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Yasser Saeed Al Qahtani
Personal information
Full name	Yasser Al Qahtani
Date of birth	October 10, 1982 (1982-10-10) (age 25)
Place of birth	Al Khubar, Saudi Arabia
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Al-Hilal
Number	20
Youth clubs
2000-2003	Al-Qadisiya
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003–2005 2005-present	Al-Qadisiya Al-Hilal	38(19) 49(25)
National team2
2002-present	Saudi Arabia	54 (44)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 december 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 1 december 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Yasser Al-Qahtani (Arabic: ياسر القحطاني‎) (born October 10, 1982) is a Saudi Arabian professional football player, nicknamed "The Sniper" and "Robin Hood". He is the captain of the Saudi Arabia national football team and currently plays for Al-Hilal.

In 2005, he moved from Al-Qadisiya club to Al-Hilal for a record 23 million SR (5.33 million USD).

International career

He played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup where he scored a goal against Tunisia and also in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup where he was the top goalscorer of the tournament with the iraqis striker younis mahmoud and the japanis striker Naohiro Takahara

Al-Qahtani is ranked 6th in the "World's Top Goal Scorers 2007" by International Federation of Football History & Statistics.

Al-Qahtani is very keen to join a major club in Europe.^{citation needed} Both coaches and pundits were impressed with his performance in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup where he was the youngest Saudi captain ever, leading the national team to the final and becoming the top goalscorer in the competition with the iraqis striker younis mahmoud and the japanis striker Naohiro Takahara

Professional career

Al-Qahtani began his journey at Al-Qadisiya, where he gained fame for his scoring abilities and skill on the ball. He was sold to Al-Hilal for a record price of US $5.33 million, which is still a record in the league. After moving to Hilal, he scored many amazing goals; one memorable one was against Valencia CF, with Al-Hilal winning the match. He is often praised for his intelligence and experience in goal finishing, being linked to many European clubs in the process. Recently, in a friendly match with Manchester United he scored a goal on Edwin van der Sar which gave his team the lead. Al-Hilal finished the match with a 3-2 victory. He has since remained loyal to his club.

Interest shown by English clubs

English club Middlesbrough was said to be interested, as reported November 19, 2007.^[1]

In addition, Al-Qahtani was on trial at Manchester City. The 25-year-old striker arrived in Manchester on December 19 with Al-Hilal president Prince Mohammed bin Faisal, to meet with Sven-Göran Eriksson and his coaching staff, who wanted to take a closer look at the player. Manchester City negotiated with Al-Qahtani and his club, but they couldn't reach a deal and the player returned to Saudi Arabia. Later on, Al-Qahtani stated that he would like to stay with his club at least until the end of the season.

Honours

• Named Asian Footballer of the Year in 2007.

Notes

References

• the official site for Yasser Al-Qahtani (Arabic)
• the official site for alhilal saudi club (Arabic,English,French)

External links

• Goals & Skills (Video)

v • d • e Saudi Arabia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Al‑Deayea • 2 Dokhi • 3 Tukar • 4 Al‑Montashari • 5 Al‑Qadi • 6 Al‑Ghamdi • 7 Ameen • 8 Noor • 9 Al‑Jaber • 10 Al‑Shalhoub • 11 Al‑Harthi • 12 Khathran • 13 Sulaimani • 14 Khariri • 15 Al‑Bahri • 16 Aziz • 17 Al‑Bishi • 18 Al‑Temyat • 19 Massad • 20 Al‑Qahtani • 21 Zaid • 22 Khouja • 23 Mouath • Coach: Paquetá