Ali Faez Atiyah ( ar, علي فايز عطية or ; born 9 September 1994) is an Iraqi

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender and an Olympian who plays for Al-Talaba and the Iraq national team. He has established himself as a 'dead ball' specialist or setpiece taker.

Club career

The former graduate of the

Ammo Baba Emmanuel Baba Dawud (27 November 1934 – 27 May 2009), better known as Ammo Baba ( ar, عمو بابا, syr, ܥܡܘ ܒܒܐ), was an Iraqi Assyrian football player and coach of the Iraq national football team. He scored the first international ...

Football School was born in 1994 and first made his league debut for

Al-Sinaa Al-Sinaa Sport club ( ar, نادي الصناعة الرياضي, lit=''Industry SC'') is a football club based in Thawra District, East Districts of the Tigris River, Baghdad, that plays in Iraqi Premier League. History Premier League Play Ove ...

and then

Al-Karkh Karkh or Al-Karkh (Arabic: الكرخ) is historically the name of the western half of Baghdad, Iraq, or alternatively, the western shore of the Tigris River as it ran through Baghdad. The eastern shore is known as Al-Rasafa.Erbil SC Erbil Sports Club ( ar, نادي أربيل الرياضي, ) is a sports club based in the city of Erbil, Kurdistan Region that plays in the Iraqi Premier League, the first-tier of Iraqi football. The club is also known as "Yaney Hewlêr", the ...

halfway through the 2012–2013 season for a -year deal worth 40m Iraqi

dinars The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...

. before he joined

Al Shorta Al-Shorta Sports Club ( ar, نادي الشرطة الرياضي, lit=''Police Sports Club'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 17 different sports, more than any other Iraqi club, and the best known sectio ...

. Ali has played at every age group level for the Iraqi national team from U-14s to the senior team and by the age of just 21 had already represented Iraq at the Asian Cup, the WAFF Championship and the Gulf Cup. In July 2016 Ali signed for Turkish Team

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Rize. The club play in the TFF First League. The club was founded on May 19, 1953, with green-yellow as club colours, but later changed to blue-green. Since 1990, the team ...

. However, after a season which saw limited playing time and a relegation from the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

, Ali made his debut on August 20, 2016, as a center back playing the full 90 minutes against

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadium ...

. Ali requested to leave the club, which was granted by a loan to former club Al Shorta. In June 2018, he signed a one-year contract with

Al Kharaitiyat SC Al Kharaitiyat Sport Club ( ar, نادي الخريطيات) is a Qatari sports club based in the town of Al Kharaitiyat, best known for its football team of the Qatari Second Division. They won the Second Division in 2004 and played in the Qa ...

. Ali supported

Al-Zawraa Al-Zawraa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الزوراء الرياضي) is an Iraqi sports club based in Utayfia, Karkh District (near Tigris River), Baghdad. Their football team compete in the Iraqi Premier League, the top-flight of Iraqi footbal ...

while he was growing up and cites Spanish midfielder

Xabi Alonso Xabier Alonso Olano (, ; born 25 November 1981) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player who is currently the head coach of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen. Alonso began his career at Real Sociedad, the main team of his hom ...

as his favourite player and is a

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

fan. The defender, a dead-ball specialist, taking both free-kicks and penalties, can be deployed in the centre of defence, at right back and as a defensive midfielder.

International career

Ali is one of a select few to have played at every level for Iraq from Ishbal (Cubs) to the senior side after making his international debut last year in the 6–0 defeat to Chile in Copenhagen. On 14 August 2013, Ali played his first international match for Iraq against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in a friendly match. When he was handed his international debut by Serbian

Vladimir Petrović Vladimir Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Петровић, ; born 1 July 1955) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon ( sr, Пижон), after the French for ''pigeon''. C ...

in 2013 at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 5 days, he became one of the youngest players to represent Iraq. However, he was given a baptism of fire in his first game when he came up against Chilean stars

Alexis Sánchez Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez (; born 19 December 1988), also known mononymously as Alexis, is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Marseille and the Chile national team. He is often lauded as the g ...

and Arturo Vidal – a game which ended in a 6–0 defeat at the Brøndby Stadion in Copenhagen. Ali scored his first goal for the senior side against Qatar in the

Arabian Gulf Cup The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nat ...

with a sublime free-kick., he scored a penalty on the following match to score in two back-to-back games.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Iraq's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;

Al-Karkh Karkh or Al-Karkh (Arabic: الكرخ) is historically the name of the western half of Baghdad, Iraq, or alternatively, the western shore of the Tigris River as it ran through Baghdad. The eastern shore is known as Al-Rasafa.Iraq Division One The Iraq Division One is the second-highest division of the Iraqi football league system after the Premier League. The league is contested by 24 clubs. It is operated by the Iraq Football Association (IFA). Each season, the two top-finishing teams ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

;

Al-Shorta Al-Shorta Sports Club ( ar, نادي الشرطة الرياضي, lit=''Police Sports Club'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 17 different sports, more than any other Iraqi club, and the best known sectio ...

Iraqi Super Cup The Iraqi Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر العراقي), previously called Iraqi Perseverance Cup ( ar, كأس المثابرة العراقي), is Iraqi football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Iraqi Premier ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

International

;Iraq *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

fourth-place:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

;Iraq U-23 *

AFC U-22 Championship The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 n ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

;Iraq U-20 *

AFC U-19 Championship The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

runner-up:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

4th-place :

References

External links

Player profile on Goalzz.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faez, Ali 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Baghdad Iraqi footballers Association football defenders Al-Karkh SC players Erbil SC players Al-Shorta SC players Çaykur Rizespor footballers Al Kharaitiyat SC players Iraqi Premier League players Süper Lig players Qatar Stars League players Olympic footballers of Iraq Iraq international footballers 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Iraqi expatriate footballers Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Kuwait Qadsia SC players Kuwait Premier League players Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait