Himid Mao Mkami (born 5 November 1992) is a Tanzanian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of th ...

club

Ghazl El Mahalla Ghazl El Mahalla Sporting Club ( ar, نادي غزل المحلة الرياضي), commonly referred to as El Mahalla or simply Mahalla, is an Egyptian football club based in El Mahalla El Kubra. They compete in the Egyptian Premier League, the to ...

and the Tanzania national team.

Early life

Mao was born in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. His father, Mao Mkami, was also a footballer who represented

between 1991 and 1995 and was popularly known as "Ball Dancer". His primary education started at Kiwandani Primary School, Turiani, Morogoro, after which he moved to Dar es Salaam Karume and studied there until the sixth grade. He completed his primary education at Omar Ali Juma Primary School, Magomeni, Dar es Salaam and later joined Tabata Secondary School where he completed his Form 4 in 2011.

Club career

Mao started with Elite Academy in 2005, and after getting a Tanzania under-17 callup, moved added to Azam Academy in 2007, where he won the Uhai Cup twice in a row. In 2008, he played his first professional match against

Kagera Sugar Kagera Sugar is a football club from Bukoba, Tanzania. They are a professional football team who play at the top level of Tanzanian professional football, the Tanzanian Premier League The Tanzania Mainland Premier League () is the top-level p ...

and was promoted to the senior side by 2009. During the 2013–14 season, he scored a goal against

Ruvu Shooting Ruvu Shooting Stars is a football club based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They play at the Uhuru Stadium in the Tanzanian Premier League The Tanzania Mainland Premier League () is the top-level professional association football, football leagu ...

and helped Azam win the

Tanzanian Premier League The Tanzania Mainland Premier League () is the top-level professional association football, football league in Tanzania and is administered by the Tanzania Football Federation. History The league was first organised in 1921 in Dar es Salaam. By ...

for the first time in their history. After 11 years at Azam, he joined

side

Petrojet Petrojet Sporting Club ( ar, نادي بتروجيت الرياضي) is an Egyptian sports club based in Suez, Egypt. The club is related to Petrojet, a construction company specialized in oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Petrojet is mainly ...

in June 2018. In his first season with the club, he played in 30 out of 34 league matches. Following Petrojet's relegation, Mao signed a two-year contract with ENPPI on 1 August 2019.

International career

Mao was called up to the Tanzanian under-17 squad for the 2010 Under-17 Copa Coca-Cola in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Tanzania scored 32 goals in the group stage, conceding only three, and qualified for the knockout round. They were eventually knocked out in the quarter-finals when they were defeated 1–0 by Botswana. Mao also played for Tanzania's under-20s and under-23s. On 15 July 2017, he scored his first-ever international goal in a 1–1 draw against

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

2018 African Nations Championship qualification The 2018 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 African Nations Championship. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic lea ...

. On 13 June 2019, Mao was named in Tanzania's 23-man squad for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

International

International goals

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

Honours

Club

;Azam *

(1): 2013–14

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mao, Himid 1992 births Living people Tanzanian men's footballers Tanzanian expatriate men's footballers Tanzania men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Egyptian Premier League players Azam F.C. players Petrojet SC players ENPPI SC players Expatriate men's footballers in Egypt Tanzanian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Sportspeople from Dar es Salaam 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players