Mansour Muftah

Mansour Muftah Faraj Bekhit Al-Abdullah, or simply Mansour Muftah alternatively spelled Mansoor Moftah (Arabic: منصور مفتاح, born 1955) is a Qatari former footballer who played as a Striker. He was the top scorer in the Qatar Stars League a record 7 times.

Mansour Muftah

Personal information
Full name	Mansour Muftah Faraj Bekhit Al-Abdullah
Date of birth	(1955-11-22)22 November 1955
Place of birth	Doha, Qatar
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Striker, Winger
Youth career
1967–1972	Al-Rayyan
1972–1973	Al-Rayyan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1974–1994	Al-Rayyan	272	(169+)
1995–1998	Al-Wakrah	44	(19)
1999–2000	Al-Qadsiyah	19	(7)
Total		216	(179)
International career
1976–1993	Qatar	81	(42)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Mansour Muftah was born on 22nd November 1955, in Doha, Qatar.

Youth career

Muftah attended the New Rayyan School; the school's football pitch was shared by Al Rayyan's first team. He joined in on an Al Rayyan training session, and scored two goals in a training match, prompting head coach Ashour Salem to ask him to join Al Rayyan's youth teams. Muftah rejected as he was a fan of Al Arabi, and was under pressure from his family to play for Al Arabi. Nonetheless, his sister-in-law presented him a contract with Al Rayyan, and he signed it without knowledge of the contents. Shortly after, his brother forced him into signing a contract binding him to Al Arabi. This caused the two respective clubs to involve the QFA, which offered him a chance to select between the two clubs. He chose to play for Al Rayyan, to the indignation of his brother. The following day, the Al Rayyan youth team secured a 3–1 victory over the Al Sadd youth team, with Muftah netting two goals. He then featured in a dominant 5–0 win against the Al Wakrah youth side. Continuing their strong form, Al Rayyan went on to defeat the Al Arabi youth team 3–1 in their next match.^[1]

Club career

Al-Rayyan

Muftah got promoted to the first team when he was 19. He played for Al-Rayyan from 1974 to 1994, during which he became a club legend and one of their greatest-ever players. He helped the team win six major titles and was the league’s top scorer multiple times in (1973–74, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, and 1985–86) seasons. Notably, in the 1985–86 campaign, he set a remarkable record by scoring 22 goals in just 12 matches. He also contributed to Al-Rayyan’s victory in the Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup in 1992.

Al-Wakrah

In 1995, Muftah was set to join Al Sadd, but strong opposition from Al-Rayyan fans due to the fierce rivalry between the two clubs prevented the move.^[2] As a result, he signed with Al-Wakrah instead. He played with the team till 1998. During his tenure, He scored 19 goals in 44 matches, and won the Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup in 1998.^[3] Muftah also notes that he regrets when he scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over his old team, Al-Rayyan, Since they only needed a win or draw to be declared champions of the 1995–96 league season, The goal not only gave Al-Wakrah the victory but also allowed Al-Arabi to snatch the league title. Muftah later apologised for scoring in that game.^[2]

Al-Saliya

During his final years he joined Al-Saliya, A club that played in the Qatari Second Division, Mansour joined in 1999 and played for Al-Saliya till 2001 before retiring. He played 19 matches and scored 7 goals.^[3]

Abroad interest

Due to his performances at Al-Rayyan, Muftah received numerous transfer offers from clubs abroad such as Al-Nasr and Al Jazira, notably an offer from Al Hilal, where he would play alongside Rivellino. However, the deal was never finalized.^[2]

International career

Muftah made his international debut in the 1976 Gulf Cup against Saudi Arabia.^[4] He scored 4 goals in 6 games in the tournament, including a two-minute brace against Bahrain.^[5] He featured in the 1978 Asian Games scoring a brace to level the game against Saudi Arabia to enable a draw.^[2] He also featured in the 1979 Gulf Cup in Iraq, scoring a single goal against the UAE, and again in 1982 Gulf Cup.^[6] scoring a goal against Oman. He scored his first World cup qualifier goal in 1978 against Bahrain in the 40th minute resulting in a 2-0 win for Qatar, His most successful spree in the FIFA World Cup qualification was in 1986 where he scored a Hat-trick and a poker against Lebanon, but both matches were annulled. Another one of his memorable moments came in 1990 where he scored a header against rivals Saudi Arabia in the 87' minute to draw the game, aswell as scoring in the 87' minute after teammate Mahmoud Soufi who scored a few seconds earlier in the game against China to win the game.

