Sameh Maraaba

Sameh Maraaba (born 19 March 1992) is a Palestinian footballer who plays for Al-Sareeh as a forward in the Jordanian Pro League and for the Palestine national team.

Sameh Maraaba

Personal information
Full name	Sameh Maraaba
Date of birth	(1992-03-19) 19 March 1992 (age 33)
Place of birth	Qalqilya, Palestine
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Al-Sareeh
Number	6
Youth career
–2012	Jabal Al-Mukaber
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012	Jabal Al-Mukaber
2012–2014	Hilal Al-Quds
2014–2015	Islami Qalqilya
2015	Shabab Yatta
2015–2016	Shabab Al-Khader
2016–2017	Thaqafi Tulkarem
2017–2018	Ahli Al-Khaleel
2018–2019	Shabab Al-Khalil
2019–2022	Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari
2022–2024	Jabal Al-Mukaber
2024	Al Khalij
2024–	Al-Sareeh
International career‡
2015–	Palestine	41	(11)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals ‡ National team caps and goals as of 11 September 2023

Career

Maraaba made his professional international debut for Palestine in 2015 during Second round World Cup qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup against Saudi Arabia.^[1] The very next game, against Malaysia he scored twice, in Palestine's 6-0 surprise routing.^[2]

International goals

Scores and results list Palestine's goal tally first.^[3]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	16 May 2015	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Malaysia	2–0	6–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.				4–0
3.	7 June 2017	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Bahrain	Bahrain	1–0	2–0	Friendly
4.	10 October 2017	Dora International Stadium, Hebron, Palestine	Bhutan	4–0	10–0	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
5.	14 November 2017	Arab American University Stadium, Jenin, Palestine	Maldives	3–0	8–1	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
6.				5–1
7.				6–1
8.				8–1
9.	10 October 2018	Cox's Bazar Stadium, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh	Bangladesh	2–0	2–0	2018 Bangabandhu Cup
10.	16 December 2018	Grand Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Pakistan	2–0	2–0	Friendly
11.	25 January 2020	Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Burundi	2–0	3–1	2020 Bangabandhu Cup
12.	18 January 2021	Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	Kuwait	1–0	1–0	Friendly

Personal life

Maraaba would have made his debut for Palestine a lot sooner, however he was embroiled within the political turmoil that surrounds Palestine as a nation. Maraaba was arrested by the Israeli Defence Force on 28 April 2014 at the border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank as he returned from a training camp in Qatar.^[4] A spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed they had "concrete information that he was carrying, or was involved in the potential transfer of communication equipment and finance on behalf of Hamas".^[5] Maraaba denied the claims, with the Palestinian Football Association claiming that he had been "carrying money back to his football club which had been given to him by an ex-colleague of the club who had previously been jailed by Israel as a member of Hamas".^[5] As a result, Maraaba was detained for a period of 7 months, resulting in him missing Palestine's 2014 AFC Challenge Cup campaign (in which Palestine would ultimately win, qualifying for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in the process), the 2014 Asian Games (in which Palestine made the Round of 16), and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia.^[4]