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Celine Haidar

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For the German ice hockey player, see Celina Haider.
In this Lebanese name, the father's name is Abbas and the family name is Haidar.
Celine Haidar
Haidar with Lebanon in 2022
Personal information
Full name Celine Abbas Haidar
Date of birth c. 2005 (age 19–20)
Place of birth El Kosaibeh, Lebanon[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 BFA
Number 20
Youth career
Safa U19
BFA U19
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2021–2022 Safa 3 (0)
2022– BFA 33 (1)
International career‡
Lebanon U18
Lebanon U20
Lebanon
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 04:59, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 04:59, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Celine Abbas Haidar[1] (born c. 2005) is a Lebanese footballer who plays as a midfielder for Lebanese Women's Football League club BFA, which she captains, and the Lebanon national team. She previously played for Akhaa Aley and Safa, with which she won the 2022 WAFF Women's Clubs Championship.

With BFA, Haidar won the league in 2023–24; with the Lebanon under-18 team, she won the 2022 West Asian Championship. She sustained a head injury from shrapnel on 16 November 2024 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and was placed in an induced coma.

Club career

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Haidar (bottom row, third from left) with Safa after winning the 2022 West Asia Women's Club Championship

Early in her career, Haidar played for Akhaa Aley.[2] She then joined Safa and played for their U19 team in the 2020–21 Lebanese Women's U19 Football League,[3] before moving into the first team in 2021.[1] With them she took part in and won the 2022 WAFF Women's Clubs Championship. Throughout her time at Safa, she wore number 70.[4][5][6] At the end of the 2021–22 season, Safa dissolved the women's team.[7]

For the 2022–23 season, Haidar joined another Beirut team, BFA, wearing the number 20.[8] In her first two seasons at BFA, Haidar made 33 Lebanese Women's Football League appearances[9] and scored one goal, the team's first in a 10–0 victory over Helium Sports on 25 June 2023.[1] She also played for BFA's U19 team, winning the U19 league.[6] BFA won the senior league for the first time in the 2023–24 season, in a perfect season. Haidar was then made team captain in September 2024[10][11] when Syntia Salha left the club.[12] Described as the pillar and cornerstone of the team,[10][11] and an intelligent player,[13] Haidar is focal in transition from defense to attack;[10] her coach called her "Lebanon's Sergio Busquets".[6]

International career

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Internationally, Haidar has represented Lebanon in its under-18 and under-20 teams,[13] including winning the 2022 WAFF U-18 Girls Championship. In 2024, she was selected to the senior team ahead of preparation for the WAFF Women's Championship.[11] She had been set to make her senior debut against Iran in October 2024, but the Lebanese Football Association cancelled the match after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began attacking Lebanon at the start of that month.[14]

Injury

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When the IDF began more intense shelling of Beirut in November 2024,[14] Haidar and her family left their home in Chiyah in the south of Beirut[13][10] to stay in Baakleen, in the mountains outside the city.[14] Haidar had recently been named captain of her football team, and returned to the city regularly to train.[10] On 16 November 2024 the IDF bombed Beirut's suburbs throughout the day.[15] Haidar was at home in Chiyah when an IDF evacuation order was issued, and she left; her father also called her to make sure she received the warning,[15] and she had messaged her mother.[14] Though Haidar left the building, the airstrike was imminent[6] and she was getting on her motorbike when the area was hit. She was hit in the head by shrapnel.[11]

Haidar suffered "severe brain injuries, including multiple skull fractures and brain bleeding."[11] She was taken to a hospital in Hadath that was then hit by an airstrike.[6] She was transferred to the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, where she underwent surgery to control the bleeding.[13] On 16 November[6] she was placed in an induced coma.[10] She was in a stable condition for several days, before deteriorating on 20 November, when she suffered more bleeding on the brain, which was treated;[13] she was reportedly stable again by 22 November.[6]

A video of Haidar unconscious in the rubble, showing her injuries and a man screaming nearby, went viral on social media in Lebanon.[10] Other social media responses included further calls for FIFA to suspend Israel from international football in response to their invasions, which have injured multiple footballers.[13] There had been unconfirmed reports on 17 and 18 November that Haidar had fallen into a coma following surgery and then died,[16] with BFA clarifying her condition to the press.[6][15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Celine Haidar - Soccer player profile & career statistics". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  2. ^ Harding, Jonathan. "Bombs in Lebanon ending lives, dreams and football – DW – 11/22/2024". DW. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  3. ^ Moussa, Mohammad (1 November 2020). "2020-21 Safa U19 vs Southern Stars U19 Gallery". FA Lebanon. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Lebanon's Safa win 2022 WAFF Women's Clubs Championship". the-AFC. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  5. ^ "2nd WAFF Women Clubs Championship – Jordan 2022 - West Asian Football Federation". 6 March 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Teenage Lebanese international football star in coma after Israeli airstrike". Arab News. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  7. ^ أحوال (1 August 2022). "فريق الصفاء يعلن حل كافة الأجهزة الفنية والإدارية لفريق السيدات". أحوال ميديا (in Arabic). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Beirut Football Academy". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Liban : Céline Haidar, étoile montante du football fauchée par les bombes d'Israël". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g "'They killed her dream': Israel strike leaves woman footballer in coma". France 24. 20 November 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d e Alkousaa, Riham; Kozaily, Joelle (22 November 2024). "Rising Lebanese soccer star left in coma by Israeli airstrike". Reuters.
  12. ^ "Ενισχύεται με νεαρή διεθνή μεσοεπιθετικό από τον Λίβανο".
  13. ^ a b c d e f Wrack, Suzanne (20 November 2024). "Lebanon youth international Céline Haidar in induced coma after airstrike". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  14. ^ a b c d López, Arturo (20 November 2024). "Jugadora de 19 años quedó en coma tras ataques de Israel". Excélsior (in Mexican Spanish).
  15. ^ a b c "En coma una joven promesa libanesa víctima de los ataques israelíes: "Mataron su sueño"". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 20 November 2024.
  16. ^ "Uccisa a Beirut anche la stella del calcio libanese, Celine Haidar". RaiNews (in Italian). 18 November 2024.
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