Khalfan Ibrahim

Khalfan Ibrahim Khalfan Al Khalfan is a retired Qatari winger born in Doha on 18 February 1988. In 2006 he was named Asian Player of the Year, the first Qatari to win the award. He spent most of his career with Al Sadd, winning the 2011 AFC Champions League, and is remembered by the nicknames "Maradona of Qatar" and "Khalfaninho". His father, Ibrahim Khalfan, was also a footballer, for Al-Arabi and the Qatar national team. ^{1 2 3}

Khalfan began at Al-Arabi, his father's club, at youth level and signed for Al Sadd in 2004, breaking into the first team at seventeen in March 2005. His 2006–07 form helped bring him the Asian Player of the Year title, and he was part of the Qatar team that won the Asian Games gold medal in Doha in 2006; a serious injury in an Olympic qualifier against Bahrain in February 2007 then kept him out for more than a year. ¹

He returned in the 2008–09 season and was central to Al Sadd's 2011 AFC Champions League triumph: he assisted in the final against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, which Al Sadd won on penalties, and scored against Espérance of Tunis at the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. On 26 April 2013 he scored a solo goal against Al Rayyan in the Crown Prince Cup, dribbling some sixty metres past the defence; news agencies compared it to Diego Maradona's goal against England in 1986, and it was described as arguably the best goal ever scored by a Qatari player. In May 2013 he was named the Qatar Football Association's Player of the Year, ahead of his teammate Raúl González. On 22 September 2014 he scored his 63rd goal for Al Sadd, passing Carlos Tenorio to become the club's all-time top scorer. His Al Sadd league record finished at 298 appearances and 78 goals. ¹

He later played for Al-Arabi (2017–2018), Al Rayyan (2018–2019) and Al-Arabi again (2019–2020) before retiring. ¹

Khalfan starred for Qatar's youth teams, scoring six goals at the 2003 under-17 Gulf Cup and a goal against the Netherlands at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Peru. With the senior team he won the 2006 Asian Games on home soil and became Qatar's top scorer in the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. The Brazilian coach Zico, quoted in the article, praised his speed and dribbling and said he had "the features of a Brazilian player". ¹

With Al Sadd he won the Qatar Stars League four times, the Emir of Qatar Cup three times, the Crown Prince Cup three times, the AFC Champions League in 2011 and a bronze medal at the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup. Individually he was Asian Player of the Year in 2006 and Qatar Player of the Year in 2013. ¹

Neither article records a religious affiliation for Khalfan Ibrahim, and Wikidata carries no religion value for him. The museum therefore records his affiliation as unknown; see the faith note in his data record. ^{1 3}

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