Ali Hamam

Ali Hamam

Ali Hamam playing for Zob Ahan
Personal information
Full name	Ali Hamam
Date of birth	(1986-08-25) 25 August 1986
Place of birth	Beirut, Lebanon
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Right Back , Center Back
Club information
Current team	Nejmeh
Number	19
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2008	Al-Ahli SC		(1)
2008–2014	Nejmeh	185	(11)
2014–2018	Zob Ahan	106	(4)
2018–	Nejmeh	7	(3)
National team‡
2009–	Lebanon	49	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 April 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 September 2018

Ali Hamam (Arabic: علي حمام; born 25 August 1986) is a Lebanese footballer who plays as a defender for Nejmeh in the Lebanese Premier League and the Lebanese national football team.

Club career

He started his career with Al-Taqaddom Anqoun, where his talent attracted the attention of the Al-Ahli Sports Club, which won the Lebanese Second Division. He played for Al-Ahli Sports Club in the Lebanese Premier League in the 2007/2008 season but the team was relegated to the Lebanese Second Division after coming in 12th position. Ali Hamam attracted high attention of the media and the coaches in this season due to his young age and impressive performance. He did not wait long before transferring to Al-Nejmeh which is considered one of the strongest teams in Lebanese Premier League with the largest number of fans in Lebanon.

He played for Al-Nejmeh from the 2008/2009 season until the 2013/2014 season where he triumphed the league championship twice, once in the first season and another in his last season. He scored eleven goals and Al-Nejmeh with him was always in the first three places in the League throughout all these spectacular six seasons. When Hamam was playing for Al-Nejmeh, the team won the championship twice, was a runner-up trice, and was in third place only once 2010/2011 season, only one point after the Al-Safa. He also achieved the Lebanese Super Cup and the Lebanese Elite Cup in his last season in 2014, which was a great year for him, carrying the three trophies, and achieving even more with the national team.

In 2014, he transferred to Iran to play for Zob Ahan for an estimated price of around 200,000 Euros. His current market value is considered to be approximately 250,000 euros.

International career

At international level, he joined the Lebanese national team in 2009 and played since several official and friendly matches. He played five matches for Lebanon at 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification and all four matches at 2009 Nehru Cup International Football Tournament.

He also played for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC), where Lebanon won 2-1 over South Korea in a historic match, won 1-0 over Kuwait on kuwaiti soil, and 3-1 over United Arab Emirates, causing the resignation of the latter team's coach. With these wins, and an added 2-2 tie with Kuwait, the Lebanese national team secured a spot in the second round of the qualifications with its 10 points, and Hamam was a member of the starting squad in all these games. In the second round, Hamam played as well, but despite winning over Iran, and achieving a tie with South Korea, and Uzbekistan, Lebanon could not achieve better than the fifth place, and was therefore eliminated, and did not qualify for the competition, where Iran and South Korea secured their seats in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

For the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Ali played six matches for Lebanon against Iran, Kuwait, and Thailand, but the team failed to qualify, falling in the third place above Thailand. The team almost secured the best third place in all groups, but a difference of one goal made China take his spot, leaving Lebanon in the second best third place.

Club career statistics

As of 25 November 2017.

International career statistics

As of 14 November 2017.

International goals

Scores and results list Lebanon's goal tally first.^[1]

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	15 November 2015	Saida International Stadium, Saida, Lebanon	Laos	4–0	7–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	10 October 2017	Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	North Korea	4–0	5–0	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
3.	9 November 2017	Singapore National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore	Singapore	1–0	1–0	Friendly

Honours

References

External links

• Ali Hamam at National-Football-Teams.com
• Ali Hamam at Soccerway
• Ali Hamam at WorldFootball.net