Akram Afif poses with the Al Sadd shirt during his unveiling ceremony in Doha yesterday.
DOHA: Al Sadd’s new winger Akram Afif, the star of Qatar’s enterprising show at last month’s AFC U-23 Asian Cup campaign, yesterday said playing for the Doha giants is ‘a big challenge’.
The 21-year-old was unveiled as an Al Sadd player after a loan deal with Villareal came to an end, the club announced on its website yesterday.
Afif is expected to join Barca legend Xavi who is the captain at Al Sadd and Qatar national team striker Hassan Al Haydos.
“Joining Al Sadd is a new but big challenge for me. It is a great responsibility and honour for any young player to join Al Sadd,” Afif said yesterday.
“I pray that I am successful with my short stint and that I get the confidence of coach Jesualdo Ferreira,” he added.
Afif with three goals to his credit helped Qatar finish third at the 16-team tournament won by Uzbekistan in China last month. Afif was influential with his assists that helped his team-mate Alimoez Ali score 6 goals at the same event.
Afif has appeared in 29 internationals for Qatar since September 2015 and has scored five goals. His recent strike came against Yemen in a Gulf Cup match at the end of December in Kuwait.
“It is a dream of mine to be part of a winning team at Al Sadd. I will be playing for them until the end of the season,” Afif said.
“I am very happy with this move. I am happy to join Al Sadd again,” Afif said.
The youngster, born and brought up in Doha, launched his young career with Al Markhiya before joining Al Sadd juniors.
“When I was promoted to the youth team (of Al Sadd), I moved to Spain with Villarreal. In between I moved to Sporting Gijon,” Afif said yesterday.
“(In 2017), I finally returned to Eupen but this is the first time I will be playing with the senior team of Al Sadd,” Afif said.
“I have gained a lot of experience during my time in Spain and Belgium and I wish to play with a strong team like Al Sadd and make my contribution to club by winning matches with this side. There are many domestic and AFC challenges for Al Sadd,” he added.
“I’m happy to be back at Al Sadd and I promise everyone that I will do my best to always give 100 percent on the pitch and help the team win matches and trophies,” Afif said.
“This team includes seniors and professionals of the highest order. Working with them with them will be very exciting. Hopefully we will be able to lead the team to success in the coming matches. I hope to see Al Sadd at the top always,” he said.
Al Sadd, placed second behind points leaders Al Duhail on the QNB Stars League table, take on Qatar SC on Saturday in a round 15 clash. Al Duhail have 36 points from 14 matches while Al Sadd have a tally of 34. Third-placed Al Rayyan have 32 points.
The club yesterday announced influential Algerian winger Jugurtha Hamroun will miss the next clash having picked up a fourth yellow card in the last game, resulting in an automatic one-game suspension.
