DUBAI: Al-Shabab’s 18-year-old midfielder Turki Al-Ammar capped his first full season of first-team football by winning the country’s top award for young players at the Saudi Pro League annual awards.
The 18-year-old is yet to sign his first professional contract, but he has started 13 matches in the league this season and earned rave reviews. He beat off competition from teammate Abdullah Al-Khaibari, Al-Ettifaq midfielder Hamed Al-Ghamdi, Al-Nassr winger Fahd Al Jumaia and Al-Ittihad center-back Tareq Mohammed to win the award at the ceremony in Riyadh.
“It is an honor to be named the best young player in the country,” said Al-Ammar to Saudi Sport Channel KSA Sport. “It is my first season with the first team at Al-Shabab, so I never imagined I would go this far, but the win will only motivate me to do work harder. I am yet to sign a professional contract, but I hope the next few weeks will bring good news in that regard.”
The youngster was the only Al-Shabab player to climb the stage on the night, but former Al-Shabab goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais was among the winners, bagging the top goalkeeper award. The 26-year-old helped his current club Al-Ahli to record nine clean sheets, the highest for any team in the competition, as they finished second. He is set to cap a fine season by starting for the Green Falcons at the World Cup.
“To win this award in the presence of some top local and foreign goalkeepers in the league gives me renewed energy to show what I am capable of in the next period,” said Al-Owais. “There is strong competition to be the national team’s number one, and I hope I am confident of my ability to step up to the challenge.”
The biggest award of the night, though, belonged to Al-Ittihad Chilean playmaker Carlos Villanueva, who was named the Player of the Season. The 32-year-old also won the Best Midfielder Award on the back of a stellar season in which he contributed seven assists and two goals from midfield, despite his side finishing the season at ninth place.
Villanueva, who had joined Al-Ittihad from UAE side Al-Shabab in 2016, took to Twitter to thank his teammates, calling on them to end the season on a high note as they contest the King’s Cup final against Al-Faisaly on May 11.
“[I am] very happy to have received this award,” he said. “Thanks to my teammates, to the all coaches staff and the club. Now let’s finish the season in the best way, just one more step, only one game more.”
Another Chilean collecting two awards on the night was Al-Fahya’s Ronnie Fernandez. The striker ended Omar Al-Somah’s three-year grip on the Saudi Pro League’s top goalscorer award, netting 13 goals this season, to better the Syrian by two goals.
Fernandez added the Best Striker award to his top goalscorer accolade, becoming the first ever Al-Fayha player to win the top marksman honor. The 27-year-old moved to Ƶ in the summer of 2017 from Bolivia’s Club Bolivar in a deal worth SAR 8 million.
Elsewhere, Al-Faisaly’s achievement in finishing sixth in the league, one point behind the top four, and reaching the King’s Cup final, saw Vuk Rasovic, their Serbian coach, land the Best Coach award.
AWARDS
Player of the Season: Carlos Villanueva (Al-Ittihad)
Best Coach: Vuk Rasovic (Al-Faisaly)
Top-scorer: Ronnie Fernandez (Al-Fahya)
Best Goalkeeper: Mohammed Al-Owais (Al-Shabab)
Best Defender: Motaz Hawsawi (Al-Ahli)
Best Midfielder: Carlos Villanueva (Al-Ittihad)
Best Striker: Ronnie Fernandez (Al-Fahya)
