Palestinian Striker Oday Dabbagh Joins Aberdeen FC On Loan

Palestine striker Oday Dabbagh has signed for Scottish Premier League football club Aberdeen on a loan deal until the end of the season. The 26-year-old Palestinian finisher, who has played 45 times and scored 16 goals for his country, completed the loan deal from Belgian club Charleroi on Monday. Oday will be the first Palestinian player to play in the Scottish league.

Speaking about his move, Oday said,“I am very happy to be joining Aberdeen Football Club and look forward to meeting my teammates, the coaches and people around the club. I am looking forward to the challenge and I am hopeful that I will re-pay the trust everyone has shown in me with good performances for the team.”

Born and raised in the Old City of Jerusalem, Oday began his football career at his local club Hilal Al-Quds before playing in the Kuwaiti league for Al-Salmiya, Qadsia, Al-Yarmouk and Al-Arabi. In 2021, he helped Al-Arabi win the League title and was the league's top goalscorer.

Oday moved to Arouca in Portugal later that year, before transferring to Belgian side Charleroi in 2023. The deal that took Oday to Aberdeen on Monday will see him on loan at the club until the end of the season, but Aberdeen has an option to buy Oday should they wish to keep him.

Commenting on the deal, Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin was full of praise for the Palestinian striker.

“Oday is a clinical finisher who has an exceptional work ethic, and his combative qualities will be a real asset for us,' Thelin said.“He has a strong personality, both on and off the pitch, and we believe he will be a positive addition, adding another dimension to our attacking options as we work to get back to winning ways.”

And while the cold winds that whip in from the North Sea behind Aberdeen's Pittodrie Stadium can chill to the bone, Oday will be guaranteed a traditional warm Scottish welcome from the people of Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Football Club has a proud and gloried history, having been in the top division of the Scottish football league since it was first elected to it in 1905. Unlike other cities in Scotland such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, Aberdeen is a one club city, and consequently, has huge support right across the region. With the club rooted in the community, the people of Aberdeen are rightly proud of their football team and its traditions, turning out to support them through the good times and bad.
And when those times were good, they were truly exceptional. This was the case during the early 1980s under the Aberdeen manager at the time, Alex Ferguson, whose statue now stands outside the club's Pittodrie Stadium.

Ferguson, who is regarded by many as the greatest football manager of all-time, may be better known for his exploits with Manchester United, but many contend that what he achieved with Aberdeen was even more impressive.

When Ferguson took over the club as manager in 1978, the Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers held a stranglehold on Scottish football. However, that was to change as Ferguson built a side that would dominate the Scottish domestic game during his eight years in charge, winning the Scottish League three times, the Scottish Cup four times and the Scottish League Cup. To this day, Ferguson's Aberdeen is the last side other than Celtic and Rangers to have won the Scottish Premier League.

But undoubtedly, the club's greatest triumph came in 1983, when they won the European Cup Winners Cup.

Having defeated Bayern Munich in the quarter-final round, Aberdeen met the legendary Real Madrid in the final. With Real hot-favourites to win the trophy, accounts from the time suggest that the Spanish side took their Scottish opponents lightly, expecting to win with relative ease.

But on a rainy night in Gothenburg, the men from the Granite City had other ideas, winning 2-1 and sending the Madrid giants homewards to think again. And later that year, when they defeated the European Cup winners (the equivalent of today's Champions League winners) Hamburg SV in the European Super Cup Final, Aberdeen could rightfully claim to be the best team in Europe.

While those glory days seem a long time ago now, Aberdeen fans are desperate to see their club build a side capable of re-establishing itself as a force in Scottish football and challenging the dominance of Celtic and Rangers once again. Indeed, the start of season 2024-2025 led many to believe they were witnessing the start of something special, as the Dons (Aberdeen's nickname) went on a run that saw them win their first eleven league games of the season. However, since mid-November, they have gone fourteen league games without a win, securing only four points and scoring eight goals in that time
But in Oday, Aberdeen hope to have found the man to end their goal drought and help the Dons to rediscover their early season form that promised so much.

And if he does start banging in the goals, Oday Dabbagh will make tens of thousands of people, from Palestine to Pittodrie, very happy indeed.

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