.jpg) Ali with the2019 AFC Asian Cup Golden Boot trophy after winning the tournament withQatar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Almoez Ali Zainalabedeen Mohamed Abdulla[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1996-08-19)19 August 1996 (age 29) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Khartoum,Sudan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Striker,winger[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Al-Duhail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2006 | Al-Mesaimeer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2013 | Aspire Academy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Lekhwiya | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Eupen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | LASK II | 4 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | LASK | 7 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Cultural Leonesa | 10 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Al-Duhail B | 4 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016– | Al-Duhail | 161 | (56) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Qatar U20 | 9 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Qatar U23 | 7 | (6) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016– | Qatar | 125 | (60) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 24 January 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 14 October 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Almoez Ali Zainalabedeen Mohamed Abdulla (Arabic:الْمُعِزّ عَلِيّ زَيْن الْعَابِدِين مُحَمَّد عَبْدُ اللّٰه; born 19 August 1996) is a professionalfootballer who plays as astriker forQatar Stars League clubAl-Duhail, which he currentlycaptains. Born in Sudan, he plays for theQatar national team.
Ali is currently the nation'sall-time top goalscorer. He was a member of theQatar national team which won back-to-backAsian Cup titles in2019 and2023, at the2019 Asian Cup, he scored a record nine goals, and was named the tournament'sbest player.[4] He is also the only footballer to score in three different intercontinental championships, those being theAFC Asian Cup, theCopa América and theCONCACAF Gold Cup.[5]
Ali was born inSudan and moved toQatar at a early age.[6][7] He started playing forAl-Mesaimeer when he was seven years old, then moved toAspire Academy and also played youth football atLekhwiya SC.[8][9] He was also a part of the youth setup for Belgian clubEupen in 2015.[10]
In July 2015, Ali joined the senior team ofAustrian clubLASK.[11] His first and onlyAustrian Bundesliga league goal for the club's first team came on 27 November 2015 againstFloridsdorfer AC, becoming the second Qatari to score a league goal inAustria's top league, afterAdel Jadoua Ali.[12]
In January 2016, Ali left the club and joinedCultural Leonesa, which participayed in theSegunda División B.[13] On 3 April 2016, he scored his first goal for theCultural Leonesa in a 1–0 victory overArandina,[14] becoming the first Qatari footballer ever to score in a Spanish league.[15]
Ali rejoined his former youth clubLekhwiya SC for the2016–17 league season. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 September 2016 in a 5–4 win againstMuaither.[16] He went on to score 8 goals in 25 appearances, as well as providing 8 assists and being awarded as the best U23 player of the season as his club won theQatar Stars League.[17]
In the following season, Ali was part of the newly rebrandedAl-Duhail, as his former club was merged withEl Jaish, and was part of the unbeaten2017–18 Qatar Stars League title campaign.[18]
Ali unofficially made his inaugural appearance for thesenior national team in afriendly againstBahrain in December 2013. The match was not recognized byFIFA.[19]
In 2014, Ali was a part of theQatar U19 team that won the2014 AFC U-19 Championship, Ali scored 3 goals in the tournament.
In 2015, he was part of theQatar U20 squad for the2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He played in the three group stage matches, but Qatar did not advance to the knockout stage.[20][21][22]
On 8 August 2016, Ali made his official senior debut for theQatar national team coming on as a substitute in 2–1 win againstIraq.[23] Furthermore, he was the top scorer in the2018 AFC U-23 Championship with six goals and played an instrumental role in Qatar's third-place ranking.[24]
In 2019, Ali was selected forQatar's squad for the upcoming2019 AFC Asian Cup. He found the net in his team's first group stage game againstLebanon. In the next game againstNorth Korea, he scored a four goals in a span of 51 minutes,[25] the second fastest time to four goals after IranianAli Daei, who scored four goals in 23 minutes againstSouth Korea in the1996 AFC Asian Cup.[26]
The following match againstSaudi Arabia, he increased his tally in the competition to seven goals after scoring aBrace in the 2–0 win.[27] In doing so, he became the joint-top scorer in the AFC Asian Cup Group Stage, sharing the record withAli Daei of Iran,Choi Soon-ho of South Korea andNaohiro Takahara of Japan. He also brokeMansour Muftah's all-time record of five goals scored for theQatar national team in theAsian Cup.[28]
In thesemi-final againstUnited Arab Emirates, Ali scored his eighth goal of the competition in a 4–0 win, equallingAli Daei's mark established in1996 as the most goals scored in a singleAFC Asian Cup edition.[29] He broke the record in the following game after scoring the opening goal with abicycle kick at the2019 AFC Asian Cup Final match againstJapan.[30][31]
On 30 January 2019, soon after the 4–0 defeat at the2019 AFC Asian Cup semifinal, theUAE FA lodged a formal appeal to the AFC over the eligibility of Sudanese-born Almoez Ali andIraqi-bornBassam Al-Rawi, claiming that they did not qualify to play forQatar on residency grounds based on Article 7 of the FIFA statute[32] which states that a player's eligibility to play for a representative team if he has "lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association". It was alleged that Almoez had not lived continuously in Qatar for at least five years over the age of 18, although the player claimed that his mother was born inQatar.[33] On 1 February 2019, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee dismissed the protest lodged by the United Arab Emirates Football Association without further comments or explanation.[34][35][36] In August 2020, the case was finally settled at CAS (Court of Arbirtration for Sport, based in Lausanne, Switzerland) with the UAE losing its appeal against the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) decision.
On 16 June 2019, Ali scored in Qatar's 2–2 draw withParaguay in the2019 Copa América.[37] Ali was included in Qatar's squad for the2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He scored four goals in the competition and clinched the top goal-scorer award.[38]
In November 2022, he played in the2022 FIFA World Cup. Featuring in all three group matches as Qatar made its first appearance at theFIFA World Cup tournament.[39]
In January 2024, Ali was included inQatar's squad for the2023 AFC Asian Cup.[40] In the opening match of the tournament, he scoredQatar's second goal in a 3–0 win overLebanon inLusail.[41] In the semi-final match againstIran, he scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory, which qualified his country to their second final in a row.[42] On 10 February 2024, Ali won the2023 AFC Asian Cup, being a instrumental part in the team's success.
On 16 November 2023, Ali scored his a poker goal forQatar during the2026 FIFA World Cup qualification match againstAfghanistan in a thrashing 8–1 victory, surpassingMansour Muftah as theall-time top goalscorer.[43]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| LASK II | 2015 | Austrian Regionalliga | 4 | 5 | — | — | — | 4 | 5 | |||
| LASK | 2015–16 | Austrian Second League | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 9 | 1 | ||
| Cultural Leonesa | 2016 | Segunda División B | 10 | 1 | — | — | — | 10 | 1 | |||
| Al-Duhail B | 2016–17 | QSD | 4 | 1 | — | — | — | 4 | 1 | |||
| Al-Duhail | 2016–17 | QSL | 25 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 7[b] | 1 | 2[c] | 0 | 36 | 9 |
| 2017–18 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 10[b] | 2 | 3[d] | 1 | 32 | 12 | ||
| 2018–19 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5[b] | 1 | 1[e] | 0 | 27 | 4 | ||
| 2019–20 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 6[b] | 3 | 2[f] | 1 | 29 | 13 | ||
| 2020–21 | 20 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 6[b] | 0 | 4[g] | 1 | 33 | 7 | ||
| 2021–22 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5[b] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 11 | ||
| 2022–23 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3[b] | 0 | 4[h] | 0 | 22 | 4 | ||
| 2023–24 | 19 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 6[b] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 8 | ||
| 2024–25 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7 | ||
| Total | 161 | 56 | 20 | 6 | 48 | 10 | 17 | 3 | 244 | 75 | ||
| Career total | 186 | 64 | 20 | 6 | 48 | 10 | 17 | 3 | 276 | 84 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qatar | 2013 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 17 | 5 | |
| 2018 | 11 | 5 | |
| 2019 | 20 | 15 | |
| 2020 | 4 | 4 | |
| 2021 | 24 | 10 | |
| 2022 | 13 | 3 | |
| 2023 | 10 | 8 | |
| 2024 | 18 | 10 | |
| 2025 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 125 | 60 | |
Al-Duhail
Qatar U19
Qatar
Individual
Qatar squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
