Naif Hazazi

Naif Hazazi (born January 11, 1989), nicknamed El Saqr (The Falcon in Arabic), is a Saudi Arabian footballer, who plays for Al-Ittihad and the Saudi national team as a striker.^[2]

He started his career with Al-Ittihad, progressing through their youth system to the first team squad. He made his first team debut in 2006, From 2008 the team relying on Hazazi as regular first team striker. He was one of saudi's promising young prospects and has been linked with Club Sevilla^[3] and Others local clubs.

Hazazi is a Saudi international and made his debut for the country against Thailand in 2008 at the age of 19. On 1 April 2009, He scored the qualification goal by header against United Arab Emirates Among 70,000 of the masses on 3-2.^[4] Hazazi has been as one of the rising stars in Gulf Football as Saudi Arabia first striker, He is considered by many as the most talented Saudi striker since The Great Majed Abdullah. At international level Hazazi has scored 8 goals in 28 games.

Life

Hazazi lives in Jeddah. He is one of the most famous strikers in the Arab world, especially among the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Career

Al-Ittihad

Naif began his career at the Al-Ittihad he was playing for the Al-Ittihad Under-17, but because his forward talent, the Belgian coach Dimitri Davidovic Included him to the first team, He Received an offer from Club Sevilla when he was at International travels, about admiration for his performance, But the deal failed to reject the coach Manuel Jose to keep him with the team.^[5]

2006–08

Hazazi starts his first team carrer in 2006. On 25 January 2007, He played first game with the first team against Al Nassr in Prince Faisal Cup.

On 1 December 2007, Hazazi make his Debut in the season as a reserve on late the second half against Al-Hilal. Against Syrian Ittihad-Aleppo He scored the second goal by head in the 42nd minute, The match was ended 3–0 to Al-Ittihad.

2008–10

Upon Hamzah's departure from the club, Hazazi inherited his number 9 jersey.^[6] On 2008-09 season hazazi established himself as a regular first team player, Hazazi usually entered as a reserve player, First match for Hazazi as a key player He scored the first goal in the match against Al-Shabab to make win 2–1. Hazazi caused of first goal in the game by assist to Aboucherouane to score against Al-Ahli. Emerged his skills, especially, was scored 2 goals in the match against Al-Watani which ended 7-2. He is also scored 2 goals against Al-Shabab.

On 12 April, the final match for Al-Ittihad on the season versus Al-Hilal, Hazazi opened match with a one goal in the 18th minute and finished 2-1. He won his first title league with Al-Ittihad on 2008-09, After the winning. 11 May in away Champions Cup-match, He score a one goal against Al-Hazm as the only goal in the match to make the difference 1–0. On 15 May, He played against Al-Shabab without help to make the victory. He lost 0–4 from Al-Shabab. Hazazi Replaced Renato on AFC Champions League match against Esteghlal. He also played against Al-Jazira, He played against Umm-Salal SC full match and He scored a hat-trick of 7–0.^[7] Round of 16, He plays against Al-Shabab, He making the ball to teammate Aboucherouane to Score the second goal in the game.

On 2009-10 Hazazi Injured by cruciate ligament. he played twice games without any goal. He played against Al-Qadasiya and scored hat-trick, match is ended 7–2. Champions Cup away match against Al-Shabab, Hazazi entered as a reserve on the late minutes, he scored a goal to converted to beat Al-Shabab on last 10 minutes 2–1. He played also on the final as a reserve against Al-Hilal he won his fitst title Champions Cup by penalties finished 5–4.

2010–11 season

In the 2010–11 season, Scoring 12 in 22 matches in the league. In all completions scoring 18 in 37 matches. On 14 August 2010, Hazazi scored his first goal for the season against Al-Ettifaq. He scored against Najran SC on Round 4. Hazazi make the third hat-trick in his history against Al-Hazm on 4–0 match, By scoring on the first minutes. He assists the first goal against Al-Ahli, Hazazi replaced in the second half and entered Mohammed Noor because of injury influence. Hazazi played against Al-Raed, He scored the first goal after a powerful shot from outside the penalty area. ended 2-1. Hazazi scored the only goal of his team against Al-Qadasiya and scored another goal correctly ruled out for offside. He scored 2 goals on a match against Al-Shabab but the match ended 2–2. He played against Al Nassr and received the red card before match end. Hazazi played as a reserve against Al-Faisaly, This is the first time on the season plays as a reserve. He played against Al-Raed, He scored the first goal and caused a penalty kick will be the third goal, that Mabrouk Zaid scored it. Played against Al-Wahda, He scored the second goal to make it 2–1. 15 May, He play the last match on the season against Al-Shabab, Hazazi assist to Mohammed Noor to score the first goal, match is ended 1–1. On Champions Cup. He assist the tie-goal, by passing to Al-Rashid against Al Nassr on away. On Home-match, He scored the tie-goal and qualifying goal. He scored against Al-Hilal a tie-goal, ended 1–1. Hazazi played on the final as a reserve against Al-Ahli, He lost the final by penalties 2–4.

