Fahad Al-Ghesheyan
Encyclopedia
Fahad Al-Ghesheyan (born August 1, 1973) is a former Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

n football (soccer) player who participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

, scoring one goal against Sweden
Sweden national football team
The Swedish national football team represents Sweden in association football and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body for Football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Råsunda Stadium in Stockholms län and their head coach is Erik Hamrén. Sweden made their first...

 in the Round of 16. Al-Ghesheyan played for Al-Hilal
Al-Hilal
Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club , also known simply as Al-Hilal, is a Saudi Arabian sports club based in the country's capital of Riyadh and best known for its professional football team, known as Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club...

 at the time.

Fahad Al-Ghesheyan is also known as the first Saudi player to play in Europe when he moved to AZ Alkmaar in Holland. AZ's manger at that time was Willem van Hanegem
Willem van Hanegem
Willem "Wim" van Hanegem is a Dutch football player and coach born in Breskens, Zeeland. In a playing career spanning over 20 years he won several domestic honours in the Netherlands, as well as two UEFA trophies, all with Feyenoord. He was also a finalist in the FIFA World Cup 1974...

, who previously managed Al-Hilal
Al-Hilal
Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club , also known simply as Al-Hilal, is a Saudi Arabian sports club based in the country's capital of Riyadh and best known for its professional football team, known as Al-Hilal Saudi Football Club...

. He had been impressed by Al-Ghesyan back in Hilal. Al-Ghesheyan was known to be a right winger with good dribbling skills but a lack of professionalism and consistency.

Al-Ghesheyan first came into the spotlight when he was part of Saudi Arabia's Asian Youth Cup qualifiers, where he guided the Saudi team to qualification. He was the main star player in the match between Saudi Arabia vs Brazil in that FIFA World Youth Cup where he was too much dominating player and singly took over the momentum of the game. Brazilians were not able to control his pace and ball-control and it was because of him that Saudi Arabia totally dominated over Brazil in the Mid-Field and many counter-attacks.

Being on top of his game, he tried to break into the senior team back in 1994 but his path was blocked by a Saudi side then rich in prolific attacking players, like Majid Abdullah, Sami Al Jabir, Fahad Al Mahalel and Saeed Owairan. Being a winger, the coaches rarely gave him a chance to play.

He was only introduced in the second half when Saudi were already two goals behind Sweden – even though he managed to get the score to 2–1 while missing another close chance to make it 2–2 before Sweden finally finished the game off at 3–1.

Somewhere down the line, he fell out with his club's management. To his astonishment, he was sold to Al Naser, who were Hilal's derby rivals in Riyadh. Fans could not believe that their best player had just left and joined Naser, and he was upset that after he left he only played a few games for Naser, and soon quit the game out of frustration of not being able to play for his boyhood club Hilal. He retired early when he was only 25 or 26 years old.

He later moved to Holland, to AZ Alkmaar for a brief spell.
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