...

. In September 2014,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Bawab moved to

CS Universitatea Craiova U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football club based in Craiova, Dolj County. It competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian league ...

also in Romania's top flight. He remained in the country the following years safe for a very brief spell in the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

with

Umm Salal SC Umm Salal Sport Club () is a Qatari professional association football, football club based in Umm Salal, that competes in the Qatar Stars League, the highest tier of Football in Qatar, Qatari football. Previously called Al-Tadamun Sport Club, Umm ...

, representing

FC Steaua București Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of th ...

FC Dinamo București FC Dinamo București, commonly known as Dinamo București () or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest that competes in the Liga I. Founded in 1948 as the team of the Ministry of Inter ...

CS Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional football club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best period was between 2011 and 2019, wh ...

and

FC Dunărea Călărași Asociația Fotbal Club Dunărea 2005 Călărași, commonly known as Dunărea Călărași (), is a Romanian professional football club from the city of Călărași, Călărași County. Founded in 1962, ''Valahii'' currently play in the Liga III, ...

International career

Bawab made his debut for

in a friendly with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on 28 January 2005, which ended 0–0. He made six appearances for the national team in the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifiers, scoring once.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Honours

Real Madrid C *

: 2005–06 Steaua București *

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no official recordi ...

: 2015–16 Dinamo București *Cupa Ligii: 2016–17VIDEO+FOTO » Dinamo a câștigat Cupa Ligii fără emoții! Al 34-lea trofeu din vitrina "câinilor" (VIDEO+PHOTO » Dinamo won unexciting League Cup! 34th trophy in the "dogs" cabinet)
Gazeta Sporturilor, 20 May 2017 (in Romanian)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bawab, Thaer 1985 births Living people Lebanese Jordanian Jordanian people of Lebanese descent Jordanian people of Palestinian descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent 21st-century Jordanian sportsmen Jordanian men's footballers Palestinian men's footballers Footballers from Amman Footballers from Catalonia Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tercera Federación players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players UE Cornellà players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers FC Barcelona Atlètic players CE L'Hospitalet players Liga I players Liga II players ACF Gloria Bistrița players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players CS Universitatea Craiova players FCSB players FC Dinamo București players CS Concordia Chiajna players FC Dunărea Călărași players Qatar Stars League players Umm Salal SC players Jordan men's international footballers Jordanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Jordanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Jordanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Jordanian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar