 Al-Khatib withSyria in 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Firas Mohamad Al Khatib | ||
| Date of birth | (1983-06-09)9 June 1983 (age 42) | ||
| Place of birth | Homs, Syria | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Al-Fahaheel (head coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1999 | Al-Karamah | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1999–2002 | Al-Karamah | 39 | (21) |
| 2002–2003 | Al-Naser | 21 | (13) |
| 2003–2009 | Al-Arabi | 196 | (186) |
| 2005 | →Al-Ahli (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2009–2011 | Al-Qadsia | 23 | (17) |
| 2011–2012 | Umm Salal | 6 | (1) |
| 2012 | Al-Qadsia | 8 | (4) |
| 2012–2013 | Zakho | 7 | (2) |
| 2013–2014 | Shanghai Shenhua | 41 | (12) |
| 2014–2016 | Al-Arabi | 59 | (51) |
| 2016–2017 | Al-Kuwait | 18 | (13) |
| 2017–2019 | Al-Salmiya | 16 | (11) |
| Total | 435 | (331) | |
| International career | |||
| 1999–2001 | Syria U17 | 23 | (17) |
| 2001–2003 | Syria U20 | 33 | (39) |
| 2003–2004 | Syria U23 | 24 | (11) |
| 2001–2019 | Syria | 72 | (36) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2019–2020 | Al-Salmiya (assistant) | ||
| 2021 | Al-Naser (assistant) | ||
| 2022 | Zakho | ||
| 2022– | Al-Fahaheel | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Firas Mohamad Al Khatib (Arabic:فراس محمد الخطيب; born 9 June 1983) is aSyrian formerfootballer who mainly played as aforward.[1] He is theSyria national team all-time top goalscorer, with 36 goals.[2]
Al-Khatib began playing football at Al-Karamah SC, he was included in the club's categories U-14, with whom he played for two seasons. One of the most important achievements of Al Khatib with youth Al Karamah was the victory of the Republic Cup and the title of the league's top scorer twice 1994–95, 1995–96. He then went on to play for Al Karamah U-17 in 1997, where he was crowned with the league title in the same year.
He also won the top scorer title. All this helped the young boy reach the youth team. During two seasons with U-19 team, he managed to win the league title and the second scorer.[3]
Al Khatib started his professional career in theSyrian Premier League withAl-Karamah in the 1999–2000 season. On 6 October 2000, he scored his first goal in the Syrian Premier League againstAl-Futowa which 1–1 finished. In the 2000–01 season, he emerged as his club's top scorer, ranking joint-third overall in the league with 14 goals.[4]
During 2001, he spent two trials in Belgium; first withGent and the second withAnderlecht.[5]
In August 2002, he transferred to Kuwaiti ClubAl-Naser, and played inKuwaiti Premier League for the first time. He then moved toAl-Arabi, which also competed in the Kuwaiti Premier League.
WithAl-Arabi he won theKuwait Emir Cup three times, theKuwait Crown Prince Cup twice and theKuwait Super Cup once. He also scored 134 goals for the club and became a legend in the club.
In June 2005, he was loaned out toAl-Ahli inQatar for one match, and played alongsidePep Guardiola.
On 24 August 2009, Al Khatib signed a two-year contract withAl-Qadsia in the Kuwaiti Premier League and played alongside his old teammateJehad Al-Hussain.[6]
In July 2012, he participated in three games withNottingham Forest, scoring once in a trial of month.[7] He impressed managerSean O'Driscoll enough that the club were looking to sign him on a permanent basis but he was denied a work permit and the club was unable to sign him.[8]
On 10 September 2012, he tweeted that he signed withIraqi Premier League clubZakho FC officially.
He left Iraq to joinSergio Batista'sChinese Super League sideShanghai Shenhua at February 2013. He scored his first goal in hisChinese Super League debut.
He became a free agent at the end of the 2013–14 football season and returned toKuwait. He declined an offer fromKuwait SC and joinedAl-Arabi SC on a 2-year deal.
