Mohamad Ahmad Atwi ( ar, محمد أحمد عطوي; 10 January 1987 – 18 September 2020) was a Lebanese

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 played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. Atwi started his career at

Olympic Beirut Tripoli Sporting Club (), also known as AC Tripoli or simply Tripoli, is a football club based in Tripoli, Lebanon, that competes in the . Founded as Al Majd Sports Association (), the club was renamed Olympic Beirut Sporting Club () in 2001, w ...

in 2004, remaining there in 2005 when they changed their name to AC Tripoli. He moved to

Tadamon Sour Tadamon Sour Sporting Club ( ar, نادي التضامن الرياضي صور, lit=Solidarity Sporting Club Tyre), or simply Tadamon, is a football club based in Tyre, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Tyre ...

in 2006, and then to Ansar in 2008, where he stayed for nine seasons. Atwi returned to Tadamon Sour on loan in 2017, and then moved to Akhaa Ahli Aley in 2018. Atwi also represented the Lebanon national team between 2011 and 2014, playing a game in the

2014 World Cup qualifiers The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined b ...

. On 21 August 2020, Atwi was hit in the head by a stray bullet. He died on 18 September 2020, after nearly one month in

intensive care Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

Club career

Atwi began his career in 2004 at

in the

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the league, ...

, staying with the club the next season when they became AC Tripoli. Atwi then moved to

in 2006, staying there two seasons, before moving to back-to-back league champions Ansar in 2008. He stayed at the Beirut-based club for nine seasons, returning Tadamon Sour on a season-long loan in 2017. In 2018 Atwi moved to Akhaa Ahli Aley, where he remained until his death in 2020.

International career

Atwi made his debut for the Lebanon national team on 11 June 2013, coming off the bench to replace Mahmoud Kojok in the 67th minute of a 4–0 loss to

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 World Cup qualifier.

Death

At around 10am on 21 August 2020, Atwi was hit by a stray bullet to the head in the Cola area of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon, during the funeral of a firefighter who died at the

2020 Beirut explosion On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and United States dollar, US$15 billion in property damage, as well as lea ...

. He was rushed unconscious to the Makassed General Hospital, where he was given 16 units of blood due to extensive

hemorrhaging Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vag ...

. The medical staff was able to stop the bleeding without being able to extract the bullet, as it was located in a sensitive area of the brain. He was put in

, in a

medically-induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as ...

. On 24 August, Atwi's brother, Ali, stated that he was looking to sue whoever was behind the stray shot. On the morning of 18 September 2020, Atwi died from his injuries.

Honours

Ansar *

Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is a Lebanese football annual cup competition. The first edition, held in 1937, was won by Nahda. The most successful club in the competition is Ansar with 15 titles, followed by Nejmeh ...

: 2009–10, 2011–12, 2016–17 *

Lebanese Super Cup The Lebanese Super Cup () is Lebanese football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Lebanese Premier League season and the holders of the Lebanese FA Cup. If the Lebanese Premier League champions also won the Lebanese FA ...

: 2012 Individual *

Lebanese Premier League Best Goal The Al-Manar Football Festival () was an event organised by the Al-Manar television station between the 1996–97 and 2018–19 seasons in order to award players, managers, referees and teams who were considered to have performed the best over ...

: 2010–11, 2015–16

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atwi, Mohamad 1987 births 2020 deaths Lebanese footballers Lebanon international footballers Association football midfielders AC Tripoli players Tadamon Sour SC players Al Ansar FC players Akhaa Ahli Aley FC players Olympic Beirut players People from Nabatieh District Deaths by firearm in Lebanon