Adnan Haidar


Adnan Mahmoud Haidar is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Lebanon national team. An all-round midfielder, Haidar is not only a physical presence on the pitch but also has good ball control.
Born and raised in Norway, Haidar represented them at youth level internationally before switching allegiance for Lebanon at senior level.

Club career

Vålerenga

Haidar was born in Drammen and grew up in Oslo, where he lived in the Klemetsrud neighborhood. He played for Klemetsrud IL until he joined Vålerenga's youth department in 2001 and signed a professional contract with the club in 2008. He made his debut against Lyn on 15 September 2008, appearing as a substitute. In total he made three appearances for Vålerenga in all competitions in the 2008 season, also winning the Norwegian Cup in his first season as a professional. In 2009, he was loaned out to Skeid for the entire season, where he made 11 appearances in the First Division.
He returned to Vålerenga for the 2010 season and scored his first and second ever senior goals for Vålerenga in his first game since returning from loan against Oppsal in the Norwegian Cup of 2010. He then played his first Tippeligaen game of the season against Start in an 8–1 win. He finished the season with six appearances and scoring two goals in all competitions.
In the 2011 season he played ten games in the Tippeligaen, one game in the Norwegian Cup and one game in the UEFA Europa League before getting injured late into the season, it was later confirmed that Haidar had been ruled out for the rest of the season. At the end of the season he was released by Vålerenga and became free agent, but before being released he was offered a new contract at Vålerenga but chose to reject the offer because he wanted more first team football. In total he made 21 appearances and scoring two goals over three seasons for Vålerenga. He later went to Burnley on trial, but returned without a contract. He rejected a new trial proposal at Burnley two weeks later.

Stabæk

In January 2012, Haidar signed for Stabæk as a free agent, and was given the shirt number 10. He made his debut for Stabæk on the first day of the new season, on 25 March 2012 in a 0–0 draw against Aalesund.
Haidar stayed with Stabæk after the team was relegated to the First Division, and was a part of the team that won promotion to the Tippeligaen after only one season at the second tier. After the promotion was secured, the club stated that they wanted to give young players the chance when playing in Tippeligaen, and Haidar, who was one of the oldest players in the Stabæk-team, was released from his contract and free to find himself a new club.

International career

Haidar has represented Norway at youth international level, and played nine matches for Norway U16 in 2005 as well as seven matches for Norway U19 in 2008.
In October 2012, Haidar was called up to represent Lebanon, and made his debut for Lebanon in the friendly match against Yemen on 16 October. Haidar scored his first goal for Lebanon in the 2012 West Asian Football Federation Championship match against Oman on 8 December 2012 when his team won 1–0.
In December 2018, he was called up for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup squad.

Career statistics

Club

International

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 December 2012Ali Al-Salem Al-Sabah Stadium, Al Farwaniyah0–10–12012 West Asian Football Federation Championship

Honours and achievements

Club

;Vålerenga
Ansar
Awards