Firas Al-Khatib

Firas Al Khatib
Personal information
Full name	Firas Mohamad Al Khatib
Date of birth	9 June 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth	Homs, Syria
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Al-Arabi SC
Number	10
Senior career*
Years	Team
2000–2002	Al-Karamah
2002–2003	Al-Naser
2003–2009	Al-Arabi SC
2005	→ Al-Ahli (loan)
2009–2011	Al-Qadsia
2011–2012	Umm Salal
2012	Al-Qadsia
2012-2013	Zaxo
2013-2014	Shanghai Shenhua
2014-	Al-Arabi SC
International career‡
1999–2001	Syria U-17
2001–2003	Syria U-20
2003–2004	Syria U-23
2001–2011	Syria
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 31 March 2016; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 January 2011

Firas Mohamad Al Khatib (Template:Lang-ar; born 9 June 1983 in Homs, Syria) is a Syrian footballer who predominantly plays as a striker. He currently plays for Al-Arabi SC, which competes in the VIVA Premier League. He retired from playing for the Syrian national football team in 2012 for political reasons.^[1]

Club career

Al-Karamah SC

Al Khatib started his professional career at the Syrian Premier League with Al-Karamah in the Season 2000-01. On 6 October 2000 he scored his first goal in the Syrian Premier League against Al-Futowa which 1-1 finished.

On 2001 he spent two trials in Belgium the first was Gent along with Mido, and the second was Anderlecht.

Al Naser Sporting Club

On August 2002 he transferred to Kuwaiti Club Al-Naser, playing in the Kuwaiti Premier League for the first time. He then moved to Al-Arabi in the Kuwaiti Premier League.

Al-Arabi SC

With Al-Arabi he won 3 times the Kuwait Emir Cup and the Kuwait Crown Prince Cup twice and the Kuwait Super Cup once, he scored 134 goals for the club through seasons and became a legend in the club.

On June 2005 he was loaned out to Al-Ahli in Qatar for one match playing alongside Pep Guardiola.

Qadsia SC

On 24 August 2009 Al Khatib moved to Al-Qadsia in the Kuwaiti Premier League with his old teammate Jehad Al-Hussain and signed a two-year contract.^[2]

in July 2012 he participated in three games with Nottingham Forest F.C., scoring once in a trial of month.^[3] He impressed manager Sean O'Driscoll enough that the club were looking to sign him on a permanent basis but he was denied a work permit and the club wasn't able to sign him.^[4]

Zaxo FC

On 10 September 2012 he tweeted that he signed with Iraqi Premier League club Zaxo FC officially, he scored twice from a freekick.

Shanghai Shenhua F.C.

He left Iraq to join Sergio Batista's Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua at February 2013 .he scored 11 goals in his Chinese Super League debut.

Al-Arabi SC

At the end of the 2013-14 football season He became a free agent and went back to Kuwait and declined Kuwait SC offer to sign him and join Al-Arabi SC in a 2-year deal.

As the first derby came along vs Al-Salmiya SC Al-Arabi SC lost 3-2 And fell to second place where Firas Al-Khatib scored his 100th league goal.^[5]

VIVA Premier League team of the week 16^[6] ending the season with 20 goals sharing the top scorer of VIVA Premier League 2014-15 with Patrick Fabiano.

Ended his first season with 24 goals in all competitions. 2015-16 came here he got into the viva Premier League 1st phase Team along side teammate Ali Maqseed, and won the VPL Golden Boot and top scorer of Al-Arabi with 27 goals hus highest in any season with any team.

International career

He plays between 2001-2002 for the Syrian U-17 team, he plays for Syria in the AFC U-17 Championship 2002 in the UAE and he was a part of the Syrian U-23 team in the AFC Olympic qualification Athens 2004.

Al Khatib has been a regular for the Syria national football team since 2001. In the FIFA World Cup qualification 2002.,^[7] he came on as a substitute for Khaled Al Zaher in the match against Philippine on 4 May 2001 in the Al-Hamadaniah Stadium in Aleppo. On 11 May 2001 he scored one goal in the FIFA World Cup qualification 2002 match against Laos the match was finished 9-0 for Syria.