PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Nasser Al-Shamrani
Personal information
Full name	Nasser Ali Al-Shamrani
Date of birth	23 November 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth	Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
2000–2004	Al-Wehda
Senior career*
Years	Team
2003–2007	Al-Wehda
2006	→ Al-Shabab (loan)
2007–2013	Al-Shabab
2013–2017	Al-Hilal
2017	→ Al Ain (loan)
2017–2019	Al-Shabab
2019	Al-Ittihad
2021	Al-Hidd
International career‡
2005–2018	Saudi Arabia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 07 May 2019; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 February 2018

Nasser Al-Shamrani (Arabic: ناصر الشمراني) (born 23 November 1983) is a former Saudi Arabian footballer who played for the Saudi Arabia national team as a forward. Often considered one of the most versatile, effective Saudi Arabian strikers of all time, he won the Asian Footballer of the Year award in 2014.

Club career

Al-Wehda

Al-Shamrani began his professional career at the age of 20 playing with Al-Wehda's first team, in the 2003–04 season. He was young then, but along with his teammate Essa Al-Mehyani, was one of the main strikers at the club. Even though Al-Wehda had talented young strikers, they did not win any tournaments and the highest rank they achieved in the Saudi Premier League was 3rd place in the 2006–07 season.

Al-Shabab

During the 2005–06 season, Al-Shabab decided to try Al-Shamrani out, and a loan deal was agreed till the end of the season (Al-Wehda accepted because at that time they had no chance of competing in all of the local tournaments). During these couple of months, Al-Shamrani was able to prove his worth as a striker. He scored four goals in the AFC Champions League, which helped Al-Shabab reach the quarter-finals that year. In the league, he scored three goals, including the third 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 2006–07 season he returned to Al-Wehda.

Al-Shamrani had one of his best seasons with Al-Wehda, scoring nine goals in the Saudi Premier League. He helped his team reach 3rd place in the league, though he did not score any goals in the golden play-off games against Al-Shabab and Al-Ittihad. By the end of the season, Al-Wehda went through financial problems. Al-Shabab soon noticed this and offered 13 million riyals for Al-Shamrani. Al-Wehda accepted, and Al-Shamrani moved to Al-Shabab by the beginning of the 2007–08 season, signing a five-year contract for 13 million riyals.

Al-Shamrani's move to Al-Shabab was anticipated by many of their 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 hat-trick in Al-Qadisiya. He then scored continually in every game (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 led the league goalscorers with 12 goals, but his former Al-Wehda teammate Eisa Al-Mehyani was closing the gap. was able to score 13 goals, and also with 13 goals.

By the end of the season, Al-Shamrani had scored 18 goals with Al Shabab, and won the Saudi Premier League's top goal scorer award for the first time, ahead of Al-Mehyani and Al Hasan Al-Yami.

Al-Hilal

On 30 June 2013, Al-Shamrani agreed to a three-year deal with the 'club of the century' in Asia, 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]

Al Ain (loan)

In 2017, it was reported that Al-Shamrani had joined United Arab Emirates side Al Ain FC in a 2 million Dhs deal for a six-month loan contract. This was his first experience playing outside Saudi Arabia, and with one of the most successful clubs in Asia. In his third match against Al Ahli, he assisted a goal in minute 91 which helped Al Ain FC to win in the 'classico'.

Return to Al-Shabab

In summer 2017, he returned to Saudi Arabia and Al-Shabab.^[7]

Al-Ittihad

In 2019, he played for Al-Ittihad.^[8]

Al-Hidd

On 9 March 2021, Al-Shamrani joined Bahraini side Al-Hidd.^[9]

International career

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".^[10]

Personal life

His brother Mohammed Al Shamrani was also a footballer who played for Manama Club, where he was the top scorer of the 2012–13 season, and Saudi clubs including Al Raed.^[11]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 27 May 2021^[12]

