Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Omar Khribin began 2017 on loan at Al Hilal but after posting a season to remember for both club and country which culminated in the AFC Player of the Year and the AFC Champions League top scorer awards, the Syrian striker begins 2018 as one of the most talked about players on the continent.
A loan move to Saudi Arabian giants Al Hilal at the start of the year offered Omar Khribin the perfect platform to raise his game to a new level, but the ensuing 12 months saw him go above and beyond expectations.
Syria defied all odds to progress to the latter stages of FIFA World Cup qualifying, while Al Hilal would remain unbeaten on route to the AFC Champions League final. Khribin was instrumental for both.
“The most outstanding quality about Omar is his ambition,” commented Persepolis midfielder Bashar Resan, a close friend and former teammate of Khribin.
“He is always thinking about the future and working towards his dreams. His commitment and determination are impressive,” added Resan, who played alongside Khribin at Iraq’s Air Force Club.
Ambition and hard work were engrained in Khribin’s character since the early days of his childhood in Damascus. Watching his older brother Mohammed and the neighbourhood kids kick a ball about, he thought: “I will be good at this”. The past 12 months were indeed proof that young Omar grew up to be good at playing football.
Khribin came through the youth ranks at Damascus-based Al Wahda, where he started his journey at the age of nine. At 15, he made his first-team debut, becoming the youngest player in the club’s history. Such was his talent, being the youngest became a constant feature in his career.
Before his 19th birthday, Khribin was a member of the Syrian national team that won the 2012 WAFF (West Asian Football Federation) Championship in Kuwait, again the youngest player in Syria’s history.
As the security situation in Syria worsened, the striker joined many other Syrian players in seeking contracts abroad. His destination was Baghdad side Air Force Club, where he teamed up with would-be 2016 AFC Cup top scorer Hammadi Ahmed to form a terrifying attacking duo.
The Syrian finished his 20-game loan spell at Air Force Club with eight goals to his name, prompting fellow Iraqi side Al Minaa to sign him on another loan deal the following season. But Khribin’s final campaign in Iraq was cut short and he returned to Al Wahda.
Syrian coach Mohamed Quaid, who led Al Karama to the 2006 AFC Champions League final, would later spend time coaching in the Iraqi league, where he was impressed with his countryman Khribin.
UAE side Al Dhafra appointed Quaid for a third stint at the club in 2015 and one of his first requests was to acquire the services of Khribin.
“It is a stepping stone to bigger things,” said Khribin upon his unveiling at the Hamdan bin Zayed Stadium in early 2016. It would not be long before the prophecy was fulfilled.
One of the smallest teams in the UAE Pro League, Al Dhafra’s 5,000 capacity stadium is located in the small town of Madinat Zayed, a desert oil town with a population of under 30,000 people.
Not a place where many young footballers dream of plying their trade. Add an annual battle against relegation and the experience could prove a mountain too high for any young player, but Syria’s first million-dollar footballer faced the challenge head on.
The Al Dhafra board had splashed a club record US$1 million to make Khribin the most expensive Syrian player of all time. It would prove to be one of the best signings in the club’s history as he formed one of the UAE Pro League’s most lethal attack lines with Senegalese striker Makhete Diop.
“It is one of the strongest leagues in Asia, I will get more exposure here where I can play against top players like Omar Abdulrahman and Ali Mabkhout,” remarked Khribin after joining Al Dhafra in January 2016. Nearly two years later, he would pip Abdulrahman to the top individual prize in Asian football.
For now, Khribin set his eyes on the challenge of lifting the club from the danger zone and showcasing his talents for bigger sides who could be keeping an eye on the UAE league.
One year, 22 goals and a Fans’ Player of the Year award later, Khribin had not only helped Al Dhafra escape relegation, but also contributed to their highest ever league finish, ending the 2016/17 season in seventh place.
His task at Al Dhafra had been accomplished, and it was time to take the next step. One of many clubs impressed by the Syrian’s talents were Saudi giants Al Hilal.
The thought of playing at one of Asia’s most popular clubs appealed to Khribin. So, when the club from Riyadh called, he was ready to answer. A loan deal was in place and the King Fahd International Stadium became his new home for the next six months.
‘Impress to Stay’ was Khribin’s mission and motto for his loan stint in Riyadh, and impress he did. Two weeks after his arrival at the Saudi capital, the number 77 broke his Al Hilal duck and from there on there was no stopping him. Against arch-rivals Al Ittihad in March, he endeared himself to the fans by scoring the second goal in a 3-1 win.
A return to the UAE was on the agenda for Khribin as Al Hilal travelled to Abu Dhabi to face Al Wahda on Matchday Three of the 2017 AFC Champions League. The Emiratis had a 2-1 lead and a one-man advantage going into the final half an hour, when Khribin got on the end of a squared pass, rounded the goalkeeper and claimed his first of many AFC Champions League goals.
Syria had already surprised many by reaching the decisive third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The ‘Qasioun Eagles’ grabbed the headlines early on by winning in China before drawing with Korea Republic in the Syrians’ adopted home of Malaysia, where they were to face Uzbekistan in March.
The match had looked destined for a draw but Khribin stepped up to confidently convert an added-time penalty to put Syria back in contention for qualification spots.
