Mohamed Al-Taay (born 15 June 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club Wellington Phoenix. Born in Australia, he represents the Iraq national team.

Early life

Al-Taay was born in Campbelltown, New South Wales with two older brothers and one younger sister. His parents, who hailed from Iraq, fled to Australia in 1994 due to the conflicts under Saddam Hussein. His father fled Iraq in 1991 to a

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

in Saudi Arabia before moving to Australia. Al-Taay began playing football at the age of six with his father and brothers and attended Campbelltown Performing Arts High School growing up. He joined his first football clubs with Blacktown City and Marconi Stallions in their junior age groups. Despite being born in Australia, Al-Taay developed interest in representing the Iraq national football team. He is a devoted

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and frequently participates in

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

. Al-Taay is fluent in Arabic and English, having learnt the former first growing up.

Career

Newcastle Jets

Having come through the Western Sydney Wanderers academy and NPL program, Al-Taay joined Newcastle Jets ahead of the 2021–22 season, in the hope of breaking through for his

debut. At the conclusion of the 2022–23 A-League season, Al-Taay departed Newcastle after 29 appearances in all competitions across two seasons.

Wellington Phoenix

Al-Taay signed for Wellington Phoenix ahead of the 2023–24 season.

International career

On 21 May 2024, Al-Taay was named in Iraq’s 26 man squad for their

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will be the qualifying process which will decide the teams that will join hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Qualified countries Notes Qualification process On 9 M ...

matches against Indonesia and Vietnam. He made his debut in the former on 6 June 2024, substituting Osama Rashid in the 86th minute as Iraq beat Indonesia with the score of 2–0.

Style of play

Al-Taay is primarily positioned as a defensive midfielder but is also able to play as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and right back. He is characterised more to be a ball-winning midfielder and is noted for his work rate and defensive abilities by Giancarlo Italiano. He is also described as having a similar playing style towards

Cameron Devlin Cameron Peter Devlin (born 7 June 1998) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a defensive midfielder for Heart of Midlothian and the Australia national team. Club career Sydney FC After being part of Sydney FC NPL team, De ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taay, Mohamed Living people 2000 births Australian people of Iraqi descent Soccer players from Sydney Australian men's soccer players Iraqi men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Newcastle Jets FC players Wellington Phoenix FC players A-League Men players National Premier Leagues players Iraq men's international footballers Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Iraqi expatriate men's footballers Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand