Majed Abdullah in 1984 |
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Personal information | |||
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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 | 387 | (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. .
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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 1960s, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 |
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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 |
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 |
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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 |
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.
Majed participated only once in the Saudi Federation Cup and that was in 1997 season where he scored 4 goals.
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 |
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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 |
Team | Country | # of Goals |
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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 scored for Al-Nasr 61 goals in friendly matches. The most famous one was against Manchester city in 1987.
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)
Scoring for | Goals Classification | # of Goals |
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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 |
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.
20 May 2008 18:15 (GMT) |
Al Nasr | 4-1 | Real Madrid | King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh Attendance: 70,000 Referee: Mutrif Al-Qahtani |
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Malek 54, 90+1', Akram 55',
Kariri 61' |
Robben 50' |
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