Saudi Arabia football team’s star forward Salem Al-Dawsari has left the national training camp due to some personal reasons. The forward was awarded the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ‘Footballer of the Year’ award this year. He penned down his name in history as he became the 6th Saudi player to win it.
The national camp exit is a big blow to the preparations of Saudi Arabia as they are planning to progress towards the next FIFA World Cup event. It seems highly unlikely that he will play a part in Saudi’s encounter with Pakistan on Thursday.
Saudi is set to play Pakistan in the 2nd round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The contest will take place at Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium of Al-Fateh Club in Al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province on 16th November 2023. Saudi released their 28-man squad a few days back, whose forward line was spearheaded by Dawsari.
— إليكم قائمة المدير الفني للمنتخب الوطني @robymancio للجولتين الأولى والثانية من الدور الثاني من التصفيات الآسيوية لكأس العالم 2026 وكأس آسيا 2027 ⬇️
🔗 https://t.co/xrA15AQjFG . #الطريق_إلى_كأس_العالم2026 pic.twitter.com/CiVsCbTKfp— المنتخب السعودي (@SaudiNT) November 10, 2023
Dawsari’s been having a brilliant season with Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League (SPL). In 13 matches, he has scored 7 times and assisted once, making him stand at number #5 in SPL top-scorer chart. His club Al-Hilal is leading the title race by 4 points. Al-Nasr, led by Cristiano Ronaldo (top-scorer of SPL this season) is challenging Al-Hilal for the title as the season progresses.
