Nasser Al-Shamrani

Nasser Al-Shamrani (Arabic: ناصر الشمراني‎) (born 23 November 1983) is a Saudi Arabian footballer who plays for the Saudi Arabia national team as a forward. Often considered one of the most versatile, effective Saudi Arabian strikers of all time, he won the Asian Footballer of the Year award in 2014.

Nasser Al-Shamrani
Personal information
Full name Nasser Ali Al-Shamrani
Date of birth (1983-11-23) 23 November 1983
Place of birth Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
2000–2004 Al-Wehda
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2007 Al-Wehda 56 (20)
2006 → Al-Shabab (loan) 6 (3)
2007–2013 Al-Shabab 123 (87)
2013–2017 Al-Hilal 75 (45)
2017 → Al Ain (loan) 10 (8)
2017–2019 Al-Shabab 39 (12)
2019 Al-Ittihad 2 (0)
National team‡
2005–2018 Saudi Arabia 78 (19)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 07 May 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 February 2018

Club career

Al-Wehda

Al-Shamrani began his professional career at the age of 20 playing with Al-Wehda's first team, in the 2003–04 season. He was young then, but along with his teammate Essa Al-Mehyani, was one of the main strikers at the club. Even though Al-Wehda had talented young strikers, they did not win any tournaments and the highest rank they achieved in the Saudi Premier League was 3rd place in the 2006–07 season.

Al-Shabab

During the 2005–06 season, Al-Shabab decided to try Al-Shamrani out, and a loan deal was agreed till the end of the season (Al-Wehda accepted because at that time they had no chance of competing in all of the local tournaments). During these couple of months, Al-Shamrani was able to prove his worth as a striker. He scored four goals in the AFC Champions League, which helped Al-Shabab reach the quarter-finals that year. In the league, he scored three goals, including the third in the Saudi Premier League final against Al-Hilal, which ended 3–0. After the end of the season, Al-Shabab were impressed by his performance, and tried sign a contract with him, but Al-Wehda refused and by the 2006–07 season he returned to Al-Wehda.

Al-Shamrani had one of his best seasons with Al-Wehda, scoring nine goals in the Saudi Premier League. He helped his team reach 3rd place in the league, though he did not score any goals in the golden play-off games against Al-Shabab and Al-Ittihad. By the end of the season, Al-Wehda went through financial problems. Al-Shabab soon noticed this and offered 13 million riyals for Al-Shamrani. Al-Wehda accepted, and Al-Shamrani moved to Al-Shabab by the beginning of the 2007–08 season, signing a five-year contract for 13 million riyals.

Al-Shamrani's move to Al-Shabab was anticipated by many of their fans, but he began the season 'dry', without scoring any goal in the league. By the 6th round in the Saudi Premier League, he started his scoring with a hat-trick in Al-Qadisiya. He then scored continually in every game (1 goal against Al-Watani, 1 against Al-Nasr, 2 against Al-Ittihad, 1 against Al-Ta'ee, 1 against Al-Ahli, 1 against Al-Wehda, and 2 against Najran SC). He led the league goalscorers with 12 goals, but his former Al-Wehda teammate Eisa Al-Mehyani was closing the gap. was able to score 13 goals, and also with 13 goals.

By the end of the season, Al-Shamrani had scored 18 goals with Al Shabab, and won the Saudi Premier League's top goal scorer award for the first time, ahead of Al-Mehyani and Al Hasan Al-Yami.

Al-Hilal

On 30 June 2013, Al-Shamrani agreed to a three-year deal with the 'club of the century' in Asia, Al-Hilal. After losing the 2014 Asian Champions League final, he spat at Western Sydney Wanderers player Matthew Spiranovic before attempting to headbutt him.[1][2] As a result of his conduct, Al-Shamrani was handed an 8 match Champions League ban from the Asian Football Confederation.[3][4][5][6]

Al Ain (loan)

In 2017, it was reported that Al-Shamrani had joined United Arab Emirates side Al Ain FC in a 2 million Dhs deal for a six-month loan contract. This was his first experience playing outside Saudi Arabia, and with one of the most successful clubs in Asia. In his third match against Al Ahli, he assisted a goal in minute 91 which helped Al Ain FC to win in the 'classico'.

