LONDON — Saudi footballing great Sami Al-Jaber is boosting his already impressive CV by enrolling at the University of Sunderland.

Sami is widely recognized as one of Saudi Arabia’s greatest footballers, having played for Al-Hilal SFC between 1989 and 2007, and representing his home country in four consecutive World Cups (1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006). In total, he scored 46 goals in 156 international appearances for the club.

Sami also had a brief loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2000.

Now, aged 49, the retired striker is ready for a new challenge – studying a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at the University of Sunderland’s London campus.

“I would like to express my appreciation,” Sami said.

“The University of Sunderland is just amazing in all aspects that I have seen so far, and they are really supporting me to achieve my future goals and vision. I’m excited to complete my education journey there.”

Sami, who is an ambassador for Adidas, FIFA and Saudi Pro Football, has presented on beIN SPORTS alongside the likes of Jose Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan Shearer.

He is also a board member at Qobolak Study Abroad, a Saudi-based company that places thousands of international students in top universities.

Ian Moody, Deputy Director of International at the University of Sunderland, said: “It was great to welcome Sami to our campus in London and I’m sure he will benefit greatly from studying our MBA.

“Sami is already a very successful businessman and I’m sure he can add a lot of context and real-life case studies to his theoretical learning.

“Qobolak is a key partner of ours based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are exploring various collaborations including Transnational Education, short course delivery and student recruitment from the Kingdom to both our campuses in Sunderland and London.

“We have for several years had a demand across areas of health sciences, but we are now seeing demand from Saudi Arabia in arts, tourism and hospitality.”

Mostafa Saeed, Chief Executive of Qobolak, added: “We proudly have a strong and great partnership with University of Sunderland.

“We really appreciate all the great efforts that Sunderland has done for all our students, including Sami Al-Jaber.”