Qatar Goalkeeper

About

The Qatar Goalkeeper or Qatar Goalie refers to professional footballer Saad Al Sheeb who plays for the Qatar national team. The Qatar goalkeeper became the subject of memes during the first game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, in the Qatar vs. Ecuador match, after he was called the "worst footballer ever" by some. Many also joked about the Qatar goalkeeper being sent to jail or mysteriously disappearing due to his poor performance, referencing the host country's controversial human rights record.

Origin

On November 20th, 2022, the national football teams of Qatar and Ecuador played in the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosted in Qatar in which Ecuador beat Qatar 2-0.^[1] The Ecuadorian team was led most notably by player Enner Valencia who scored both goals.

Online discourse about the game soon surfaced regarding the Qatari goalkeeper, Saad Al Sheeb, and his perceived lack of skills compared to the rest of the talent at the World Cup. For example, at around 11:21 a.m. EST on November 20th, Twitter^[2] user CFCRaf2 tweeted, "This Qatar goalkeeper is definitely 'mysteriously' disappearing after the game," gaining roughly 4,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Spread

Following Twitter user CFCRaf2's tweet, multiple others followed up with similar memes about the Qatari goalkeeper on November 20th, 2022. For instance, Twitter^[3] user ItsChanzu likened the goalie to a man smoking hookah while in goal, gaining roughly 2,300 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Twitter^[4] user amitttrmfc also labeled an odd-looking and ill-equipped goalie as the Qatari goalkeeper on November 20th, earning roughly 4,200 likes in the same time period (shown below, right).

Around the same time on November 20th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user upblissed posted a video quote retweet related to the Qatari goalkeeper being exiled following the loss by captioning a video of Luis Suárez crying and looking at his phone on the pitch, gaining roughly 66,100 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Also, an image of the Qatari goalkeeper looking at the Ecuadorian team celebrating earned viral usage. For instance, the Twitter^[6] account TrollFootball tweeted the photo on November 20th with the caption, "What a sad day for Saad," gaining roughly 35,700 likes in less than a day (shown below).

The Qatar goalkeeper going to jail or being exiled also trended on TikTok. For instance, on November 20th, 2022, TikToker^[7] _mrbossman_ captioned the Punisher's 'No, No, No, Wait, Wait, Wait' video with, "The Qatari goalkeeper when he comes back to the hotel room," gaining roughly 1.9 million plays and 336,500 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References