In 1981, he participated in the World Military Cup held in Qatar, helping his team finish as runners-up.^[7] From 1980 till 1986, the national team was coached by Evaristo de Macedo, who he describes as "undoubtedly the most influential person in his playing career".^[8] He scored the winner against Syria in the qualifying rounds which enabled Qatar to play at the men's tournament at the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[9]

He scored two goals and attained three assists in the group stage of the 1988 AFC Asian Cup held in Qatar. After Qatar made an early exit, Muftah, who was team captain, stated he felt humiliated for not at least reaching the knock-out stage. In a post-tournament interview, he apologized to the Qatari fans on behalf of the team. Despite losing the tournament, he earned 45,000 QR for winning 2 of the games.^[8]

He retired from international football in 1990, due to differences with the coach, Dino Sani.^[7] In total, he participated in 6 Arabian Gulf Cup and 3 AFC Asian Cups.^[10] But he also played in the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification, marking his last few appearances for the national side.

He retired in a match against Egypt.^[11]

He scored a total of 13 goals in the Gulf Cup while participating from 1976 to 1990, and added 4 goals in the Asian Cup. He is regarded as one of the greatest Qatari players of all time.

Mansour Muftah award

Starting from the 2013–14 Qatar Stars League, the Top goal-scorer award was renamed the "Mansour Muftah award" to honor his immense contribution to Qatari football.^[12]

Personal life

His brother, Faraj Muftah, was a volleyball referee and player who played for the Al Rayyan Volleyball Team and the Qatar national volleyball team.^[13]

He participated in the Syria International Rally in 2004.^[14] He has a son, Tameem Mansour, who plays for Al Rayyan as well as the Qatar national team.^[15]

Legacy

Mansour Muftah is regarded as one of the best Arab scorers of his era. He was an influential player for both club and country, contributing numerous goals and attacking plays. A record seven-time top scorer, he is also the all-time leading goal scorer in the Amir Cup with 36 goals and in the Sheikh Jassim Cup with 34 goals. He is nicknamed 'The Fox' due to his speed and ability to score from inside the box as well as with long-range shots. He reportedly scored 317 goals in 324 matches.

Career statistics

Club	Season	QSL		GCC Champions League		Sheikh Jassim Cup		Qatar Emir Cup		AFC Champions League		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Al-Rayyan	1974–75		15
	1975–76		12
	1976–77		13
	1977–78		11
	1978–79		9
	1979–80		5
	1980–81		8
	1981–82	12	19		6
	1982–83		10
	1983–84		7
	1984–85		?		1
	1985–86	12	22
	1986–87		8
	1987–88		4
	1988–89		0
	1989–90		6
	1990–91		5
	1991–92		7
	1992–93		8						5
	1994–93		?
Career total		272	168+		7		30+		30+		4

Club	Season	QSL		Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup		Crown Prince Cup		Qatar Emir Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Assist
Al-Wakrah	1994–95		5	0	0	0	0	7	2	0	0	7	7
	1995–96	16	6	4	3	3	2	2	1	0	0	25	12
	1996–97	12	3	4	2	0	0	3	2	0	0	19	7
	1997–98	6	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	1
	1998–99	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Career total		62	14	10	6	3	2	12	5	0	0	87	27

Club	Season	QSD		Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup		Crown Prince Cup		Qatar Emir Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Assist
Al-Sailiya	2000–01	9	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	13	4
Career total		9	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	13	4

Honours

Club

• Al-Rayyan

• Qatari League: 1975–76, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1989–90.
• Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup: 1992

• Al-Wakrah

• Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup: 1998

International

• Qatar

• Arabian Gulf Cup Runner-Up: 1984, 1990
• Arab Nations Cup 4th place: 1985
• World Military Cup Runner-Up: 1981

Individual

• Qatar Stars League top scorer 7 Times : 1973–1974,1976-1977,1977–1978,1981–1982, 1982–1983, 1983–1984, 1985–1986
• Qatar Stars League highest goal average with 22 goals in 12 matches.
• 1982 Gulf Club Champions Cup Top scorer : 6 goals.
• Arabian Golden Boot: 1981-82, 1985–86