Sami Al-Jaber

Sami Abdullah Al-Jaber (سامي الجابر; born 11 December 1972) is a Saudi Arabian football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He spent the entirety of his career with Al-Hilal, apart from a five-month loan to English club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Al-Jaber is his country's second highest international goal-scorer with 46 goals in 156 internationals from 1992 to 2006. He appeared in four consecutive FIFA World Cup tournaments, from 1994 to 2006, scoring in three of them. He was also a member of the Saudi squad which won the AFC Asian Cup in 1996. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Saudi footballers ever.

Club career
Al-Jaber made his Al-Hilal debut in 1989 and spent nearly 20 years at the club. In 2000, he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan, where he made just five appearances in five months. After the club learned that Al-Jaber's father had been taken seriously ill, he was allowed to join the United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain on loan, and this was to spell the end of his time in England. Even so, to this day Al-Jaber remains one of the very few Saudi footballers to have played outside their homeland.

On 21 January 2008, Al-Hilal held a testimonial for Al-Jaber against English Premier League giants Manchester United. Al-Jaber scored a penalty en route to a 3–2 victory over the visitors, in his last game for the club.

International career
On 27 May 1998, Al-Jaber made his 100th international appearance in a friendly against Norway. At 25 years, four months and 16 days old, this made him the youngest male footballer to reach 100 caps.

After gaining a runners-up medal in the 2000 Asian Cup, he appeared in the 2002 World Cup but only played in one game, a 0–8 hammering by Germany. He was ruled out of the rest of the competition when his appendix burst and he had to be rushed to hospital.

Managerial career
Al-Jaber was named as assistant coach of Al-Hilal in 2009, one year after he retired from professional football. He worked under notable coaches like Eric Gerets, Gabriel Calderon and Thomas Doll. In 2012, he became assistant coach of Ligue 2 side Auxerre.

On 27 May 2013, Al-Jaber was named the manager of Al-Hilal, replaced former coach Zlatko Dalić. He became the first Saudi coach to manage Al-Hilal after 14 years of Khalil Ibrahim Al-Zayani in 1999. After his first season in his new career, he was ranked 19th in Football Coach World ranking, even though Al-Hilal decided to replace him. On 19 July 2014, Al Arabi announced his appointment as technical manager.

Personal life
Al-Jaber is an advocate of football reforms, having criticised the Saudi Football Federation for its protectionist policy that prevented Saudi talents from going abroad to play better football after Saudi Arabia became the first team to be knocked out of 2002 FIFA World Cup.

International

 * Scores and results list Saudi Arabia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Al-Jaber goal.

Honours
Al-Hilal
 * Saudi Premier League: 1989–90, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2004–05
 * Crown Prince Cup: 1995, 2000, 2003, 2004–05, 2005–06
 * Saudi Federation Cup: 1990, 1993, 1996, 2000
 * Saudi Founder's Cup: 2000
 * AFC Champions League: 2000
 * Asian Cup Winners Cup: 1996–97, 2001–02
 * Asian Super Cup: 1997
 * Arab Champions League: 1994, 1995
 * Arab Super Cup: 2001
 * GCC Club Cup: 1998
 * Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup: 2001

Saudi Arabia
 * AFC Asian Cup: 1996; runner-up: 2000
 * FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 1992
 * Arabian Gulf Cup: 1994, 2002

Individual
 * AFC Player of the Month: February 1998
 * AFC Goal of the Month: April 1998
 * Saudi Premier League top scorer: 1989–90 (16), 1992–93 (19)
 * Arab Champions League top scorer: 1994 (7), 2004–05 (9)
 * Arab Club Champions Cup Best Player: 1994
 * Gulf Club Champions Cup top scorer: 1998
 * Arab Club Champions Cup All-time top scorer
 * Arab Super Cup top scorer: 2001
 * AFC Fans' All-time XI at the FIFA World Cup: 2020