| Waleed Abdullah | |
| Full Name: | Waleed Abdullah Ali Al-Dawsari |
| Birth Date: | 19 April 1986 |
| Birth Place: | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Height: | 1.96 m[1] |
| Currentclub: | Al-Diriyah |
| Clubnumber: | 33 |
| Position: | Goalkeeper |
| Youthclubs1: | Al-Shabab |
| Years1: | 2006–2017 |
| Clubs1: | Al-Shabab |
| Caps1: | 173 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2017–2024 |
| Caps2: | 64 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2024– |
| Clubs3: | Al-Diriyah |
| Caps3: | 0 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Nationalteam1: | Saudi Arabia U-23 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2006–2007 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 11 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalteam2: | Saudi Arabia |
| Nationalyears2: | 2007–2018 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 72 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Pcupdate: | 29 February 2024 |
| Ntupdate: | 20:12, 28 February 2018 (UTC) |
Waleed Abdullah Ali Al-Dawsari (; born 19 April 1986) is a Saudi Arabian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Al-Diriyah.[2]
A former regular for Saudi Arabia at Under-23 level, Abdullah made his senior international debut in July 2007 and was recognized as Saudi Arabia's first-choice goalkeeper from 2008 to 2014.[3] He gained 72 caps and was selected in Saudi Arabia's squads for four AFC Asian Cups.
Waleed Abdullah began playing on a regular basis with Al-Shabab in the 2007–08 season. In the 2006–07 season, he was with the Saudi Olympic team in their qualifiers, so he had no chance of playing with Al-Shabab as their first goalkeeper.
On 3 February 2017, Abdullah joined Al-Nassr on a free transfer.[4] On 4 February 2020, he renewed his contract with Al-Nassr for another three years.[5]
On 16 July 2024, Waleed Abdullah joined Saudi Second Division League side Al-Diriyah.[6]
Waleed Abdullah played 11 games with the Olympic team during the 2008 Qualifiers, in which he helped the team reach the second round, and was close to qualifying had they won against Japan in Tokyo in the last game. Waleed's best game was against Japan in Tokyo, where he stopped many Japanese attacks and stopped the Japanese from scoring.
Waleed first joined the Saudi Arabia national football team for the AFC Asian Cup 2007. His first official game was a friendly against United Arab Emirates in June 2007, which ended 2-0 for Saudi Arabia. He also played another friendly against Oman, and it ended 1-1. Right before the beginning of the Asian Cup, Waleed received news of the death of his infant daughter. But he decided to stay with the national team, and was one of the players in Saudi Arabia's squad in the Asian Cup, but didn't get any playtime during the cup itself.
After the Asian Cup he was called up a couple of times, for a friendly against Ghana which ended 5-0 for Saudi Arabia, and the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers against Singapore which ended 2–0, and for the Uzbekistan qualifier on 26 March 2008.
As of 31 May 2024.
| Club | Season | League | King Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Al-Shabab | 2006–07 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2007–08 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |||
| 2008–09 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 31 | 0 | |||
| 2009–10 | 19 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | 36 | 0 | |||
| 2010–11 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | — | 34 | 0 | |||
| 2011–12 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 28 | 0 | ||||
| 2012–13 | 22 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | 37 | 0 | |||
| 2013–14 | 24 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | — | 38 | 0 | |||
| 2014–15 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 | ||
| 2015–16 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 0 | ||||
| 2016–17 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 173 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 261 | 0 | ||
| Al-Nassr | 2016–17 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 8 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 22 | 0 | ||||
| 2018–19 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |||
| 2019–20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | |||
| 2022–23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2023–24 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |||
| Total | 64 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 84 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 237 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 345 | 0 | ||
Statistics accurate as of match played 28 February 2018.
| Saudi Arabia | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals | |
| 2007 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 19 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2014 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 72 | 0 | |
Al-Shabab
Al-Nassr