- Majed Abdullah
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Majed Abdullah 
Majed Abdullah in 1984Personal information Full name Majed Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mohammed Date of birth November 1, 1959 Place of birth Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Playing position Centre forward Youth career 1975–1977 Al-Nasr Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1977–1998 Al-Nasr 557 (320) National team 1977–1994 Saudi Arabia 139 (89) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Majed Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mohammed (Arabic: ماجد عبد الله) (born November 1, 1959 in Jeddah) is a former Saudi Arabian football (soccer) striker, the all-time goals leader for the Saudi national team. He was nicknamed Arabian Pelé. Abdullah was voted as the best football player in the history of Saudi Arabia in a poll by the Zoghbi Institute. .
Contents
Childhood
Abdullah was born in Al-Baghdadia District in Jeddah in a house close to Al-Ittihad Club and lived his childhood in that house. Majed is the second son of Mr. Ahmed Abdullaf after Abdullah. Being a neighbor to a sports club alongside with being the son of a football manager made the child Majed live in a football environment. All the pictures in the house walls and all the conversations between Majed's father and his guests about football made the young Majed a football lover from the beginning.
In the mid 60s, Majed and his family moved to Riyadh where his father got a job as the manager of Al-Nasr youth team. Majed joined "Al-Jazaeria Elementary School" and the 3 years old kid was passionately watching the older kids playing football. Couple of years later, Majed started participating in the school team and the neighborhood team as a goalkeeper. One day, the team striker was absent and Majed replaced him to guide his team to a 3-1 victory. Majed's Family moved to Hotat Khaled District and the young Majed joined "Al-Motawasta Al-Thania" high school. Majed and his young neighbors formed a team they called "Al-Ittifaq". They tried to participate in one of the most famous tournaments but their request was rejected due to their young age. The kids didn't give up and challenged one of Riyadh's best teams for a place in that tournament and surprisingly they won 3-1 with 2 goals from the young talent "Majed Abdullah". "Al-Ittifaq" was accepted to compete regardless of its members young age, and the team went on to win the championship.
Club career
Mohammed Al-Hudayan, a teammate at Al-Ittifaq, recommended Abdullah to Al-Nasr president Prince Abdulrahman Bin Saud, as did Al-Ittifaq's trainer Nasseb Awad to Khaled Al-Turki and Al-Nasr coach Ljubiša Broćić. Broćić went to see Abudullah unannounced at Al-Ittifaq's training field in Al-Batha, and requested that the club sign him. Abdullah joined Al-Nasr in November 1975.
Abdullah spent 2 years playing for the youth teams before joining the senior team., making his senior debut in a friendly against the Morrocan team Al-Fath in January 1977. His competitive debut came against Al-Shabab later the same month, followed by his first goal for the club against Al-Wehda in March 1977.Majed spent that season as a substitute but the injury of Al-Nasr number 1 striker Mohammed Saad Al-Abdali gave the young talent the chance where he started the last 4 matches of the season scoring 4 goals which was a huge achievement for a 17 years old player. Majed started his career with the shirt number 14 before switching to his legendary number 9. Majed went on to represent Al-Nasr for more than 20 years scoring 320 goals making him Al-Nasr greatest player ever.
National team
Under 17 Team
In August 1977, Majed was chosen to represent the Saudi Arabia under 17 soccer team in Tabriz Championship in Iran. Majed's beginning was stunning. He amazed everyone in the tournament including his own trainer "Jeff Faundon" and went on to score 7 goals in 3 matches (2 against Iran – 2 against Bulgaria – 3 against Russia) to become the tournament's top scorer.
The Senior Team
Majed made his senior team debut in 1978 in a friendly against Portuguese giants Benfica were he scored 2 goals in his first ever international match when he was only 18. His official debut was against Kenya in the same year. Majed represented Saudi national team continuously for 16 years where injury was the only reason to keep him out the National Team.
Goals
Majed goals for Al-Nassr in local matches
Between his first goal against Al-Wehda in 19-3-1977 and his last goal against Kopetdag of Turkmenistan in 11-4-1998 Majed scored for the club 320 goals even though he missed many matched due to either injury or representing the national team.
- Goals in Saudi Premier League:
Between 1977 and 1998 Majed represented Al-Nasr in only 218 games of a total of 455 Al-Nasr played during the same period. Majed was absent mainly due to either injury or representing the Saudi national team where at that time national team players were taken from their teams to prepare for major tournaments. In the 218 league matches, Majed scored 190 goals broken down as follows :
Season # of Goals Remarks 1976–1977 4 Majed played 5 games in his debut season 1977–1978 12 League's second top goal scorer 1978–1979 18 League's top goal scorer 1979–1980 17 League's top goal scorer 1980–1981 21 League's top goal scorer 1981–1982 9 Played only second stage – National Team duty 1982–1983 14 League's top goal scorer 1983–1984 0 Didn't play any matches – National Team duty 1984–1985 1 Played only 5 matches 1985–1986 15 League's top goal scorer 1986–1987 15 League's second top goal scorer 1987–1988 5 Played only first stage – National Team duty 1988–1989 19 League's top goal scorer 1989–1990 13 League's second top goal scorer 1990–1991 10 Missed half season – Injury 1991–1992 3 Played only 2 matches – Injury 1992–1993 4 Played only 5 matches – Injury 1993–1994 0 Didn't play any matches – National Team duty 1994–1995 8 Played only 8 matches – Injury 1995–1996 0 Played only 1 match – Injury 1996–1997 2 Played only 4 matches – Injury 1997–1998 0 Didn't play any matches – Injury Total 190 - Goals in Saudi King Cup:
Between his first match against Al-Nahda in 1977 and his last match in the final against Al-Ta'awon in 1990 (The tournament was renamed to Crown Prince Cup), Majed scored 39 goals broken down as follows:
Season # of Goals Opponent 1976–1977 5 Hajr - Nahda - Al-Qadsia 1977–1978 2 Shate 1978–1979 6 Al-Qadsia - Rabie 1979–1980 0 - 1980–1981 4 Al-Ahli - Al-Qadsia - Al-Ittifaq - Al-Hilal 1981–1982 1 Ohod 1982–1983 3 Al Jabalain - Al-Ansar - Al-Ahli 1983–1984 0 Didn't play 1984–1985 0 - 1985–1986 1 Riad 1986–1987 5 Al Taawon - Al-Ittihad - Hajr - Al-Hilal 1987–1988 2 Ohod 1988–1989 5 Al-Ittihad - Hajr - Al-Ahli 1989–1990 5 Hajr - Al-Ittifaq - Al Taawon Total 39 - Goals in Saudi Crown Prince Cup:
The King Cup was renamed as Crown Prince Cup in 1991. Majed scored only 8 goals in it. 5 goals in 1991, 1 in 1995 and 2 in 1996.
- Goals in Saudi Federation cup:
Majed participated only once in the Saudi Federation Cup and that was in 1997 season where he scored 4 goals.
- Majed goals by team:
From the above we conclude that Majed scored 265 official local goals for Al-Nasr (194 in the league + 49 in the King Cup + 13 in the Crown Prince Cup + 9 in the Federation Cup). The 265 goals are broken down team wise as follows :
Team # of Goals Al-Ittifaq 29 Al-Ahli 24 Al-Hilal 22 Al-Ittihad 19 Al-Wehda 19 Al-Qadsia 18 Al-Nahda 18 Al-Shabab 15 Riad 15 Ohod 13 Al-Ta'ee 11 Hajr 8 Al-Rawda 8 Al-Ansar 6 Al Jabalain 5 Al-Rabie 4 Al Taawon 3 Al-Shate 2 Al-Arabi 1 Al-Raed 1 Al-Najma 1 Total 242 Majed goals for Al-Nassr in continental and regional matches
Team Country # of Goals Al-Ahli Oman 1 Al-Rayyan Qatar 2 Al-Rifa Bahrain 1 Al-Nasr Oman 3 Al-Sadd Qatar 1 Al-Arabi Kuwait 1 Al-Ansar Lebanon 1 Kazma Kuwait 2 Dhufar Oman 2 Al-Arabi Qatar 2 Al-Rifa Al-Sharqi Bahrain 1 Kopetdag Turkmenistan 1 Total 18 Majed goals for Al-Nasr in friendly matches
Majed scored for Al-Nasr 61 goals in friendly matches. The most famous one was against Manchester city in 1987.
Majed goals for the national team
From August 1977 to June 1994, Majed scored 229 for the Nation Team. However, only 118 were officially counted because the remaining 111 were not scored in "Class A" matches (either against clubs or Olympic teams)
Majed goals summary
Scoring for Goals Classification # of Goals Al-Nasr Saudi Premier League 190 Al-Nasr King Cup 39 Al-Nasr Crown Prince Cup 8 Al-Nasr Saudi Federation cup 4 Al-Nasr Regional Matches 18 Al-Nasr Friendly Matches 61 National Team Class A Matches 118 National Team Non Class A Matches 111 Total 549 Firsts in Majed life
Majed Abdullah with the Asia Cup 1984
- First training camp with Al-Nasr was in London in 1976.
- First training camp with the National Team (under 17) was also in London in 1977.
- First coach with Al-Nasr was Ljubiša Broćić
- First coach with the National Team (under 17) was Jeff Faundon.
- First shirt number with Al-Nasr was 14.
- First shirt number with the National Team was 17.
- First match with Al-Nasr was against Al-Fath from Morocco in a friendly in 15-1-1977.
- First official match with Al-Nasr was against Al-Shabab in 22-1-1977.
- First goal with Al-Nasr was against Al-Wehda in 18-3-1977.
- First international goal was against Iran under 17 in 15-8-1977.
- First goal with the Saudi Senior Team was in a friendly against Benfica in January 1978.
- First official goal with the Saudi Senior Team was against Kenya in January 1978.
- First "League Top Scorer" Trophy was in 1978-1978 season.
Lasts in Majed life
From the Left Majed Abdullah, Tawfiq Al-Muqrin and Abdullah Abed Rabbo in Iraq 1978.- Last local match was against Al-Hilal in 1996-1997 season.
- Last local goal was against Al-Ittifaq in January 1997.
- Last local trophy was the Saudi Premier League 1994-1995 season.
- Last International match was against Belgium during 1994 FIFA World Cup in 29-6-1994.
- Last International goal was against Kuwait during 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifications.
- Last goal with Al-Nasr was against Kopetdag of Turkmenistan in 11-4-1998.
- Last match with Al-Nasr was against Suwon Samsung Bluewings of South Korea in the Asian Cup Winners Cup final on 13-4-1998.
- Last "League Top Scorer" Trophy was in 1988-1989 season.
Achievements
- Saudi Premier League : 5 times
- Saudi King Cup : 4 times
- Asian Cup Winners Cup
- Gulf Club Champions Cup : 2 times
- AFC Asian Cup : 2 times
- Qualifying for the 1994 FIFA World Cup
- Saudi Premier League Top Scorer : 6 times ( 3 from them Consecutively )
- Gulf Cup of Nations 1982 : Top Scorer
- Arabian Golden Boot : 2 times
- Gulf Club Champions Cup : Top Scorer
- Asian Player of the Years 1984,1985,1986
- Asia Best Players of the Century : 3rd
- Arabian Player of the Century : Al-Jazeera Channel Survey
- Saudi Arabia Athlete of the Century : French Press Agency (AFP) Survey
Farewell match
On 2008-05-20 - after 10 years from last match - , a big farewell match was organised between Al-Nasr and Real Madrid who were just crowned with their 31st La Liga title. 70,000 people packed in King Fahd Stadium and additional 30,000 went back home because there were no more space. The match ended 4-1 in favour of Al-Nasr with 2 goals from Malek Mouath and a goal from Saud Kariri and Nashat Akram. Arjen Robben scored Real Madrid's only goal.
Match details
20 May 2008
18:15 (GMT)Al Nasr 
4-1 
Real MadridKing Fahd Stadium, Riyadh
Attendance: 70,000
Referee: Mutrif Al-QahtaniMalek 
54, 90+1', Akram 55',
Kariri
61'Robben 50'See also
References
- Asian Player of the Year 1984
- In 1999, he was honoured by AFC as the Player for the Century for Asia.
- Top Footballers A-Z Encyclopedia
- Football Legends
- Al-Jazeera Survey-Arabian Player of the Century
- FIFA Football Committee
External links
- Majed9 website A Fan's tribute to Majed Abdullah (Arabic/English)
- Saudi Arabia FA official site
- Playerhistory.com Majed Abdullahs Profile
- Majed Abdullah -International Goals
Saudi Arabia squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Al‑Deayea • 2 Al‑Dosari • 3 Al‑Khilaiwi • 4 Zubromawi • 5 Madani • 6 Amin • 7 Al‑Ghesheyan • 8 Al‑Bishi • 9 Abdullah • 10 Al‑Owairan • 11 Al‑Mehallel • 12 Al‑Jaber • 13 Al‑Jawad • 14 Al‑Muwallid • 15 Al‑Dawod • 16 Jebreen • 17 Al‑Taifi • 18 Al‑Anazi • 19 Saleh • 20 Idris • 21 Al‑Sadiq • 22 Al‑Helwah • Coach: Solari
Categories:- 1959 births
- Living people
- Saudi Arabia international footballers
- Saudi Arabian footballers
- Al-Nassr FC players
- 1984 AFC Asian Cup players
- 1988 AFC Asian Cup players
- 1994 FIFA World Cup players
- AFC Asian Cup-winning players
- FIFA Century Club
- Saudi Arabian people of Black African descent
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