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Nawaf Al-AqidiSaudi Arabian footballer, goalkeeper
Date of Birth: 10.05.2000
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Content:
Club Career
Nawaf Al-Aqidi began his football journey with Al-Nassr's youth team. On June 30, 2019, he was selected to join the Saudi Football Talent Development Program, launched by the General Sports Authority. On August 8, 2019, he signed his first professional contract with Al-Nassr. After returning from the program due to family reasons, he was promoted to Al-Nassr's first team on December 31, 2019. On January 11, 2020, he was named on the first-team bench for the league match against Al-Ittihad. Al-Aqidi made his Al-Nassr debut in a league match against Abha on September 30, 2021. On January 30, 2022, Al-Aqidi moved on loan to Al-Tai. He made his debut on February 12, 2022, in a 3-1 win over Al-Batin. He played seven games and kept three clean sheets for Al-Tai before returning to Al-Nassr at the end of the season.
International Career
Saudi Arabia U23Despite not participating in the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualifying tournament, where Saudi Arabia qualified with two wins and a draw, Al-Aqidi played for the Saudi Arabia U20 team. However, with the AFC U-19 Championship being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he redeemed himself in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, where he put on an impressive display, helping the team win its first-ever title without conceding a single goal and with near-perfect results, with only Japan managing to hold Saudi Arabia to a draw. He was also called up to the Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey, which were postponed until 2022 for the same reason. Al-Aqidi once again impressed at the tournament, keeping clean sheets in the group stage until the semi-final, where he finally conceded a goal after eight consecutive clean sheets in Saudi Arabia's 2-1 win over Algeria, albeit from a penalty rather than open play. In the final, Al-Aqidi finally conceded his first goal in open play after nine games, which came against the hosts, Turkey, in a tense affair that Metehan Altinbas scored the winner in, but it proved to be decisive as Saudi Arabia failed to break down the Turkish defense, and Saudi Arabia's hopes of winning a second major tournament that year were dashed with a 1-0 defeat.
Senior
On November 18, 2021, Al-Aqidi received his first senior team call-up for the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup. He did not play in the competition, as Saudi Arabia were eliminated in the group stage. On November 11, 2022, Al-Aqidi was included in the squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He did not play a game at the tournament as the third-choice goalkeeper behind Mohammed Al-Owais and Mohammed Al-Rubaie, as Saudi Arabia once again exited in the group stage, despite a historic victory over Argentina in their opening match. On December 30, 2022, Al-Aqidi was included in the squad for the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup. He started all three matches as Saudi Arabia once again failed to progress beyond the group stage.
