Mahmood Merza Mahdi Ahmed Al Ajmi (born 8 May 1987) is a

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

i professional

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 ...

player who last played for Al-Safa. He also represented the Bahrain national team from 2007 to 2013.

Club career

Al-Shabab

Al-Ajmi began his professional club career with Al-Shabab Manama in 2006 and appeared in 44 league matches, scoring 11 goals until his move to Bahrain Riffa in 2009.

Al-Riffa

In 2010, he signed with

Al-Riffa Al-Riffa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الرفاع الرياضي) is a Bahraini professional football club based in Riffa, that competes in the Bahraini Premier League, the top flight of Bahraini football. The club was founded in 1953. History ...

and scored 22 goals in 33 league matches till 2011. He was also in Riffa's

Bahraini King's Cup The King's Cup is Bahrain's premier knockout tournament in men's football. The national cup has had many different names over the years. Emir Cup (1952–59 & 1978–2002), Federation Cup (1960–77) and King's Cup (2003–present). Previous ...

winning squad in 2010. With Riffa, he played in the

2010 AFC Cup The 2010 AFC Cup was the seventh edition of the AFC Cup, playing between clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. With the Asian Football Confederation currently reviewing the format of the AFC Champions League bet ...

continental tournament where Riffa emerged as semi-finalist.

KF Tirana

He was presented to the media on 12 July 2011 along with the other new signings by the club president

Refik Halili Refik Halili is the chairman and main sponsor of KF Tirana. Since 2003, Halili had been one of the sponsors of the club. His duty as Chairman of KF Tirana started on May 29, 2008. He is a businessman and founder and owner of one of Albania's leading ...

, where KF Tirana's new kit was unveiled with Al Ajmi chosen to wear the number 10 shirt. With Tirana between 2011 and 2012, he lifted tournaments like

2010–11 Albanian Cup 2010–11 Albanian Cup () was the fifty-ninth season of Albania's annual cup competition. It began on 21 September 2010 with the First Preliminary Round. The winners of the competition qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa L ...

and 2011 Albanian Supercup.

Manama Club

After his stint with Tirana in Albania, he returned to

Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main football competition in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Currently known as the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, the first season was held in 1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify for the AFC Cup ...

with

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...

and appeared in 55 league and cup matches, scoring 12 goals.

Hidd SCC

In the 2012–2013 season, he appeared with

Hidd SCC Al-Hidd Sports and Cultural Club ( ar, نادي الحد الرياضي الثقافي) is a Bahraini football club based in Al Hidd, Muharraq Island. They currently compete in the top division of Bahraini football league. Also club have Futsa ...

in 22 matches in the Premier League before his second stint with Al-Shabab.

Al Safa

In 2014, he moved to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and joined

Saudi Second Division The Saudi Second Division , also known as the Second Division League (SDL), is a football league that is the third tier of the Saudi Arabian football league system. The league consists of 32 teams divided into two groups and was founded in 1996. ...

side

Al Safa FC Al-Safa Club is a sports club, based in Saudi Arabia, that competes in the Saudi Second Division. The club's headquarters are located in the Safwa City in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia near Dammam and King Fahd International Airport. T ...

Back to Manama

Al-Ajmi came back with his previous side

Manama Club Manama Club ( ar, المنامة) is a Bahraini professional football club, founded in 1946 and based in Manama, that competes in the Bahraini Premier League, the top flight of Bahraini football. Manama Club, formally known as Al Taj, is a wel ...

in 2015. It was his one of the most successful stints in his club career, appearing in 88 league matches and scoring 29 goals. With Manama, he won the prestigious 2016–17 Bahraini King's Cup and 2017 Bahraini Super Cup. He also represented the club in the

2018 AFC Cup The 2018 AFC Cup was the 15th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won the title for the third consecutive year, defeating Altyn Asyr in the fin ...

, but Manama didn't qualify for the knockout stages as they lost 5 matches in the Group-B.

Gokulam Kerala

In 2018, he moved to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and joined

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

side

Gokulam Kerala FC Gokulam Kerala Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Calicut, Kerala. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system. They won the 2020–21 I-League to become the ...

. He scored his first goal for ''the Malabarians'', against

Mohun Bagan AC Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

on 12 February. He appeared in 10 league matches, scoring 3 goals. With Gokulam, He has also appeared in the

Hero Super Cup AIFF Super Cup, also called the Super Cup or Hero MotoCorp, Hero Super Cup (for sponsorship ties), is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Football in India, Indian football. It is organ ...

in 2018.

International career

Al-Ajmi made his senior international debut on 16 October 2007 against

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

in a 2-0 win match. He scored his first goal for

against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in a

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Qualification match, which ended as 1-1. He has also represented Bahrain in tournaments including

2010 WAFF Championship The 2010 WAFF Championship was the 6th edition of the West Asian Football Federation Championship, an international tournament for selected West Asian countries and territories. It was hosted by Jordan, after Lebanon was deemed not capable of ho ...

, 2012 Arab Nations Cup alongside

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

Qualification. He appeared in a total of 12 matches for the Bahrain and scored 3 goals between 2007 and 2013.

Pepsi Tournament

Al Ajmi's exploits include the Channel 4 2006 TV series The Pepsi Max World Challenge. In November 2005, Pepsi and T4 teamed up to find the best 2 amateur footballers in Bahrain, with AlAjmi and Mohamed Ajaj beating thousands of entries. They went on to compete against the best amateur players from 10 other countries. The series was set around the globe with a $100,000 prize for the winning team performing different football challenges involving

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best players ...

and

Alessandro Nesta Alessandro Nesta (; born 19 March 1976) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Usually deployed as a centre-back, he is widely considered one of the best defenders of all time. He was best known for his pace, artistic tac ...

. The two Bahraini footballers got the highest points throughout the tournament to lose in the final.

Career statistics

International goals

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

Honours

Al-Riffa *

: 2010 KF Tirana *

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup ( sq, Kupa e Shqipërisë) is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit (English:"The King's Cup"). Just after a year the cup was suspended as the Second World War st ...

: 2010–11 *

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Supercup final was not played in the occasions when the champion team won the Double (association foot ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Manama Club *

: 2016–17 *

Bahraini Super Cup The Bahraini Super Cup is the curtain raiser to the Bahrain football season. Previous winners *1995 : Al-MuharraqSC *2003 : Al-Ahli 2-1 Al-Muharraq SC *2004 : Al-Shabab 2-1 Busaiteen *2005 : Al-Muharraq SC 1-0 Al-Shabab *2006 : Al-Muharraq SC ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ajmi, Mahmood Al 1987 births Living people KF Tirana players Expatriate footballers in Albania Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in India Kategoria Superiore players Saudi First Division League players Saudi Second Division players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players Bahraini footballers Al Safa FC players Bahraini people of Iranian descent Association football midfielders Bahrain international footballers I-League players