Tarik El Taib
Tarek Al Taib (born 28 February 1977) is a Libyan football midfielder.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tariq Ibrahim Mohammad Al Taib | ||
| Date of birth | 28 February 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Tripoli, Libya | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1992–1994 | Alahly Tripoli | ||
| 1995 | Juventus | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1995–2001 | Alahly Tripoli | 26 | (11) |
| 1996–1997 | → Beira-Mar (loan) | ||
| 2001–2004 | CS Sfaxien | 65 | (37) |
| 2004–2006 | Gaziantepspor | 47 | (5) |
| 2006–2009 | Al-Hilal | 45 | (11) |
| 2009–2010 | Al-Shabab Riyadh | 10 | (3) |
| 2010–2011 | Alahly Tripoli | ||
| 2011–2012 | Al-Naser Kuwait | 13 | (4) |
| 2012–2013 | Misr Lel-Makkasa | 0 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Suwaiq Club | ||
| 2014 | Muaither SC | ||
| 2016 | Alahly Tripoli | ||
| National team‡ | |||
| 1998–2008 | Libya | 77 | (23) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 December 2009 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 December 2009 | |||
Club career
Al-Taib began his career in Libya with Alahly Tripoli. In his first year, he played 26 matches and scored 11 goals, coming third in the 1997/1998 Libyan Player of the Year award. He then went on to win the award five times in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005. He was an Amazigh Libyan originally from a small town in the Nafusa mountains called Gelaa, but brought up in the Libyan capital Tripoli. On 6 September 2013, he signed a one-year contract with Oman Professional League club Al-Suwaiq Club.
Individual awards
At Tunisian side Club Sportif Sfaxien. He played 65 games there, scoring 27 goals. That caught the eye of some of the big clubs in Europe, arguably Arsenal, Newcastle United and some other clubs. 2003 and 2004 were arguably the best years of his playing career, after he came respectively 5th and 6th in the African Footballer of the Year award.
Offers
In 1995 a scout sent from Juventus went to Libya to search for young potential, he chose Tariq Al Taib and he went with him to Italy and trained with Juventus for a month. Juventus were impressed and decided to buy him, but the Libyan Football Federation did not grant him a license to play in Italy. In 2000, he went to West Ham United F.C. and played with them in a friendly match against Arsenal which ended with Arsenal winning 2 - 1, in which Tariq Al Taib scored West Ham's goal. Arsenal were interested in buying him but again, he was unable to get a license to play in England. In 2003, after a friendly match against Argentina, in which Tariq Al Taib put in a strong performance and scored a remarkable goal, receiving a pass from a team-mate near the corner post, running down the wing past two players and then scoring at nearly a 180-degree angle. He then received an offer from the Spanish club Valencia but the Libyan authorities restricted his potential career at the highest level.
International career
he captained the side during the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers and the African Nations Cup. He announced his retirement from international football in May 2008.
In the Championship Manager video game, his name was rendered as "Tarek Ettayeb".
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