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Nawaf bin Dhahi bin Faisal Al-Suwaiti Al-Aqidi (Arabic: نواف العقيدي; born 10 May 2000) is a Saudi professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Al-Nassr.[2]

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Nawaf Al-Aqidi

Personal information
Full name	Nawaf bin Dhahi bin Faisal Al-Suwaiti Al-Aqidi[1]
Date of birth	(2000-05-10) 10 May 2000 (age 22)
Place of birth	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Al-Nassr
Number	44
Youth career
	Al-Nassr
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2020–	Al-Nassr	3	(0)
2022	→ Al-Tai (loan)	7	(0)
National team‡
2019–2021	Saudi Arabia U20
2021–	Saudi Arabia U23	8	(0)
2022–	Saudi Arabia	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 June 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22 October 2022

Career

Club

Nawaf began his career for the youth team of Al-Nassr. On 30 June 2019, he was chosen in the Saudi program to develop football talents established by General Sports Authority.[3] He signed his first professional contract with Al-Nassr on 8 August 2019.[4] He returned from the program due to family circumstances and was promoted to Al-Nassr's first-team on 31 December 2019.[5] On 11 January 2020, he was named on the bench for the first team the league match against Al-Ittihad.[6] On 30 September 2021, Al-Aqidi made his debut for Al-Nassr in the league match against Abha.[7] On 30 January 2022, Al-Aqidi joined Al-Tai on loan.[8]

International

He played for the U-20 Saudi Arabia team, but was not part in the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, which Saudi Arabia qualified with two wins and one draw. However, with the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic, he was able to redeem himself in the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup with a spectacular performance, guiding the team to conquer the first title without conceding a single goal and a near perfect record with only Japan managed to hold Saudi Arabia a draw.

He was also summoned for the Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey, which was delayed to 2022 due to the same reason. Al-Aqidi once again impressed in the tournament without conceding a single goal in the group stage until the semi-finals, when he finally conceded a goal after eight consecutive clean sheets, in Saudi Arabia's 2–1 win over Algeria, albeit it was from a penalty rather than an open play. In the final, Al-Aqidi finally conceded the first ever open play goal after nine games, which was against the hosts Turkey in a pressuring attempt that saw Metehan Altunbaş netted, yet that goal proved disastrous as Saudi Arabia proved unable to break the Turkish defence as Saudi Arabia's hope to win the second major tournament in the same year crashed by this 0–1 loss.

Honours

Al-Nassr

• Saudi Super Cup: 2020

Saudi Arabia U23

• AFC U-23 Asian Cup: 2022

Individual

• AFC U-23 Asian Cup Best Goalkeeper: 2022[9]

References

External links

• Nawaf Al-Aqidi at Soccerway

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