During the first derby againstAl-Salmiya, Al-Khatib scored his 100th league goal, but Al-Arabi SC lost the match 3–2.[9]
Al-Khatib ended the season with 20 goals and shared the VIVA Premier League 2014–15 top league scorer withPatrick Fabiano. His total goal tally in all competitions was 24 goals. In 2015–16, he was selected in the VIVS Premier League 1st Team alongside teammateAli Maqseed. Al-Khatib also won the VPL Golden Boot and top scorer of Al-Arabi with 27 goals; his highest tally in any season with any team.
In September 2017, he joined to Al-Salmiya, and scored 11 goals in his Kuwaiti Premier League.He became the best goalscorer in Kuwait Premier League history after he scored 147 goals, exceeding many Kuwaiti legends.[10]
On 29 September 2019, Al-Khatib announced his retirement from football after spending the whole summer without a club.[11] He finished his career scoring 349 goals[a] to achieve the 19th place in the list of world's best goal scorer of 21st century,[12][13] as well as being the all-time top scorer of all Kuwaiti domestic competitions with 210 goals.[14] He was also the all-time top scorer in theKuwaiti Premier League, with 162 goals, before Bader Al-Mutawa broke his record in 2024.
Between 2001 and 2002, Al-Khatib played for theSyrian U-17 team. He played for Syria in theAFC U-17 Championship 2002 in theUnited Arab Emirates and was part of the Syrian U-23 team that participated in the AFC Olympic qualification campaign for the2004 Summer Olympics.
Al-Khatib was a regular for theSyria national football team from 2001 to 2012. His international debut was at theFIFA World Cup qualification 2002,[15] when he came on as a substitute forKhaled Al Zaher in the match againstPhilippine on 4 May 2001 in theAl-Hamadaniah Stadium inAleppo. On 11 May 2001 he scored one goal in the FIFA World Cup qualification 2002 match againstLaos the match was finished 9–0 forSyria.
From 2012 to 2017, Al-Khatib boycotted the Syrian national football team to protest presidentBashar al-Assad and his government's airstrikes against Al-Khatib's hometown of Homs. On 23 March 2017, al-Khatib re-joinedSyrian national football team and expressed support for Assad.[16]
He was not included in the final squad of2019 AFC Asian Cup after getting injured about a month before the tournament, although, he claimed that he was capable of participating if the manager called him because his injury was minor and he could be part of the second match at least. It was really disappointing to him as he mentioned many times on Bein Sports as he was one of the pundits there during the tournament.[17] He was one of the first people who asked to sack coachBernd Stange after the loss againstJordan.[18] In an interview diffused 20 March 2019, he denied any rows between players about the captaincy before and during the Asian Cup, and denied also whatOmar Al Somah said earlier about falling out for the captaincy armband.[19]
On 5 September 2019, Al Khatib played againstPhilippine in the2022 FIFA World Cup qualification; hence he became the first Asian and seventh footballer in total to participate in six different World Cup qualifiers, other footballers are:Gianluigi Buffon,Essam El Hadary,Pat Jennings,Russell Latapy,Víctor René Mendieta Ocampo andDwight Yorke.[20]
In 2019–20, Al Khatib became an assistant coach at Al-Salmiya.[21] In June 2021, he was appointed as the head coach of his hometown club Al Karamah.[22] A few days later, Al-Khatib refrained for Al Karama coaching due to "family circumstances". Subsequently, he was appointed as an assistant coach at Al-Naser.[23]
In April 2022, Firas became the coach of the Iraqi clubZakho.[24] Three months later, in July 2022, Firas returned to Kuwait as coach ofAl-Fahaheel.[25] In May 2024, he extended his contract with the latter until 2025.[26]
