Yousuf Al-Thunayan

Youssef Al-Thunayyan
Personal information
Full name Youssef Al-Thunayyan
Date of birth (1963-11-18) November 18, 1963
Place of birth Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Winger / Attacking Midfielder
Youth career
1981–1983 Al-Hilal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–2003 Al-Hilal 350 (183)
National team
1986–1998 Saudi Arabia 81 (20)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Yousuf Al-Thunayyan (Arabic: يوسف الثُنيان‎, born November 18, 1963) is a former association football winger and attacking midfielder from Saudi Arabia. He spent all 21 seasons of his senior career at Al-Hilal FC. An elite playmaker, renowned for his elegance, vision, dribbling skills, ball control and technique, Al-Thunayyan was nicknamed "The Philosopher" due to his amazing abilities in terms of dribbling, unique goal scoring, and distribution. Therefore, he has been widely regarded as the greatest player in Saudi Arabia and Asia as well, and one of the greatest players of all time.

Club career

Al-Thunayan played his entire club career for Al-Hilal, joining the first team in 1984 and retiring in 2005 after winning a total of 24 titles with the club. On 14 December 2005, Al-Hilal hosted Valencia in his farewell match.[1]

International career

During his active career, Al-Thunayan played 95 international matches and scored 33 goals for the Saudi Arabian national team. At the age of 34 he was selected for his only Football World Cup, and appeared in two games, scoring from the penalty spot in the 2-2 draw with South Africa.[2] He helped the Saudi national team to win the Asian nations cup twice. The first one was in 1988 in Doha, Qatar, when he did his best performance. The second one was in 1996 in U.A.E. Al Thunayan did a brilliant job in the quarter final against China. the Saudi team was trailing 0-2, until Al Thunayan came in from the bench to score the first goal and the third goal in a game that ended 4-3 for theSaudi team. after coming back from the world cup 1998, he helped the Saudi team to capture the gold in the Arab cup in Doha, Qatar. he scored the equalizer against Kuwait in the simi-final from a free kick. the made to assists in the final against Qatar which ended 3-1.

International goals

[3]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
125 February 1986Khobar, Saudi Arabia Wales1–2LostFriendly
23 October 1986Seoul, South Korea Kuwait2–2Drew1986 Asian Games
315 March 1989Jeddah Saudi Arabia Syria5–4Won1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
415 October 1992Riyadh, Saudi Arabia United States3–0WonFIFA Confederations Cup
529 October 1992Hiroshima, Japan China PR1–1Drew1992 AFC Asian Cup
62 November 1992Hiroshima, Japan Thailand4–0Won1992 AFC Asian Cup
729 December 1995Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Kazakhstan3–0WonFriendly
829 December 1995Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Kazakhstan3–0WonFriendly
924 January 1996Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Kyrgyzstan3–0Won1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1024 January 1996Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Kyrgyzstan3–0Won1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1128 January 1996Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Yemen4–0Won1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1228 January 1996Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Yemen4–0Won1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1331 January 1996Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Kyrgyzstan2–0Won1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1421 October 1996Muscat, Oman Bahrain3–1Won1996 Gulf Cup of Nations
1516 December 1996Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates China PR4–3Won1996 AFC Asian Cup
1616 December 1996Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates China PR4–3Won1996 AFC Asian Cup
1714 September 1997Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Kuwait2–1Won1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
1824 June 1998Bordeaux, France South Africa2–2Drew1998 FIFA World Cup
1929 September 1998Doha, Qatar Kuwait2–1Won1998 Arab Nations Cup
202 November 1998Manama, Bahrain Bahrain1–1Drew1998 Gulf Cup of Nations

Honours

Club

International

Individual

Farewell match

Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia2–1Spain Valencia
Al-Qahtani  30'
Al-Jumaan  69'		 Regueiro  80'
Attendance: more than 65,000

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ciberche.net/histoche/partidos/5?mid=4110
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 15, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
  3. ↑ Roberto Mamrud & Naim Albakr. "Sami Abdullah Al-Jaber - Century of International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 2013-11-23.
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