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Hamid El-Zein in 1973
Hamid El-Zein (22 September 1953) is a former Arab-Brunanter football player who played in Arabian FC for his entire career. With 104 goals in 323 First League games, he is considered one of the greatest scorers of all time. Even though he never won a trophy with Arabian FC, he was awarded the Golden Flower award in 1981. El-Zein's nicknames are "The Nation's Cannon" or simply "The Cannon", and "The Sheikh".
His sons Ibra and Stefan are also successful footballers.
Club career[]
National team[]
Post-retirement[]
After El-Zein ended his career in 1987, he stayed away from any project related to football for almost a decade. In 1996 he became the coach of Arabian FC youth team, a post he held until 2000. During his service players like Alfred Kiessling and Ahmed Abdulrashid were promoted to the first team. From 2001 until 2007 he worked as a columnist for The Daily Post.
Playing style[]
In his book "Brilliant Dragons: The Greatest Brunanter Footballers", sports journalist David Goodworth writes,"El-Zein was squat, awkward-looking and not notably fast; he never fit the conventional idea of a great footballer, but his aim-to-goal shot was lethal. Despite not being very tall, he had a remarkable aerial game, and also had a knack of scoring in unlikely situations."
While he rarely demonstrated his dribbling skills in AFC matches, his team mate Faysal Abujamal has emphasized El-Zein's ability: "His dribbles were incredible. In training I have played against him and I never had a chance."
Personal life[]
El-Zein was born in the Arabian Quarter, both his parents hailing from Lebanon. He has one brother, Abbas, who also was a footballer until he broke his leg at the age of 20.
In 1982 El-Zein married Anthea van Genter. She gave birth to a daughter and two sons; Qabiya (b. 1983), Ibrahim "Ibra" (b. 1986) and Stefan (b. 1991). Qabiya works as a lawyer, while Ibra and Stefan have been successful football players.