Mohannad Abdul-Raheem Karrar ( ar, مهند عبد الرحيم كرار; born 22 September 1993), is an Iraqi
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 ...
who plays for
Naft Al-Wasat
Naft Al-Wasat Sports Club ( ar, نادي نفط الوسط الرياضي, lit=''Midland Oil'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Najaf, Iraq. Its professional football team plays in the Iraqi Premier League, the top tier of Iraqi football. The c ...
Asian Young Footballer of the Year The Asian Young Footballer of the Year award, officially known as the AFC Youth Player of the Year award, is presented to the best young football player in Asia. It has been awarded by the Asian Football Confederation
The Asian Football Con ...
, and the
2012 AFC U-19 Championship
The 2012 AFC U-19 Championship is the 37th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC approved UAE as hosts of the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship on 23 November 2011.
's MVP.
Club career
Early career
From a young age, the childhood Al-Zawraa supporter and son of a tribal Sheikh would spend his free time on the concrete pitches in his local neighbourhood kicking a ball with friends. It was his late uncle Razzaq who encouraged him to take up the game and coached him with his first shaabiya teams at Najoum Al-Mualameen and Iskan Al-Shaabi, the two main football teams in his local area between Iskan and Mualameen where both sides wanted the talented youngster in their team.
Abdul-Raheem had trials with a local club Khutout under Ismail Saleem however he was overlooked and instead started in the
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.Al-Shabab in the second division after he returned from living in Syria to escape the instability of the Iraqi capital – after losing his uncle and brother Mohammed to the violence in Baghdad. His life changed when his late coach Nasrat Nassir at Baghdad's
Al-Karkh SC
Al-Karkh Sports Club ( ar, نادي الكرخ الرياضي) is an Iraqi sports club based in Karkh, Baghdad. Its professional football team plays in the Iraqi Premier League, the top tier of the Iraqi football. The club's home stadium is Al-S ...
switched him from playing as a wide forward to play upfront in the centre forward position while he was breaking into the Al-Karkh first team.
Al Karkh
Abdul-Raheem began his youth career at his native Al Karkh FC in 2006 and graduated to the first team in 2009. On his debut in the Iraqi league one playoff, Mohannad scored a hat trick and helped Al-Karkh qualify to the Iraqi Premier League. In 2012 Mohannad left Al-Karkh and joined
Duhok SC
Duhok Sports Club ( ar, نادي دهوك الرياضي, ku, یانهیا وهرزشی یا دهوکێ), founded in 1970, is a Kurdish professional sports club, based in Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan, that competes in the Iraqi Premier League, ...
.
Duhok
Three years following his competitive debut, Abdul-Raheem moved to Duhok where he spent two seasons from 2012 to 2014. There he showcased his abilities which led him to be an important part of Iraqi youth setups.
JS Kabylie
Mohannad signed for JS Kabylie in Algeria. He scored his first goal in the 87th minute of the league match against
MC El Eulma
Mouloudia Chabab El Eulma ( ar, مولودية شباب العلمة), known as MC El Eulma or simply MCEE for short, is an Algerian football club based in El Eulma. The club was founded in 1936 and its colors are green and red. Their home stadi ...
, and scored his second a minute later. He ended the season with 4 goals in 12 appearances in the league. The team finished the 13th position, surviving relegation by just one point. The team was knocked out in the quarter-final of the cup competition, with a 2–1 loss against
ES Sétif
Entente Sportive Sétifienne ( ar, الوفاق الرياضي السطايفي), known as Entente de Sétif, commonly referred to as ES Sétif or ESS for short, is an Algerian professional football club based in Sétif. The club was founded in ...
. He suffered an Injury and failed to adjust to life in Algeria due to the death of teammate Albert Ebossé Bodjongo. In an interview with
Soccer Iraq
Soccer Iraq is an English-based Iraqi website and social media agency providing a variety of news, statistics and services for Iraqi football, ranging from coverage on the Iraq national football team and its players to news on the Iraqi Premier ...
, the player stated that he decided to cut his time short with the Algerian club due to the incident.
Al Zawraa
Abdul-Raheem returned to Iraq for the 2015/16 season with Al Zawraa, he was the standout player as he finished the season with 12 goals, being the joint top goal scorer, as well as winning the league with Al Zawraa. He also reached the final of the Iraqi cup with his team, losing to rivals Al Quwa Al Jawiya.
Al Nasr
On 19 October 2016, Abdulraheem signed for
Al-Nasr Dubai
Al-Nasr CSC ( ar, نادي النصر الرياضي) is an Emirati professional football club based in Al Nasr, Dubai and competes in the UAE Pro League. Al-Nasr, literally translating to "victory" in Arabic, was founded in 1945 and is considere ...
as the Asian player. He was there to replace the suspended Wanderley but upon his return from suspension Al Nasr deemed Mohannad surplus to requirements and replaced him with Lebanese
Joan Oumari
Joan Noureddine Oumari (, ; born 19 August 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for the Lebanon national team.
After playing for eight seasons in Germany, between the fifth and second division, Oumari moved to Turkish ...
who took the Asian foreign slot. Mohannad left the club after only playing 10 games, scoring 4 goals.
Return to Al Zawraa
Mohannad returned to Al Zawraa on 20 January 2017. He made his debut on 10 February Vs Al Quwa Al Jawiya, receiving a yellow card in the first half. He was fouled in the penalty box later on in the match but his penalty was saved by Fahad Talib, Al Quwa Al Jawiya scored 30 seconds after his penalty miss and the match ended 1–1. He scored his first goal after his return on 2 March against
Al Talaba
Al-Talaba Sports Club ( ar, نادي الطلبة الرياضي, lit=''Students Sports Club'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. Its football team competes in the Iraqi Premier League, the top flight of Iraqi football. Fo ...
in a 2–1 win.
Al Dhafra
On 19 July 2017, Mohannad signed for Al-Dhafra in the
UAE Pro-League
The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al ...
. He made his debut on 8 September, scoring against Al Jazira in the UAE League Cup. He returned again to Al Zawraa in January 2018.
International career
Mohannad Abdul-Raheem was called into the Iraq U-19s team becoming the main striker in
Hakeem Shaker
Hakeem Shaker ( ar, حكيم شاكر; born 7 January 1963 in Baghdad, Iraq), is a former Iraqi football player and manager. At some point between late 2012 and early 2013, Hakeem was the first and only Iraqi coach to manage three Iraqi national ...
’s ‘young’ team, scoring a goal in the AFC Youth Championship final and going onto be awarded the 2012
Asian Young Footballer of the Year The Asian Young Footballer of the Year award, officially known as the AFC Youth Player of the Year award, is presented to the best young football player in Asia. It has been awarded by the Asian Football Confederation
The Asian Football Con ...
award.
There has been some controversy regarding the player's change of name from Mohanad Abdul-Rahman Kazar to Mohanad Abdul-Rahim Karrar in April 2011 just before he called into the Iraqi youth side, with claims that the player had altered his date of birth from 1989.http://www.goalzz.com Muhanned Abdulrahman (English) /ref>
He was called by Iraq coach Hakeem Shaker to represent Iraq national team first team in the
21st Arabian Gulf Cup
The 21st Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي) was the twenty-first edition of the biennial football competition. It took place in Bahrain in January 2013. The competition was originally scheduled to be hosted in the city of ...
replacing Iraq super star
Younis Mahmoud
Younis Mahmoud Khalaf ( ar, يونس محمود خلف; born 3 February 1983) is an Iraqi former professional footballer who played as a forward for the Iraq national football team and is currently the second vice-president of the Iraq Footbal ...
, but stating that he would like to play alongside Younis Mahmoud.
On 18 January 2013 he played alongside Younis Mahmoud in the Arabian Gulf Cup finale against
UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
. Mohannad assisted the equalizer to Younis Mahmoud. however, the match ended 1–2 in the extra time for UAE. He scored his first and second goal for Iraq in a friendly match against
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
on 1 February 2013.
Mohannad was called up to Iraq's Olympic squad for the 2016 Olympic games in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Iraq finished third in their group behind hosts Brazil, and Denmark with 3 points from 3 draws and thus were eliminated at the group stage.
Iraq U-23
National team goals
:''Scores and results list Iraq's goal tally first.''
Style of play
Abdulraheem is a physically strong and aggressive lone striker with good skills, tactical intelligence, and confidence in going at opponents with numerical superiority.
Name change
There has been some controversy regarding the player's change of name from Mohanad Abdul-Rahman Kazar to Mohanad Abdul-Rahim Karrar in April 2011 just before he called into the Iraqi youth side, with claims that the player had altered his date of birth from 1989. In 2011 his name changed from Muhanned Abdulrahman to Mohannad Abdul-Raheem as noted by his page on Kooora's English website Goalzz.com.
Honours
Club
;Al-Zawraa
*
Iraqi Premier League
The Iraqi Premier League ( ar, الدوري العراقي الممتاز) is the top level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it is operated by the Iraq Football Association (IFA) and operates on a system of promotion ...
Iraq FA Cup
The Iraq FA Cup, known as the Iraq Cup ( ar, كأس العراق) in Arabic, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Iraqi football. First held in the 1948–49 season for clubs and institutions before returning in 1975–76 ...
2012 AFC U-19 Championship
The 2012 AFC U-19 Championship is the 37th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC approved UAE as hosts of the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship on 23 November 2011.
: Runners-up
*
2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup
The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...
21st Arabian Gulf Cup
The 21st Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي) was the twenty-first edition of the biennial football competition. It took place in Bahrain in January 2013. The competition was originally scheduled to be hosted in the city of ...
: Runners-up
Individual
*
2012 AFC U-19 Championship
The 2012 AFC U-19 Championship is the 37th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC approved UAE as hosts of the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship on 23 November 2011.
: MVP
* 2012
Asian Young Footballer of the Year The Asian Young Footballer of the Year award, officially known as the AFC Youth Player of the Year award, is presented to the best young football player in Asia. It has been awarded by the Asian Football Confederation
The Asian Football Con ...
: Winner
*
2015–16 Iraqi Premier League
The 2015–16 Iraqi Premier League (known as the Fuchs Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 42nd season of the Iraqi Premier League since its establishment in 1974. The season started on 15 September 2015 and concluded on 22 May 2016.
...