Khribin then went into his first Riyadh derby in the final week of the season. Al Hilal had already wrapped up the league title as they welcomed Al Nassr with one thing on their mind: to show their city rivals who the boss is. A defeat here would blemish an otherwise perfect league campaign.
Always one to relish a challenge, Khribin was at his lethal best as Al Hilal turned the style on, putting five past their visitors. The Syrian made his mark on the derby records with a memorable hat-trick. A diving header in the first half was followed by a threeminute double salvo after the break to sign off his first league season in style.
Just a few days after that impressive derby performance, Al Hilal were back in AFC Champions League. Having already secured their passage to the knockout stage, Khribin netted a brace, including the winning goal, in their final group game against Qatar’s Al Rayyan as the Saudi side secured an entertaining 4-3 victory to top the standings.
Al Hilal took a 2-1 away lead into the second leg of the last 16 against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Esteghlal Khouzestan, but within the first ten minutes their advantage had been cancelled out.
Five minutes later Khribin levelled the score on the night with a diving header and his fourth of the tournament as Al Hilal eventually advanced to the last eight following a 4-2 aggregate win, before the Riyadh club saw off the United Arab Emirates’ Al Ain in the quarter-finals.
Back on international duty, the striker ran the show against Qatar in the penultimate game of the third round of qualifiers as a goal either side of half time propelled his national team to a 3-1 victory, confirming their status as genuine contenders for the top positions in the group.
Syria then booked their place in the twolegged play-off against Australia with a lastminute draw against Iran.
A 1-1 draw in the first leg in Melaka set up a thrilling tie in the return leg in Sydney, but Khribin would miss out on the clash having picked up a yellow card.
There was heartbreak for Syria, though, as an extra-time Tim Cahill goal settled the affair for the Socceroos, but Khribin ended the qualifying campaign on ten goals. Only four players scored more.
Khribin’s performances over the year convinced Al Hilal to splash out US$5 million to make his loan deal permanent. And the Syrian would raise the level of his performances to even greater heights in the weeks to come in the AFC Champions League semi-final against Iran’s Persepolis.
The thermometer was finally dipping below 40 degrees in Abu Dhabi, a sign that the long, hot summer was finally giving way to a marginally cooler autumn.
Tension was in the air at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium in the late September evening as Al Hilal players sat in the dugout preparing for their final training session ahead of the big game in the first leg against the Tehran side.
Players chatted away by the touchline, tying their laces or taking sips of water. A few seconds later, he emerged from the tunnel nonchalantly juggling a ball as he walked onto the pitch, unbothered by the weight of expectation.
The two semi-final clashes against Persepolis would see the Syrian produce some of the finest individual performances witnessed in the 2017 campaign.
In the first leg, Khribin started with a well-placed header, then added two more goals in the second half to complete a ‘perfect hat-trick’: a header and a goal with each foot to hand Al Hilal a 4-0 winning margin that all but sealed their place in the continental final.
The two sides faced off again three weeks later in Muscat. Persepolis scored early, but Khribin calmed the Al Hilal faithful’s nerves with a coolly taken ‘Panenka’ penalty kick.
Persepolis took the lead again, before the number 77 added a fifth goal against the Iranians over the two legs to end the semifinal stage on nine goals, level with Shanghai SIPG’s Hulk at the top of the competition’s scoring charts.
The Saudis set up an AFC Champions League final showdown with Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds as they looked to erase the ghosts of their 2014 final defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers.
Al Hilal fell behind to an early goal in the first leg at King Fahd International Stadium but Khribin clawed his team back into the game by restoring parity with a goal that would ultimately see him pick up the AFC Champions League top scorer award.
Unfortunately for Khribin, his high-scoring campaign ended on a negative note as a 1-1 home draw set up a difficult task in the second leg in Japan. With the match still goalless at the hour-mark, Khribin was stretchered off with an injury and Rafael Silva compounded Al Hilal’s misery with a late strike as The Blues suffered a second defeat in the final in four years.
Had you asked any Al Hilal fan what they made of Khribin’s transfer fee after his derby exploits back in May, you would have got the same answer every single time: “Worth every penny”.
Seven months on from that night in Riyadh, ask any ‘Hilali’ the same question and the answer would be: “It was undoubtedly a bargain”.
“It is a stepping stone to bigger things,” Khribin’s statement from 20 months ago rings loud and clear as he embraced Omar Abdulrahman, who he succeeded as the AFC Player of the Year, at the AFC Annual Awards gala in Bangkok in November.
“I apologise to the fans I could not make happy, we will do better in the future,” said Khribin upon picking up his award. The striker, having checked the most prestigious individual award off the list, remains determined to achieve collective glory.
“With the club and the national team, we did our best, but it was not meant for us to win the Champions League title and qualify for the World Cup finals. We hope that next year we can do better.”
One of Khribin’s next aims will be to help Syria do well in the UAE as they play in their sixth AFC Asian Cup in early 2019.
“We will try to do our best for the Syrian national team. We play and fight to bring happiness to our people. That is our main target.
“We have determination in matches, but the determination is stronger when you have people who are hungry for the happiness and joy. Our people deserve to be happy.”