Ali Al-Habsi

Ali Abdullah Harib Al-Habsi (علي بن عبد الله بن حارب الحبسي; born 30 December 1981) is an Omani retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He played for the Oman national team for nearly two decades, from 2001 to 2019.

Al-Habsi was born in Oman and started his early career in the country, racking up appearances before his move.

Al-Habsi began playing in his native country Oman at the age of seventeen, and joined the ranks of the Oman under-19s squad, before he was spotted by John Burridge in 2001.

Due to the difficulty of securing a work permit, he was unable to move to Europe at this early stage of his career.

He was called up for Oman, and played in all of their three group matches at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup in China and also made four appearances for the team in their qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which they exited in the first group stage after finishing second in a group with Japan, India and Singapore.

His transfer from Lyn Oslo to Bolton Wanderers in January 2006 was a transfer highlighted in the Stevens inquiry report, in June 2007.

The report expressed concerns because of the apparent conflict of interest between agent Craig Allardyce, his father Sam Allardyce – and the club itself.

Al-Habsi did not make any first team appearances in his first year at Bolton.

Al-Habsi made his full Bolton debut in the 2–1 extra time League Cup victory over Fulham in September 2007.

Al-Habsi then went on to make a further 15 appearances during the course of the 2007–08 season, most notably his performance against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup against whom he produced several good saves against the star-studded German team.

He made his first Premier League start against Wigan Athletic.

He was also Oman's first-choice goalkeeper at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, appearing in all of their three group matches.

Al-Habsi also has appeared as main keeper in four consecutive Arabian Gulf Cups.

In December 2008, he was rewarded for his work with an extension to his contract until 2013.

Despite this, Al-Habsi lost his place when Jussi Jääskeläinen returned from injury.

He kept a clean sheet throughout the 2009 tournament that Oman eventually won.

In July 2010, Al-Habsi joined local rivals Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan.

He made his debut on 24 August 2010 in a League Cup match against Hartlepool United and made his League debut four days later against Tottenham Hotspur.

He was named Wigan's player of the season for the 2010–11 season.

On 4 July 2011 Al-Habsi joined the club permanently, signing a four-year contract for an estimated £4 million transfer fee from Bolton.

Al-Habsi established himself as an outstanding penalty saver, saving approximately 50% of all the penalties he faced since joining Wigan.

Robin van Persie, Carlos Tevez, Javier Hernández and Mikel Arteta are among the penalty takers Al-Habsi has stopped.

This earned him links to Liverpool and Arsenal.

During the back end of the 2012–13 season, Al-Habsi was dropped to the bench as his position as Wigan's number one was threatened by the arrival of the athletic, young Spaniard Joel Robles on loan.

Al-Habsi started Wigan's FA Cup semi-final win over Millwall but was on the bench for the final itself.

Shortly after the final Wigan were relegated back to the championship.

On 31 October 2014, Al-Habsi signed for fellow Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion on a one-month loan.

After playing only one game for the club, Al-Habsi returned to his parent club Wigan.

Following his release from Wigan Athletic, Al-Habsi went on trial with Reading in July 2015.

This ended in Al-Habsi signing a two-year contract with the club on 14 July 2015.

On 5 January 2017, Al-Habsi extended his contract with Reading until the end of the 2018–19 season.

On 17 March 2017, Al-Habsi made several crucial saves in a 2–0 victory against playoff rivals Sheffield Wednesday.

This performance and others throughout the season saw Al-Habsi named in the EFL Championship team of the season and awarded the Reading player of the season award.

On 17 July 2017, Al-Habsi moved to Al-Hilal for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year contract.

On 29 August 2019, Al-Habsi moved to Championship side West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer, signing a deal until the end of the season with the West Midlands club.

West Brom manager Slaven Bilić stated that he had been keen to extend Al-Habsi's contract until the end of the delayed 2019–20 season, but this was not pursued as he had returned to his native Oman and would have to undertake a two-week quarantine period before rejoining the squad.

In each tournament he earned the award for best goalkeeper, most recently at the 19th Arabian Gulf Cup.

Al-Habsi was released by the club in June 2020 without having made an appearance for the club.

On 21 August 2020, Al-Habsi announced his retirement.