Molham "Mo" Babouli ( ar, مُلهَم بَابُولِيّ; born January 2, 1993) is a 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 ...

who plays for York United of the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league compe ...

. Born in the United Arab Emirates, he represented Canada at youth level and currently represents the Syria national team.

Club career

Toronto FC

Babouli spent time at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west- Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

before joining the

TFC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 young players. The senior academy team is ...

in 2014. He played with the senior academy side in the inaugural season of

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's association football, soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league ...

, where he led the league in scoring with 27 goals in all competitions. TFC Academy would go on to win the regular season title and the

Inter-Provincial Cup The Inter-Provincial Cup is a limited-overs cricket tournament in Ireland between the four leading cricketing provinces of Ireland. The tournament was held for the first time in 2013 across venues in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ir ...

championship against

CS Longueuil Club Soccer Longueuil is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Longueuil, Quebec. Since 2014, the club has competed in the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. History The club was originally founded in 1970. In 2014, the club joine ...

, the champions of the

Première ligue de soccer du Québec The Première ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ) is a semi-professional soccer league created in 2012. The Quebec Soccer Federation operates both men's and women's divisions at the pro-am tier of the Canadian soccer league system. The league is p ...

. He won the Golden Boot and League MVP honours for the 2014 season. On March 12, 2015, Babouli signed his first professional contract with

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well a ...

ahead of their inaugural season in the

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

. He made his professional debut against the

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professional soccer clubs in th ...

on March 21, and scored his first goal for the club in the same match. His performance in the match was rewarded with a

team of the week appearance on March 24. On March 5, 2016, Babouli signed with

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

. He made his MLS debut against Sporting Kansas City on March 20, as a substitute for Tsubasa Endoh. He returned to

on loan ahead of the

2016 USL season The 2016 USL season was the sixth season of the United Soccer League and the twenty-second season of USSF sanctioned Division III play organized by the United Soccer Leagues. On August 6, 2015, the league announced that the season would consi ...

. On April 21, 2017, the club announced that Babouli had been placed on waivers.

Sigma FC

Babouli signed with Sigma following his release from TFC. He scored a goal in his debut against

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

on July 8, 2017.

Al-Ittihad

In September 2017, Babouli joined Syrian club

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

of the

Syrian Premier League The Syrian Premier League ( ar, الدوري السوري الممتاز) is a professional association football league in Syria and the top division in of the Syrian football league system. The league comprises 12 teams and operates on a system ...

. They finished in second place in the 2017–18 season, after losing a tie-breaker to

Al-Jaish Al Jaish is Arabic for army, and may refer to: * Tala'ea El Gaish SC, a football club based in Cairo, Egypt * Al-Jaish FC (Iraq), a football club based in Baghdad, Iraq * Al-Jaish SC (Syria), a football club based in Damascus, Syria * El Jaish SC, ...

with whom they were level on points.

Mississauga MetroStars

Babouli signed for

MASL The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

club

Mississauga MetroStars Mississauga MetroStars (briefly known as MetroStars Canada in 2019) were a professional indoor soccer team which played its home games at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The team joined the Major Arena Soccer Leag ...

ahead of their inaugural season on November 2, 2018. In his debut season in the MASL he was named the Newcomer of the Year. Babouli was announced as the MetroStars' new team captain ahead of the 2019–20 MASL season.

FC Ukraine United

Babouli played in the Canadian Soccer League for the 2019 season with

FC Ukraine United FC Ukraine United is a Canadian soccer club founded in 2006. The team is currently a member of the Canadian Soccer League a league that is not sanctioned by any FIFA recognized body. Their home venue is located at Centennial Park Stadium in Etobi ...

. In his debut match on September 8, 2019 he recorded four goals against

Brantford Galaxy Brantford Galaxy Soccer Club was a semi-professional Canadian soccer club based in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, with their home venue located in Hamilton, Ontario at the Heritage Field Turf. The club competes in the Canadian Soccer League, a leag ...

. He recorded his second hat-trick on October 1, 2019 against

SC Real Mississauga SC Real Mississauga is a Canadian soccer club based in Mississauga, Ontario that plays in the unsanctioned Canadian Soccer League. History The club joined the Canadian Soccer League in 2018 with a team in the First Division, The club was origi ...

. As a result finished as the club's top goalscorer with nine goals and the league's fourth leading goalscorer, despite only playing four games –

Mykola Temniuk Mykola Temniuk (born March 31, 1992) is a Ukrainian footballer playing with Dynamo Toronto in the Canadian Soccer League. Playing career Europe Temniuk was a product of BVUFK Brovary, and later in 2012 played in the Ukrainian Amateur Footb ...

led the league with 18 goals in 17 games. In the opening match of the postseason Babouli scored against

Hamilton City SC Hamilton City 1 Soccer Club was a Canadian soccer team founded in 2016 that played in the Canadian Soccer League, and played their home games at Cardinal Newman Secondary School multi-sport athletic field in the community of Stoney Creek, Hamil ...

, and advanced to the next round after a penalty shootout. In the semifinal he contributed another goal in a 5–3 victory against

SC Waterloo Region SC Waterloo Region is a professional Canadian soccer team that plays in the Canadian Soccer League, a non-FIFA-sanctioned league. The club was formed in 2011 under the name KW United FC and competed in the Second Division of the CSL. The following ...

, and advanced to the

CSL Championship The Canadian Soccer League championship final or CSL Championship is the post-season match of the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) and is the successor to the CNSL Championship. The winner is crowned champion in the same manner as in other North A ...

. He featured in the finals against

Scarborough SC Scarborough SC is a Canadian soccer team founded in 2014. The team is currently a member of the Canadian Soccer League, a league that is not sanctioned by a FIFA recognized body. The team plays home games out of Birchmount Stadium in the distri ...

, but in a losing effort. In early 2020, he trailed with

club

York United FC York United Football Club (formerly known as York9 FC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at York University's York Lions Stadium. Histor ...

Forge FC

On August 4, 2020,

club

Forge FC Forge FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadian soccer. The club plays its home matches at Tim Hortons Field. Forge FC joined the CPL in 2019 as ...

announced the signing of Babouli to a contract. He made his debut for the club as a substitute on August 13 in the 2020 season opener against

Cavalry FC Cavalry Football Club, is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches a ...

. On September 19, Forge defeated

HFX Wanderers FC HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer l ...

in the 2020 CPL Final to win the league title. Babouli assisted on the game's winning goal and was named

Man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

. Babouli re-signed with Forge for the 2021 Canadian Premier League season. By winning the 2020 season, Forge qualified for the

2021 CONCACAF League The 2021 CONCACAF League (officially the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF League for sponsorship purposes) was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF League, a football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Centr ...

. In the preliminary round, Forge faced

C.D. FAS Club Deportivo Futbolistas Asociados Santanecos, commonly known as FAS (pronounced "fas"), is a professional Salvadoran football club based in Santa Ana. It competes in Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador, the country's top professiona ...

, and Babouli scored the winning goal in the first leg that Forge would win 3–1. A 2–2 draw in the second leg meant Forge would advance. In the next round, Forge faced Panamanian club Independiente. After a scoreless first leg, Babouli would again send Forge through to the next round by opening the scoring in a 2–0 victory. In the quarter-finals against Costa Rican club

Santos de Guápiles Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) *Santos (DJ) (born 1971), Italian DJ * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos (footballer ...

, Forge lost the first leg away 3–1, but Babouli played the hero in the second leg, first assisting

Omar Browne Omar Ezequiel Browne Zúñiga (born 3 May 1994) is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Panamanian Football League club Tauro F.C. and the Panama national team. Club career Browne has played for several Liga Panam ...

's goal, and then scoring himself to give Forge the lead on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

, though Joshua Navarro would later seal the game for Forge by making it 3–0. This victory sent Forge into the semi-finals and also qualified them for the

2022 CONCACAF Champions League The 2022 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2022 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League) was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 57th edition of the premier football club competition org ...

, becoming the first ever Canadian Premier league club to do so. Babouli scored 3 goals and contributed 2 assists in the tournament and was honoured in the Team of the Tournament.

Muaither SC

In 2022, Babouli joined

Muaither SC Muaither SC ( ar, نادي معيذر الرياضي) is a multi-sports club based in Muaither, Qatar. It is best known for its football department, which plays in the Qatari Second Division. History 1996–2013: Second division The club was ...

in the

Qatari Second Division The Qatari Second Division ( ar, دوري الدرجة الثانية القطري), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of football league competition in Qatar. Contested ...

York United

In August 2022, Babouli joined

on a contract through the 2024 season. He made his debut for his new club on August 14, entering in as a substitute against

FC Edmonton FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 to 2017. The club went on hiatus when NASL ceased competitive operat ...

. In York's next game on August 20, Babouli scored his first goal against his former club

in an eventual 3-1 victory.

International career

Babouli was eligible to represent the United Arab Emirates (through birth), Syria (through descent), and Canada (through residency). Babouli made his debut for the Canadian program with the U23 side at the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

. He played his first match against Brazil U23 and scored a goal in a 4–1 defeat. Babouli was named to the

2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fourteenth edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organized by CONCACAF to determine which men's under ...

team on September 18, 2015. In November 2021, he was named to Syria's preliminary squad for the

2021 FIFA Arab Cup The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup () was the 10th edition of the Arab Cup, the Arab world's national team football tournament; it was the first edition under FIFA's jurisdiction. It took place between 30 November and 18 December in Qatar, as a pre ...

. He made his debut for the team against the country of his birth,

United Arab Emirates 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 t ...

, in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier on January 27, 2022.

Personal life

In April 2018, Babouli was detained by the Syrian Military Police upon obtaining the Syrian Identity Card, due to the fact that each Syrian male has to do the mandatory military service. He was released days later after paying the fee required for the exemption of the military duties.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Sheridan College * CCAA National Championship: 2014 Toronto FC III *

League Champions:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

* L1O/ PLSQ Inter-Provincial Cup Champions:

Toronto FC * Canadian Championship:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Trillium Cup The Trillium Cup is an annual rivalry between the Columbus Crew and Toronto FC. The Trillium Cup is named after the trillium, which is both the official flower of the Canadian province of Ontario, and the official wildflower of the U.S. state of ...

: 2016 Forge FC *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Individual

Golden Boot:

MVP:

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

Newcomer of the Year: 2018–19 *

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF as its second-tier continental competition. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The competition uses a knockout cup format with each round having two le ...

Team Of The Tournament:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babouli, Molham 1993 births Living people Association football forwards Canadian soccer players Syrian footballers People from Al Ain Soccer players from Mississauga Canadian people of Syrian descent Canadian expatriate soccer players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Toronto FC II players Toronto FC players Mississauga MetroStars players FC Ukraine United players Forge FC players Muaither SC players League1 Ontario players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players Syrian Premier League players Major Arena Soccer League players Qatari Second Division players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Canadian Premier League players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Homegrown Players (MLS) Pan American Games competitors for Canada Sigma FC players Expatriate footballers in Qatar York United FC players