Al-Khatib, the youngest of 12 siblings, revealed that he is ofEgyptian origin, from al-Sha'rawi family, in which his ancestor came to and settled inMahin, during theIbrahim Pasha campaign. One of his grandfathers was renamed to Al-Khatib as he worked as animam.[27]
He is married and has 6 children.[28]
| Syria[29] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2001 | 2 | 1 |
| 2002 | 7 | 5 |
| 2003 | 5 | 5 |
| 2004 | 4 | 1 |
| 2006 | 7 | 5 |
| 2008 | 8 | 3 |
| 2009 | 7 | 6 |
| 2010 | 3 | 0 |
| 2011 | 5 | 1 |
| 2017 | 9 | 2 |
| 2018 | 2 | 1 |
| 2019 | 13 | 6 |
| Total | 72 | 36 |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 11 May 2001 | Al-Hamadaniah Stadium,Aleppo, Syria |  Laos | 8–0 | 9–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2. | 9 December 2002 | Bahrain National Stadium,Riffa, Bahrain |  Bahrain | 1–0 | 3–2 | Friendly |
| 3. | 3–2 | |||||
| 4. | 17 December 2002 | Kuwait National Stadium,Kuwait City, Kuwait |  Yemen | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2002 Arab Nations Cup |
| 5. | 3–2 | |||||
| 6. | 21 December 2002 |  Lebanon | 1–0 | 4–1 | ||
| 7. | 15 October 2003 | Abbasiyyin Stadium,Damascus, Syria |  Sri Lanka | 5–0 | 5–0 | 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 8. | 18 October 2003 | 1–0 | 8–0 | |||
| 9. | 3–0 | |||||
| 10. | 4–0 | |||||
| 11. | 7 November 2003 |  United Arab Emirates | 1–0 | 1–1 | ||
| 12. | 26 March 2004 |  Palestine | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly | |
| 13. | 7 February 2006 | 3–0 | 3–0 | |||
| 14. | 22 February 2006 | Al-Hamadaniah Stadium, Aleppo, Syria |  South Korea | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 15. | 1 March 2006 | Zhongshan Soccer Stadium,Taipei, Taiwan |  Chinese Taipei | 4–0 | 4–0 | |
| 16. | 15 November 2006 | Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus, Syria | 2–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 17. | 3–0 | |||||
| 18. | 8 June 2008 | Thamir Stadium,Salmiya, Kuwait |  Kuwait | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 19. | 2–2 | |||||
| 20. | 29 December 2008 | Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Bahrain | Bahrain | 1–0 | 2–2 | Friendly |
| 21. | 14 January 2009 | Aleppo International Stadium, Aleppo, Syria |  China | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 22. | 18 January 2009 | Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait |  Turkmenistan | 4–1 | 5–1 | Friendly |
| 23. | 5–1 | |||||
| 24. | 23 January 2009 | Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait | Kuwait | 3–2 | 3–2 | |
| 25. | 28 January 2009 | Saida Municipal Stadium,Sidon, Lebanon | Lebanon | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 26. | 27 January 2009 | Saputo Stadium,Montreal, Canada |  Haiti | 2–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 27. | 13 January 2011 | Qatar SC Stadium,Doha, Qatar |  Japan | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2011 AFC Asian Cup |
| 28. | 26 August 2017 | Hang Jebat Stadium,Malacca, Malaysia |  Iraq | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 29. | 13 November 2017 | Karbala Sports City,Karbala, Iraq | 1–0 | 1–1 | ||
| 30. | 27 March 2018 | Basra Sports City,Basra, Iraq | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2018 International Friendship Championship | |
| 31. | 23 March 2019 |  Jordan | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2019 International Friendship Championship | |
| 32. | 8 July 2019 | The Arena,Ahmedabad, India |  North Korea | 5–2 | 5–2 | 2019 Hero Intercontinental Cup |
| 33. | 16 July 2019 |  India | 1–1 | 1–1 | ||
| 34. | 5 August 2019 | Karbala Sports City, Karbala, Iraq | Yemen | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2019 WAFF Championship |
| 35. | 11 August 2019 | Palestine | 2–3 | 3–4 | ||
| 36. | 5 September 2019 | Panaad Stadium,Bacolod, Philippines |  Philippines | 3–1 | 5–2 | 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Cited sources
Further reading
