Mombasa born Ali wins Qatari League

Mombasa-born Hashim Ali Abdulatif was yesterday crowned a Qatari champion after his Al Sadd side were named the 2020/2021 Qatar Stars League champions. The player added to his trophy cabinet after his Al Sadd side defeated Umm Salal 3-0 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Ali was an unused substitute during the comfortable win courtesy of goals from Baghdad Bounedjah, Youssef Abdel Razaq Youssef and Rodrigo Barbosa Tabata. The side coached by former Barcelona legend Xavi proclaimed the title with four league games to spare. Algerian Bounedjah, who opened the scoring in the 34th minute, was delighted after the win and was left grateful to the entire fraternity.

"I congratulate the fans of Al Sadd and all those who contributed to this achievement," he said.

Head coach Xavi, who is on course to win five titles this season expressed his delight at winning the league title for the first time as a manager.

"We scripted a new history for Al Sadd, happy to win the league for the first time as a coach," he remarked.

Ali was born and raised in Mombasa before relocating to Qatar to join his parents. He joined the Al Sadd senior team in 2019 from Al Arabi but was part of the Al Sadd Academy through his formative years. He has represented the Qatar national team across several junior levels (U19, U20, U23). The midfielder has already won the Prince Cup and the Qatar Cup this season and is in line to win a fourth trophy as Al Sadd are in the semifinal of the Emir Cup.

The 20-year old is a regular player for the Xavi-coached side and featured in the first half as his team edged Michael Olunga's Al Duhail 3-1 back on 12th January.

He is a graduate of the famous Aspire Academy in Qatar and had a short stint at the Hoffenheim Academy in Germany.

The midfielder will be hoping to feature when his team takes on Al Wakrah in an already wrapped-up league engagement this Thursday.

Al- Sadd is also the current home of former Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla.