Haidar Al-Shaïbani

Haidar Al-Shaïbani was born on March 31, 1984, in Setif, Algeria.

University

Al-Shaibani played University soccer at the University of Western Ontario from 2004 to 2007, where he was named Ontario University Athletics first team All Star in four consecutive years (2004 to 2007). In 2007, Al-Shaibani was named the OUA MVP and a Canadian Inter-university Sport first-team All-Canadian. In his four years with the Mustangs, he led them to three OUA championships and two bronze medals at CIS National Championships.

Professional

He began his professional career in 2002 with London City in the Canadian Professional Soccer League. He featured in the 2003 Open Canada Cup final against Metro Lions, they won the title 4–2 in a penalty shootout. In 2005, he received the CPSL Goalkeeper of the Year award. In 2006, he signed with division rivals North York Astros. During his tenure with North York, he helped clinch a postseason berth in 2007. In 2009, he went abroad to France to sign with Nîmes Olympique in Ligue 2. Al-Shaïbani made his debut for Nîmes on August 25, 2009, in a Coupe de la Ligue match against Troyes. He has also featured for the club in the Coupe de France.

Haidar represented Canada at two Summer Universiade, Bangkok 2007 and Belgrade 2009. He helped Canada to its best performance in history at the Universiade in men's soccer with a fourth-place finish at the 2007 Games in Bangkok, Thailand. He earned his first call-up for Canada on 14 May 2010 for the friendly matches against Argentina and Venezuela on 29 May 2010. He earned his first cap for Canada as a substitute in the second half against Venezuela, where he helped the team to a 1–1 tie. On September 4, 2010, Coach Stephen Hart selected Al-Shaïbani for the Friendly games in Toronto and Montreal, against Peru on September 4, 2010, and Honduras on September 7, 2010.

In 2017, he was named the video analyst and goalkeeper coach for AS Saint-Étienne in Ligue 1.

Al-Shaïbani was born in Sétif, Algeria, to an Iraqi father and a Ukrainian mother. His family moved to Canada in 1998.