Club	Season	League		National Cup		League Cup		Asia		Other		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Al-Wehda	2003–04	16	2	—		1	0	—		2^[a]	0	19	2
	2004–05	13	3	—		1	0	—		4^[a]	2	18	5
	2005–06	9	4	—		4	0	—		4^[a]	0	17	4
	2006–07	18	11	—		1	1	—		4^[a]	1	23	13
	Total	56	20	0	0	7	1	0	0	14	3	77	24
Al-Shabab (loan)	2005–06	6	3	—		0	0	5	3	0	0	11	6
Al-Shabab	2007–08	19	18	5	7	4	1	—		1^[a]	1	29	27
	2008–09	20	12	5	3	3	1	7	6	2^[a]	0	37	22
	2009–10	14	9	0	0	0	0	4	1	2^[a]	1	20	11
	2010–11	23	17	2	1	1	2	7	2	—		33	22
	2011–12	25	21	2	1	2	1	—		—		29	23
	2012–13	22	10	3	3	1	1	8	3	—		34	17
	Total	123	87	17	15	11	6	26	12	5	2	182	122
Al-Hilal	2013–14	26	21	1	0	3	2	13	10	—		43	33
	2014–15	22	13	5	4	4	3	3	1	—		34	21
	2015–16	15	4	2	0	3	3	1	0	0	0	21	7
	2016–17	12	7	0	0	3	0	0	0	1^[b]	0	16	7
	Total	75	45	8	4	13	8	17	11	1	0	114	68
Al-Ain (loan)	2016–17	10	8	0	0	0	0	5	3	—		15	11
Al-Shabab	2017–18	21	7	2	1	1	0	—		—		24	8
	2018–19	18	5	2	0	—		—		—		20	5
	Total	39	12	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	44	13
Al-Ittihad	2018–19	2	0	0	0	—		5	3	—		7	3
Al-Hidd	2020–21	6	2	0	0	1	2	2	1	—		9	5
Career totals		317	177	29	20	33	17	60	33	20	5	457	248

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Appearances in Saudi Federation Cup
^ Appearance in Saudi Super Cup

International

Source:^[13]^[14]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Saudi Arabia	2005	7	1
	2006	0	0
	2007	3	0
	2008	6	0
	2009	15	4
	2010	4	0
	2011	13	5
	2012	4	1
	2013	7	2
	2014	11	2
	2015	0	0
	2016	3	1
	2017	4	3
	2018	1	0
Total		78	19

International goals

Scores and results list Saudi Arabia's goal tally first.

As of 14 January 2017^[15]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	29 January 2005	King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Turkmenistan	1–0	1–0	Friendly
2	12 August 2009	Al-Saada Stadium, Salalah, Oman	Oman	1–2	1–2	Friendly
3	9 September 2009	King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Bahrain	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
4	14 October 2009	Stade 7 November, Radès, Tunisia	Tunisia	1–0	1–0	Friendly
5	14 November 2009	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam, Saudi Arabia	Belarus	1–1	1–1	Friendly
6	13 July 2011	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	Jordan	1–1	1–1 (4–3 p)	Fox International Quartet Championship
7	23 July 2011	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam, Saudi Arabia	Hong Kong	1–0	3–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
8	23 July 2011	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam, Saudi Arabia	Hong Kong	3–0	3–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
9	28 July 2011	Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, Siu Sai Wan, Hong Kong	Hong Kong	3–0	5–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	6 September 2011	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam	Australia	1–2	1–3	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
11	29 February 2012	AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia	Australia	2–1	2–4	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
12	15 October 2013	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	Iraq	2–0	2–0	2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
13	15 November 2013	Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam, Saudi Arabia	Iraq	2–1	2–1	2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
14	16 November 2014	King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Bahrain	1–0	3–0	22nd Arabian Gulf Cup
15	23 November 2014	King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	United Arab Emirates	1–0	3–2	22nd Arabian Gulf Cup
16	6 October 2016	King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia	Australia	2–2	2–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
17	14 January 2017	Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Cambodia	1–1	7–2	Friendly
18				2–1
19				3–1