Nasser Al-Shamrani

Nasser Al-Shamrani
Personal information
Full nameNasser Ali Al-Shamrani
Date of birthNovember 23, 1983
Place of birthMecca, Saudi Arabia
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing positionForward
Club information
Current team
Al-Hilal
Number15
Youth career
2000–2004Al-Wehda
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2003–2007Al-Wehda62(23)
2007–2013Al-Shabab121(87)
2013–Al-Hilal37(27)
National team
2005–Saudi Arabia71(16)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 February 2015.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 04 January 2015

Nasser Al-Shamrani (Arabic: ناصر الشمراني) (born 23 November 1983) is a Saudi Arabian footballer who plays for Al-Hilal. Nasser, a forward, moved to Al-Shabab during the beginning of the 2007–08 season from Al-Wehda.

Career

Al-Wehda

Nasser began at the age of 20 playing with Al-Wehda's first team, in the 2003-04 season. He was young then, but with his teammate, Essa Al-Mehyani, were the main strikers in Al-Wehda. Even though Al-Wehda had talented young strikers, but Nasser could not win any tournament with Al-Wehda, and the highest rank they achieved in the Saudi Premier League was 3rd place in the 2006-2007 season.

Al-Shabab

During the 2005-2006 season, Al-Shabab decided to try Nasser out, and had a deal with Al-Wehda for a loan in the middle of the season, till the end of the season. Al-Wehda accepted because at that time Al-Wehda had no chance of competing in all of the local tournaments. During these couple of months, Nasser was able to prove his worth as a striker. He scored 4 goals in the AFC Champions League, which helped Al-Shabab qualify to the quarterfinals that year. In the league, he scored 3 goals, one which was the third goal in the Saudi Premier League final against Al-Hilal, which ended 3-0. After the end of the season, Al-Shabab were impressed by his performance, and tried sign a contract with him, but Al-Wehda refused and by the 2006-2007 season he returned to Al-Wehda.

Nasser had one of his best seasons with Al-Wehda, he was able to score 9 goals in the Saudi Premier League. He helped his team reach the 3rd rank in the league, even though he did not score any goal in the golden play-off games against Al-Shabab and Al-Ittihad. By the end of the season, Al-Wehda went through a financial problem. Al-Shabab soon noticed this and offered 13 million riyals for Nasser. Al-Wehda accepted, and Nasser moved to Al-Shabab by the beginning of the 2007-2008 season.

In July 2007, he signed a contract with Al-Shabab for 13 million riyals for 5 seasons. Nasser's move to Al-Shabab was anticipated by many Al-Shabab fans. But he began the season dry, without scoring any goal in the league. By the 6th round in the Saudi Premier League, he started his scoring with a hattrick in Al-Qadisiya. He then continued his score frenzy continually in every game by scoring 1 goal against Al-Watani, 1 against Al-Nasr, 2 against Al-Ittihad, 1 against Al-Ta'ee, 1 against Al-Ahli, 1 against Al-Wehda, and 2 against Najran SC. He was able to be the first in the league goalscorers, with 12 goals, but his teammate in Al-Wehda, Eisa Al-Mehyani, was closing the gap. After 3 rounds in the league, and the semi-final games against Al-Hilal in the Crown Prince Cup, Nasser could not score a goal. This has caused him to go behind in the league goalscorer's as Eisa Al-Mehyani was able to score 13 goals, and also Al Hasan Al-Yami with 13 goals.

By the end of the season, Nasser was able to score 18 goals with Al Shabab, and won the Saudi Premier League's top goal scorer. This is the first time for Nasser Al-Shamrani to win the goalscorer of the Saudi League.

Al-Hilal

On 30 June 2013, he agreed to a three-year deal with Al-Hilal. After losing the 2014 Asian Champions League final, he spat at Western Sydney Wanderers player Matthew Spiranovic before attempting to headbutt him.[1][2] As a result of his conduct, Al-Shamrani was handed an 8 match Champions League ban from the Asian Football Confederation.[3][4][5][6]

On 30 November 2014, he was named as Asian Footballer of the Year. On 30 December 2014, Al-Shamrani pushed a fan prior to Saudi Arabia's 4–1 loss to Bahrain and later missed the 2015 AFC Asian Cup due to injury.[7]

Club career statistics

As of 15 April 2014.

Club Season League Cup ACL Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Al-Wehda 2003–04 162----162
2004–05 13322--155
2005–06 157----157
2006–07 181132--2113
Total 622354--6727
Al-Shabab 2007–08 191869533030
2008–09 201254563022
2009–10 14911001510
2010–11 2317231033523
2011–12 252142--2923
2012–13 221044833417
Total 1238722232815173125
Al-Hilal FC 2013–14 262132873730
2014–15 181164743119
Total 44329615116849
Career Total 22914236334326308201

International goals

As of 23 November 2014

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 29 January 2005 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  Turkmenistan 1–0 Won Friendly match
2 21 August 2008   Switzerland 1–0 Won Friendly match
3 12 August 2009  Oman 1–2 Lose Friendly match
4 9 September 2009 King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh  Bahrain 1–0 Draw 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
5 14 October 2009  Tunisia 1–0 Won Friendly match
6 14 November 2009 King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh  Belarus 1–1 Draw Friendly match
7 13 July 2011 Amman, Jordan  Jordan 1–1 Won Fox International Quartet Championship Semi-Finals
8 23 July 2011 Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam  Hong Kong 1–0 Won 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
9 23 July 2011 Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam  Hong Kong 3–0 Won 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
10 28 July 2011 Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, Hong Kong  Hong Kong 3–0 Won 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
11 6 September 2011 Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam  Australia 1–3 Lose 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
12 29 February 2012 AAMI Park, Melbourne  Australia 2–4 Lose 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
13 15 October 2013 Amman International Stadium, Amman  Iraq 2–0 Won 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
14 15 November 2013 Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam  Iraq 2–1 Won 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
15 16 November 2014 King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh  Bahrain 1–0 Won 2014 Gulf Cup of Nations
16 23 November 2014 King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh  United Arab Emirates 1–0 Won 2014 Gulf Cup of Nations

Honors

Club

Al-Shabab
Al-Hilal

National

Individual

References