2011–12 season

Hazazi begin his season with 2 goals Against Al-Ansar, scored two goals, and hat-trick goal was canceled.^[8] In ACL home match against Jeonbuk Motors FC, he score 2 goals in the first 20 minutes. He lost 3–2.^[9] In Away, Hazazi received a red card by the referee in the first minutes.^[10] He lost 5–3 in aggregate to Jeonbuk Motors FC. against Al-Shabab, He score the second goal from a penalty. He plays against Al Fateh with a loss 1–2. in Jeddah derby, he lost 3–1 from Al Ahli. Hazazi score the second goal against Al Nasser to win 3–1 in Riyadh, in Away against Al Hilal, score goal from header in last minutes in the second half, to change the match to tie. After landing for the first time this season to sixth place, Hazazi called Ittihad Jeddah to sign his brother Ibrahim to club, who plays for Al Ahli.^[11][12] the supporters of the club criticized Hazazi career by problem called Fasting of the scoring, After he moved away from score in the league and competitions.^[13] the goal against Al-Faisaly was the comeback goal, Hazazi celebrated after Went bad luck with him. Hazazi scored his first historical goal against Al Ahli^[14], and was the only goal in the game and the winning goal, which caused move Al Ahli away from top of the league.^[15] On 20 March 2012, He score two goals against Al-Arabi and received a yellow card for Get out from the stadium and celebrate with club supporters.^[16] On 2 May 2012, Hazazi broke Hamza Idris record in Asian Tournaments when he scored his 10th goal against Pakhtakor.^[17] Hazazi confirmed the difficulty of the game and said:

– This is our response to those who doubted our ability.^[18]

International career

Naif made his international debut at the age of 19. Hazazi make his debut in a friendly against Thailand and score the first goal in his international career in 65th minute. also Hazazi score two goals In a friendly in 4–0 win over Bahrain. On 30 August 2009, He play a friendly match against Malaysia caused an injury on cruciate ligament To keep him out of action for a period of time.^[19]

2010 World Cup qualification

He was part of the 2010 Saudi Qualification squad. Appear in the fourth round in the tournament with Mouath and Al-Qahtani. Hazazi was able to be in the starting line-up after coach Jose Peseiro decided to rule out Al Qahtani for the qualifiers against Iran and the United Arab Emirates for disciplinary reasons. Al Qahtani's loss was Hazazi's gain, However, the youngster able to make his second qualifying appearance in Tehran against Iran. Only 11 minutes remaining, Hazazi calmly converted the equaliser that ignited one of his country's most famous comebacks in a 2–1 victory.^[20] On 1 April 2009 against United Arab Emirates in Riyadh, Saudis were again trailing in the second half against UAE and, despite gaining a fortuitous equaliser through an own goal, Hazazi was a symbol of luck to qualify before the end of the match five minutes with the winning home header.^[21]

2011 AFC Asian Cup

On 9 January 2011, Hazazi in first official match in asian competition in 2–1 loss against Syria, He entered in 56th minute as substitute in bad experience.^[22] he tried to help the attack to score but couldn't against Jordan with a 1–0 loss. in the third match, Motaz Al Mosa came on as a substitute for Naif in the 46th minute, Hazazi apologized for ignoring the sports channels after the end of the game with Japan which ended 5–0 loss.^[23]

Style of play

he has excellent heading ability, high jump. improved himself as the best Asian strikers. "Is characterized by receiving spin-off balls and sent by his head, he also has high header accuracy from long distances and close to"^[24][25]

Career statistics

Club

As of 6 April 2012.^[26][27]

Club	Season	League		Cup1		AFC		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Al-Ittihad	2006–07	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	2007–08	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	1
	2008–09	17	9	7	2	5	3	29	14
	2009–10	3	3	2	1	1	0	6	4
	2010–11	22	12	5	4	10	2	37	18
	2011–12	19	7	5	3	5	4	29	14
	Total	62	31	20	10	22	10	104	51

¹Other tournaments include the Champions Cup and Prince Faisal Cup, Crown Prince Cup

International

As of 6 April 2012.^[28]

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 November 2008	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Thailand	1–0	1–0	Friendly
2.	11 November 2008	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Bahrain	2–0	4–0	Friendly
3.				3–0
4.	28 March 2009	Tehran, Iran	Iran	1–1	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.	1 April 2009	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	United Arab Emirates	3–2	3–2	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.	4 June 2009	Tianhe Stadium, China	China PR	3–1	4–1	Friendly
7.	11 November 2011	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Thailand	1–0	3–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.	24 February 2012	Melburne, Australia	New Zealand	6–0	6–0	Friendly
Correct as of 15 April 2012

Honours

Club

Al-Ittihad

• Saudi Premier League: 2

– 2006–07, 2008–09

• Saudi Champions Cup: 1

– 2010

• AFC Champions League:

– Runner-up; 2009

Individual

• Saudi Promising player of the Year: 1

– 2009

• Most Popular player award (Al-Riyadiya): 1

– 2010

• Promising Arab player of the Year:

– Runner-up; 2009

References

• Naif Hazazi at National-Football-Teams.com

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Naif Hazazi

Saudi Arabia Squad v t e Saudi Arabia squad – 2011 AFC Asian Cup 1 Abdullah 2 Shuhail 3 Hawsawi 4 Al-Montashari 5 Al-Muwallad 6 Otaif 7 Al-Mousa 8 Abushgeer 9 Hazazi 10 Al-Shalhoub 11 Al-Shamrani 12 Al-Said 13 Al-Musa 14 Khariri 15 Otaif 16 Al-Dosari 17 Al-Jassim 18 Al Abed 19 Massad 20 Al-Qahtani (c) 21 Zaid 22 Shae'an 23 Asseri Coach: Peseiro (Al-Johar)