| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mansour Muftah Faraj Bekhit Al-Abdullah | ||
| Date of birth | (1955-11-22)22 November 1955 | ||
| Place of birth | Doha,Qatar | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker,Winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1967–1972 | Al-Rayyan | ||
| 1972–1973 | Al-Rayyan | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1974–1994 | Al-Rayyan | 216 | (160) |
| 1995–1998 | Al-Wakrah | 44 | (19) |
| 1999–2000 | Al-Qadsiyah | 19 | (7) |
| Total | 279 | (186) | |
| International career | |||
| 1976–1993 | Qatar | 81 | (42) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Mansour Muftah Faraj Bekhit Al-Abdullah, or simplyMansour Muftah, alternatively spelledMansoor Moftah (Arabic:منصور مفتاح فرج بخيت العبد الله, born 1955) is a formerQatarifootballer who representedQatar national team andAl-Rayyan as astriker. In 81 games for the national team, Muftah has scored 42 goals, In 2023,Almoez Ali overtook him as the top goal-scorer of the Qatar national teamall-time top goal scorer.[1] Additionally, Muftah played forAl-Rayyan for the majority of his club career. He scored 179 league goals in theQatari League first division. Al-Rayyan became one of the leading teams in Qatari football during this period. Throughout his career, Muftah also finished as theQatari League's top goal-scorer seven times.
Mansour Muftah was born on 22 November 1955, inDoha,Qatar.[2]
He attended the New Rayyan School; the school's football pitch was shared byAl Rayyan's first team. One day, he joined in on an Al Rayyan training session, and scored two goals in a training match, prompting head coach Ashour Salem to ask him to join Al Rayyan's youth teams. Muftah rejected as he was a fan ofAl Arabi, and was under pressure from his family to play for Al Arabi. Nonetheless, his sister-in-law presented him a contract with Al Rayyan, and he signed it without knowledge of the contents. Shortly after, his brother forced him into signing a contract binding him to Al Arabi. This caused the two respective clubs to involve theQFA, which offered him a chance to select between the two clubs. He chose to play for Al Rayyan, to the indignation of his brother. The following day, the Al Rayyan youth team secured a 3–1 victory over the Al Sadd youth team, with Muftah netting two goals. He then featured in a dominant 5–0 win against the Al Wakrah youth side. Continuing their strong form, Al Rayyan went on to defeat the Al Arabi youth team 3–1 in their next match.[3]
Muftah got promoted to the first team at the age of nineteen. He played forAl-Rayyan from the years 1974 to 1994, during his tenure he became a club legend and one of their greatest-ever players.
He helped the team win sixQatari League titles, and was the league’s top scorer on multiple occasions (1973–74, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, and 1985–86) seasons. Notably, in the 1985–86 campaign, he set a remarkable record by scoring 22 goals in just 12 matches. During his time atAl-Rayyan, He became the first player to win theArabian Golden Boot twice in 1981-82 and 1985–86, He also contributed to Al-Rayyan’s victory in theQatar Sheikh Jassem Cup in 1992.
In 1995, Muftah was set to joinAl Sadd, but strong opposition from Al-Rayyan fans due to the fierce rivalry between the two clubs prevented the move.[4] As a result, he signed with Al-Wakrah instead. He played with the team till 1998. During his tenure, He scored 19 goals in 44 matches, and won theQatar Sheikh Jassem Cup in 1998.[5] Muftah also guided his team reach the runners-up position in the 1994–95Emir Cup, scoring in the final.[6]
Muftah also notes regrettably when he scored the game-winning goal in a 1–0 victory over his old team,Al-Rayyan, Since they only needed a win or draw to be declared champions of the1995–96 league season, The goal not only gaveAl-Wakrah the victory but also allowedAl-Arabi to snatch the league title. Muftah later apologised for scoring in the game.[4]
Towards the end of Mansour's footballing career, he joinedAl-Qadsiyah (now known asAl-Sailiya), a club that participated in theQatari Second Division. He joined in 1999 and played for the club for one season before retiring. He played 19 matches and scored 7 goals.[5]
Due to his performances atAl-Rayyan, Muftah received numerous transfer offers from clubs abroad such asAl-Nasr andAl Jazira, and most notably an offer fromAl Hilal in 1981, where he would have played alongsideRivellino. However, the deal was never finalized.[4]
Muftah made his international debut in the1976 Gulf Cup againstSaudi Arabia.[7] He scored 4 goals in 6 games in the tournament, including a two-minute brace againstBahrain.[8] He featured in the1978 Asian Games scoring a brace to level the game againstSaudi Arabia to enable a draw.[4][9][10] He also featured in the1979 Gulf Cup inIraq, scoring a single goal against the UAE, and again in1982 Gulf Cup.[11] scoring a goal againstOman. He scored his firstWorld cup qualifier goal in 1978 againstBahrain in the 40th minute resulting in a 2-0 win for Qatar,
His most successful spree in theFIFA World Cup qualification was in1986 where he scored aHat-trick and a poker againstLebanon, but both matches were annulled. Another one of his memorable moments came in1990 where he scored a header from a difficult angle against rivalsSaudi Arabia in the 87' minute to draw the game, In the same qualifing stage he scored in the 87' minute after teammateMahmoud Soufi who scored a few seconds prior in the game againstChina to giveQatar the victory.