Return to Al-Shabab

On summer 2017, he returned to Saudi Arabia and Al-Shabab.

International career

On 30 December 2014, Al-Shamrani pushed a fan prior to Saudi Arabia's 4–1 loss to Bahrain and later missed the 2015 AFC Asian Cup due to "injury".[7]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 21 May 2019[8]
Club Season League King Cup Crown Prince Cup Asia Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Al-Wehda 2003–04 162—10—2[lower-alpha 1]0192
2004–05 133—10—4[lower-alpha 1]2185
2005–06 94—40—4[lower-alpha 1]0174
2006–07 1811—11—4[lower-alpha 1]12313
Total 56200071001437724
Al-Shabab (loan) 2005–06 63—005300116
Al-Shabab 2007–08 19185741—1[lower-alpha 1]12927
2008–09 20125331762[lower-alpha 1]03722
2009–10 1490000412[lower-alpha 1]12011
2010–11 2317211272—3322
2011–12 25212121——2923
2012–13 2210331183—3417
Total 123871715116261252182122
Al-Hilal 2013–14 262110321310—4333
2014–15 2213544331—3421
2015–16 15420331000217
2016–17 1270030001[lower-alpha 2]0167
Total 75458413817111011468
Al-Ain (loan) 2016–17 108000053—1511
Al-Shabab 2017–18 2172110——248
2018–19 18520———205
Total 3912411000004413
Al-Ittihad 2018–19 2000—53—73
Career totals 311175292032155832205448243
  1. Appearances in Saudi Federation Cup
  2. Appearance in Saudi Super Cup

International

Source:[9][10]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Saudi Arabia 200571
200600
200730
200860
2009154
201040
2011135
201241
201372
2014112
201500
201631
201743
201810
Total7819

International goals
Scores and results list Saudi Arabia's goal tally first.

As of 14 January 2017[11]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
129 January 2005King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Turkmenistan1–01–0Friendly
212 August 2009Al-Saada Stadium, Salalah, Oman Oman1–21–2Friendly
39 September 2009King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Bahrain1–01–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
414 October 2009Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia Tunisia1–01–0Friendly
514 November 2009Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam, Saudi Arabia Belarus1–11–1Friendly
613 July 2011Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan Jordan1–11–1 (4–3 p)Fox International Quartet Championship
723 July 2011Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam, Saudi Arabia Hong Kong1–03–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
83–0
928 July 2011Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, Siu Sai Wan, Hong Kong Hong Kong3–05–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
106 September 2011Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam Australia1–21–32014 FIFA World Cup qualification
1129 February 2012AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia Australia2–12–42014 FIFA World Cup qualification
1215 October 2013Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan Iraq2–02–02015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1315 November 2013Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam, Saudi Arabia Iraq2–12–12015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1416 November 2014King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Bahrain1–03–02014 Gulf Cup of Nations
1523 November 2014King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates1–03–22014 Gulf Cup of Nations
166 October 2016King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Australia2–22–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
1714 January 2017Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Cambodia1–17–2Friendly
182–1
193–1

Honours

Al-Shabab

Al-Hilal

Individual

References
  1. Hassett, Sebastian (2 November 2014). "Nasser Al-Shamrani spits at Western Sydney Wanderers' Matthew Spiranovic". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. "Furious Al-Hilal demand AFC investigation". ABC News. 4 November 2014.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-07. Retrieved 2014-12-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Al Shamrani banned for 8 matches for spitting". The Washington Times.
  5. "Wanderers coach Tony Popovic banned and fined for on-field altercation". the Guardian. 6 December 2014.
  6. "Saudi Arabia recall striker Nasser Al-Shamrani for crucial clash with Socceroos". Fox Sports. 4 October 2016.
  7. "Saudi star Nasser Al-Shamrani in altercation with fan in Asian Cup warmup". the Guardian. 31 December 2014.
  8. "Nasser Al-Shamrani".
  9. "Al-Shamrani, Nasser". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  10. "( Nassir ALSHAMRANI ) Matches Played".
  11. "( Nassir ALSHAMRANI ) Goals".
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