Al-Owairan: two peak stamps, one apex the ledger admits
The third volume of the Hidden Gem files, and a thin one: 4 rows × 44 columns = 176 cells, 31 of those columns identical across every row, and 4 calendar years between 1991 and 2001 with no row filed at all. Three rows belong to one club (Al-Shabab) spanning 9 years; the fourth has no club, only a competition — World Cup. Yet our mark column stamps peak twice, on 1991/92 and 1994, while the overall reads 79 and 81: two stamps, one apex the numbers admit. This file does not defend the first stamp. It puts the editor's hand and the ledger's arithmetic on the same page and keeps them apart.
Page one of the file
Saeed Al-Owairan, born 1967, a Saudi Arabian striker who stopped in 2001. BallFact has filed 4 rows of his ledger: 1991/92 / 1994 / 1998/99 / 2000/01, ages 24, 26, 31 and 33 at season end. Three rows belong to one club — Al-Shabab (Saudi Pro League) — 9 years apart; the fourth has no club at all — our database leaves the field empty and books the row under World Cup.
This is volume three of the Hidden Gem files (No.01 Citko, 11 rows; No.02 Salenko, 8 rows) and the thinnest of the three. It is also one of the rarest things in this archive: a file with a ledger and no match evidence whatsoever. What he made of that World Cup is not written here, because this archive holds no goal-by-goal ledger for that group — no legend, no placement, no appearances, not one sentence. So the file offers the book and its two irregularities: 2 peak stamps against 1 apex in the numbers; a 26-point drop in the body booked as 10 points in the overall.
This file was opened on 2026-10-08. 4 rows × 44 columns = 176 cells, every one read straight from the database; 124 of those cells sit in columns that never move (31 columns in all), and 4 calendar years between 1991 and 2001 carry no row whatever (1993, 1995, 1996, 1997). A file with no ledger behind it can stand on one thing only: every sentence must be recomputable from these numbers. That is our rule for all files; on the thinnest one it is the only rule left.
First irregularity: Two stamps say “peak”; the ledger admits one. Our mark column stamps peak on 1991/92 and 1994, at ages 24 and 26, while the overall column reads 79 and 81 — 2 points apart. The database has no field explaining the first stamp. This page does not justify it, and does not sand it down either; it separates the two on the record: the stamps are the editor's hand, the apex is the book's.
Second irregularity, and it concerns that empty field. Of 453 rows in our database, 75 have no club — but the emptiness has two faces. 10 of them (9 players) are national-team years booked under a competition: the league field reads World Cup or Olympics. The other 65 (34 players) are empty in both fields: not filed at all. The apex row of this file is one of the former; the previous volume, Salenko, has 8 rows and every one of them is the latter. One kind of blank, two meanings, and a file that conflates them is a file that lies. Two stamps say “peak”; the ledger admits one.
Year-by-year attribute matrix · 1991/92—2000/01
★ Filing note: row 2 (1994) has no club in our database; the league field holds only the competition, World Cup. That is how this archive books a national-team year (only 10 rows in the whole database are filed this way) — it is neither evidence of the club he played for nor of having had none. Heat shading encodes absolute level only (scale 60–99); outlined cells are the table's top value, exactly 1. The matrix is editorial derivation (L3), solved from no game database. Per-season appearances, goals and standings are not held here and are never cited.
| Season | Age | Pos | MOBILITY | TECHNIQUE | PHYSICAL | DEFENDING | MENTAL | WILL | GOALKEEPER | OVR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | SPT | AGI | OFF | FIN | LSH | PAS | THR | CRO | SET | SHD | FTO | DRI | HEA | LFT | RFT | STA | STR | DUR | AIR | D1V | MAR | POS | AGR | ZON | INT | PRS | VIS | CMP | CON | LEA | STB | WOR | SHW | HGRL | WTW | DFZ | BIG | SAV | AER | CMD | DIS | ONE | OVR | |||
| 1991/92 | 24 | 82 | 82 | 83 | 86 | 78 | 74 | 84 | 84 | 66 | 76 | 74 | 84 | 84 | 62 | 65 | 77 | 78 | 64 | 80 | 60 | 52 | 44 | 62 | 54 | 50 | 56 | 67 | 79 | 80 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 74 | 88 | 85 | 77 | 52 | 81 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 79 | |
| 1994 | 26 | 86 | 86 | 87 | 89 | 78 | 74 | 84 | 84 | 66 | 76 | 74 | 84 | 88 | 62 | 65 | 77 | 78 | 64 | 80 | 60 | 52 | 44 | 62 | 54 | 50 | 56 | 67 | 79 | 80 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 74 | 88 | 86 | 77 | 52 | 82 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 81 | |
| 1998/99 | 31 | 74 | 74 | 76 | 86 | 70 | 74 | 84 | 84 | 66 | 76 | 74 | 84 | 78 | 62 | 64 | 76 | 72 | 64 | 66 | 60 | 52 | 44 | 62 | 54 | 50 | 56 | 67 | 79 | 80 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 74 | 88 | 81 | 77 | 52 | 81 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 76 | |
| 2000/01 | 33 | 64 | 64 | 67 | 86 | 60 | 74 | 84 | 84 | 66 | 76 | 74 | 84 | 70 | 62 | 62 | 74 | 64 | 64 | 54 | 60 | 52 | 44 | 62 | 54 | 50 | 56 | 67 | 79 | 80 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 74 | 88 | 75 | 77 | 52 | 80 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 71 | |
How to read this table? Start at the far right: 79 → 81 → 76 → 71 — the highest of the four (81) sits on the one row booked by competition. Then sort the whole page by brightness: only 12 columns actually change (the overall aside); the other 31 are a straight line drawn four times over, among them passing (PAS 84), through balls (THR 84), first touch (FTO 84) and the five goalkeeping columns (25/25/25/30/25), which 46 of our 49 outfield files write to exactly the same floor — that is our convention, not his weakness. Finally, look at one cell only: off-the-ball (OFF) reads 89 on 1994, the single outlined cell in the table; the same column reads 86 in 1991/92, 1998/99 and 2000/01. Between 24 and 33, this ledger walks 12 columns downhill — and the most expensive one never finishes the walk.
Four rows × 44 columns: 89 appears exactly once, on 1994 (checked cell by cell by script — 1 cell in the table reaches ≥89). The next tier, 88, covers 5 cells, 4 of them in a column that never moves at all — showmanship (SHW 88), which our weight table keeps out of a striker's overall entirely (12 entries, no SHW). The remaining 1 is his dribbling on 1994 (DRI 88). Count this table from the top down: the first cell is an arc, the second tier is mostly a constant.
What matters more is where that column sits in the formula: of the 12 entries in our striker weights, off-the-ball carries 14, second only to finishing (FIN 22). It reads 86 in 1991/92, climbs to 89 in 1994, then returns to 86 in both 1998/99 and 2000/01 — the figure he held at 24 — and goes no further down. In a declining ledger, the one column that does not decline is the second-heaviest in our formula. The apex row beats the first row by only 2 points: Two stamps say “peak”; the ledger admits one.
The stamps are the editor's. The apex is the book's.
2 points between two stamps, 16 between body and book
Refusing to answer is also a verdict. Three more refusals live in this file: the 31 constant columns are not written as "years frozen in place" (that is our convention, not his career); the row booked by competition is not written as a medal — our database records only World Cup, with no placement, opponent, appearance or goal filed, so nothing may be inferred from it; and the 4 empty years (1993, 1995, 1996, 1997) are reported as blanks, not explained, because this archive has no reason and more than four stories would fit the gap.
Two stamps say “peak”; the ledger admits one. The sentence cancels two ready-made stories at once. You cannot write "he was finished at 24": the apex sits on the 26-year row, and 11 of the 12 moving columns bottom out across the whole table on the row of 33 (their names: ACC/AGI/BIG/DRI/DUR/FIN/HGRL/LFT/RFT/SPT/STA; the figure 12 counts the overall itself as well). Nor can you write "from 26 on he fell apart": OFF is the one column whose lowest value is not even its own — off-the-ball holds from 86 in 1998/99 to 86 in 2000/01 without moving, while passing, through balls, first touch and showmanship are identical in all four rows. What fell is what our 12-entry table can weigh; what did not includes the parts we never weigh at all.
The body drops 26, the overall 10. The gap is in our weight table.
4 rows, 4 testimonies
Al-Shabab (Saudi Pro League), the first row, age 24. Overall 79, off-the-ball 86, acceleration 82, durability at full 80. The mark column drops the file's first peak stamp here — 2 points below the second one. That gap is where this page's title comes from.
★ National-team row · club field empty, league field reading World Cup (only 10 rows in 453 are filed this way). Overall 81 — the file's single apex; off-the-ball 89 — the table's single top cell; age 26. What he actually did at that tournament is not written here: this archive has no ledger for it.
Al-Shabab (Saudi Pro League), age 31, the row our file leaves unstamped. Overall 76 (5 given back from the apex); durability takes the first refund, 66 (−14); stamina 72. Off-the-ball still 86 — the same figure as at 24.
Al-Shabab (Saudi Pro League), the final row, age 33, valley. Overall 71; 12 of 44 columns bottom out on this row (ACC/AGI/BIG/DRI/DUR/FIN/HGRL/LFT/OVR/RFT/SPT/STA); durability 54 (−26 from the apex), stamina 64, acceleration 64. Off-the-ball 86, level with the first row. Retired 2001: no further line.
A milestone list that is half blank
Al-Shabab (Saudi Pro League) — the 4-row ledger opens: overall 79, off-the-ball 86, first peak stamp. (BallFact player_seasons)
No row in the database. This page reports the blank and declines the reason — injury, a transfer, a stopped calendar or simple non-filing would all fit, and we choose none of them. (Filed as DOCKET-021: the two faces of an empty club field.)
One of only 10 rows in the whole archive filed by competition (league=World Cup, club empty). Both the apex overall (81) and the table's top cell (89) sit here. No goal-by-goal ledger for that group exists here, so no match fact is printed. (BallFact player_seasons)
3 further calendar years with no row at all (1995, 1996, 1997). A milestone section that contains a stretch of nothing is the part of this file we refused to fill with guesses. (BallFact player_seasons)
Back at Al-Shabab, age 31: overall 76 (−5), durability 66 (first drop, −14). No stamp on this row. (BallFact player_seasons)
Final row, age 33, valley: 12 column minima concentrated here, durability 54 (−26 overall), overall 71 (−10). Off-the-ball unchanged at 86. (BallFact player_attributes)
The only date our file gives besides the rows themselves. 4 rows, 4 empty years, 176 attribute cells, 0 matches evidenced — the complete holding of this archive on this player. (BallFact players)
A thin book and two irregularities
BONG WENG
Archivist
By the third Hidden Gem file I am less sure what the phrase is supposed to mean. Citko has 11 rows, Salenko 8, this one 4. So the only hard sense of "hidden gem" in this archive is: the book is short. Not that a legend was buried, not that a talent was cheated — that the verifiable figures in our hands are that few. Printing that in a headline is more honest than any sentence beginning "he might have".
Two irregularities in this ledger will not be sanded down. The first is the stamps: our mark column gives 2 peaks while the numbers admit 1 (79 and 81, 2 points apart), and no field in the database says why the first was given. So this file books the editor's hand and the ledger's arithmetic as two separate items — Two stamps say “peak”; the ledger admits one. The second is the gradient: at 33 durability has gone 80→54 and stamina 78→64, while the overall travels only 81→71. The cause is not in the man but in our 12-entry striker weight table, which holds neither durability nor stamina, and 5 of whose entries do not vary across his four rows (FTO/CMP/HEA/AIR/STR). That sentence is worth more on this page than any praise, because it tells the reader what kind of object an L3 ledger is made of.
One last note on the blank field. 75 rows in our database have no club: 10 of them (9 players) are national-team years booked by competition, 65 (34 players) are simply not filed. The apex row here is of the first kind; all 8 rows of the previous volume are of the second. The same empty cell, two meanings — and conflating them into a figure of speech ("his summit belonged to no club") is the easiest mistake this archive could make, and the one now on the register: DOCKET-021, due 2026-11-05. As for the popular tale of that World Cup: no ledger, no mention, not even a hint. An unowned red may not be muted; an unsupported blue may not be painted in either.
Volume 01 (#P00003, Citko) holds 11 rows; volume 02 (#P00019, Salenko) holds 8, of which 8 have both club and league unfiled; this volume holds 4 rows and 176 cells — the thinnest of the three. Together they are the only sense of "hidden gem" this archive can defend: the legend was not buried, the book is short, and we will not fill the missing cells with imagination.
Note: club/league assignments, per-row attributes and the mark stamps come from the BallFact database (attributes L3, editorial derivation); this archive holds no goal ledger, appearance list or scoreline for this player, so the page carries zero match facts. The 1994 row is filed as a national-team year (league=World Cup, club empty); placement, opponents, appearances and goals are unfiled and unasserted. The calendar years 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997 have no row; blanks are reported as blanks, without cause. Appearances, goals and standings (apps/goals/team_rank, NULL in our database) are not asserted; the widespread claims about that tournament are neither used, cited nor alluded to. The counterfactual (moving OFF/DRI/ACC/SPT from 1994 into 2000/01 under our ST weights, giving 75.9) is declared and voided in the same breath: booked nowhere, carrying no conclusion.
4 rows, 4 empty years: the stamps and the apex are not the same thing.
Data basis and confidence grading
S1 · BallFact players database player_seasons / player_attributes (slug=al-owairan, 4 rows × 44 columns = 176 attribute rows, all L3; 3 mark stamps, 4 empty calendar years).
S2 · BallFact attribute definition table attrs-def (the striker weights hold 12 entries — finishing 22, off-the-ball 14, and no durability, stamina or showmanship — which is why "the body loses 26 while the overall loses 10" is a fact about the convention and can be re-checked column by column).
S3 · BallFact Player Files #P00003 (Citko) and #P00019 (Salenko) — Hidden Gem volumes 01 and 02; no figure here is taken from them: /hidden-gem/citko/ · /hidden-gem/salenko/.
S4 · BallFact focus page "America 1994 · A Focus" (the entrance to that tournament's files): /american-summer/.
S5 · BallFact 1996 World XI · attribute master (the public page for the arc-anchoring scale): /players/1996/.
S6 · Dataset CSV: /data/players/al-owairan.csv (4 attribute rows, rendered from the database by our build pipeline).
S7 · Docket DOCKET-021 (the two faces of an empty club field: 10 rows booked by competition vs 65 unfilled; to be separated in the convention table and re-audited): see docs/roadmap.md §8.