In 1981, he participated in theWorld Military Cup held in Qatar, helping his team finish as runners-up.[12] From 1980 till 1986, the national team was coached byEvaristo de Macedo, who he describes as"undoubtedly the most influential person in his playing career".[13] He scored the winner againstSyria in the qualifying rounds which enabled Qatar to play at themen's tournament at the1984 Summer Olympics.[14]
He scored two goals and attained three assists in the group stage of the1988 AFC Asian Cup held inQatar. AfterQatar made an early exit, Muftah, who was the team captain, stated he felt humiliated for not at least reaching the knock-out stage. In a post-tournament interview, he apologized to the Qatari fans on behalf of the team. Despite losing in the group stages, he earned 45,000 QR for winning two of the games.[13]
He retired from international football in 1990, due to differences with the coach,Dino Sani.[12] In total, he participated in 6Arabian Gulf Cup and 3AFC Asian Cups.[15] Despite announcing international retirement, he came back to play in the1994 FIFA World Cup qualification, marking his last few appearances for the national side.[2]
He retired in a match againstEgypt.[16]
His brother, Faraj Muftah, was a volleyball referee and player who played for theAl Rayyan Volleyball Team and theQatar national volleyball team.[17]
He participated in theSyria International Rally in 2004.[18] He has a son,Tameem Mansour, who plays for Al Rayyan as well as the Qatar national team.[19]
Mansour Muftah is regarded as one of the best Arab goal-scorers of his era. He was the first player to win theArabian Golden Boot twice in 1981–82 and 1985–86, He was an influential player for both club and country, contributing numerous goals and attacking plays. A record seven-time top scorer, He is also the all-time leading goal scorer in theEmir Cup with 36 goals and in theSheikh Jassim Cup with 34 goals. He is nicknamed "The Fox" due to his speed and ability to score from inside the box as well as with long-range shots alongside his dribbling skills, He reportedly scored 317 goals in 324 matches for both club and country.
from2013–14 Qatar Stars League season onwards, the top goalscorer award was renamed to the "Mansour Muftah Award" in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Qatari football.[20]
To honour his immense contributions to football inQatar,Aspire Zone Pitch 7 was named after Muftah for theFIFA U-17 World Cup.[21]
| Club | Season | QSL | GCC Champions League | Sheikh Jassim Cup | Qatar Emir Cup | AFC Champions League | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Al-Rayyan | 1975–76 | 12 | |||||||||||
| 1976–77 | 13 | ||||||||||||
| 1977–78 | 11 | ||||||||||||
| 1978–79 | 9 | ||||||||||||
| 1979–80 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 1980–81 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| 1981–82 | 12 | 19 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 1982–83 | 10 | ||||||||||||
| 1983–84 | 7 | ||||||||||||
| 1984–85 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 1985–86 | 12 | 22 | |||||||||||
| 1986–87 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| 1987–88 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 1988–89 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 1989–90 | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 1990–91 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 1991–92 | 7 | ||||||||||||
| 1992–93 | 8 | 5 | |||||||||||
| 1994–93 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Career total | 272 | 160 | 7 | 30+ | 30+ | 4 | |||||||
| Club | Season | QSL | Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup | Crown Prince Cup | Qatar Emir Cup | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Assist | ||
| Al-Wakrah | 1994–95 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | ||
| 1995–96 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 12 | ||
| 1996–97 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 7 | ||
| 1997–98 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | ||
| 1998–99 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 62 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 87 | 27 | ||
| Club | Season | QSD | Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup | Crown Prince Cup | Qatar Emir Cup | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Assist | ||
| Al-Sailiya | 1999–00 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 | |
| Career total | 19 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 | ||
Qatar squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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