Rami Hamadi signs for Umm Salal
Hamadi's journey in Qatar continues after QSL club obtain an exemption to register and field a foreign goalkeeper
Rami Hamadi’s club saga has come to an end. The 31 year old goalkeeper now has a new home having put pen to paper on a contract with Umm Salal. The deal was formalized after the club worked the channels in order to obtain an exemption.
The deal will only last for the remainder of the season although both parties are working towards a deal for next year.
Exemptions for Palestinian players have been in effect since early 2024 and they have allowed QSL clubs to sign Palestinian players without them counting as foreigners. Clubs are free to sign Palestinian players to a foreign player contract and use up one of the ten foreign player slots on their roster. QSL clubs cannot field more than five foreign players at a time.
In the case of Hamadi, his situation was especially precarious as no foreign goalkeeper is allowed to play in the Qatari league. Exceptions are made on an ad hoc basis but those are for players that are part of the national team’s naturalization scheme.
Al-Markhiya who singed Hamadi last year lost his services as the club could not secure an exemption for him. The second tier club was allocated a foreign goalkeeper as where the other seven clubs in the division with an eye to naturalizing them after five years.
In spite of not playing a single minute this season Rami Hamadi maintained his stellar form with the national team and racked up the minutes as well as the clean sheets. His form during the FIFA Arab Cup was especially impressive and the goalkeeper was rated by SofaScore as the best shotstopper of the tournament after registering cleansheets against Libya, Qatar, and Syria.
Hamadi has represented the national team on 64 official occasions and registered 31 clean sheets. He has been especially good in official competition recording 41 starts, 22 clean sheets, and a .80 GA average.