Nazmi Nidal Nazmi Albadawi (; born August 24, 1991) is a former

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

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 le ...

who recently played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

North Carolina FC North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

and the Palestine national team.

Early life

Albadawi played club soccer for Triangle United Soccer Association, where he contributed to 3 consecutive USYSA Region III Championships from 2008 to 2010. He played high school soccer for the

Athens Drive High School Athens Drive Magnet High School, formerly known as Athens Drive High School, is a secondary Wake County public high school in southwestern Raleigh, North Carolina that serves grades 9–12. As of 2020–2021, the school has 2,075 enrolled ...

Jaguars of

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

. He was a four-year letter winner, winning all-conference selection three times and all-region honors as a senior. He finished his high school career with 35 goals and 60 assists in 88 games.

College career

Albadawi played four years of

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

between 2010 and 2013 and prior to that a year at

Wake Technical Community College Wake Technical Community College (Wake Tech) is a public community college in Raleigh, North Carolina. Its first location, Southern Wake Campus, opened in 1963. Wake Tech now operates multiple campuses throughout Wake County. The largest communit ...

. On November 9, 2013, he scored a game-winner in overtime against in-state rivals UNC. While at college, Albadawi appeared for NPSL club

Carolina RailHawks U-23's North Carolina FC U23 is an American soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded in 2002 as the Raleigh Elite, and the current affiliate of North Carolina FC, a third division club in the United Soccer League. The team plays in ...

in 2012 and 2013.

Club career

Carolina Railhawks/North Carolina FC

Albadawi signed with NASL club

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

on April 11, 2014. On May 28, he netted his first career goal in a 2–0 win over the Charlotte Eagles in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup. On October 12, he was named NASL player of the week after scoring one goal and one assist in a win against the

San Antonio Scorpions The San Antonio Scorpions were an American professional soccer team based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 2010, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2012. The Scorpions played at Toyota Field, a soccer specific stadiu ...

. On December 1, the RailHawks picked up his contract option for the 2015 season. On January 12, 2016 the RailHawks announced that Albadawi had been re-signed to a multi-year contract. During the 2016 season, Albadawi started 29 games for the RailHawks, scoring three goals and breaking the NASL single-season assist record with 10. Following the season, he was named to the NASL Best XI. Prior to the 2017 NASL season, Albadawi trained with

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

side

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 ( en, Istra 1961 Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Istra 1961, or simply Istra 1961 or Istra, is a Croatian professional football club from Pula, currently playing in the Croatian First League. It is a common ...

FC Cincinnati

On January 15, 2018, Albadawi signed with

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 ...

side

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

on a multi-year contract. After playing one game for Cincinnati during their inaugural MLS season in 2019, he was loaned back to North Carolina FC on May 30.

Return to North Carolina FC

On November 21, 2019, he re-signed with North Carolina FC for the 2020 season. On September 3, 2021, Albadawi announced his retirement from professional soccer. On September 13, 2021, Albadawi was named

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

Player of the Week for Week 23 of the

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season after scoring a brace against

New England Revolution II New England Revolution II is a professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in the MLS Next Pro, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer c ...

in his final professional game.

International career

Albadawi played his first international match for

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

in a friendly against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

that ended with a 2–1 win, scoring the winning goal.

Personal life

Albadawi's family hails from

Tarshiha Ma'alot-Tarshiha ( he, מַעֲלוֹת-תַּרְשִׁיחָא; ar, معالوت ترشيحا, ''Maʻālūt Taršīḥā'') is a city in the North District in Israel, some east of Nahariya, about above sea level. The city was established in 1 ...

. He is a

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 ...

, stating in 2019: "I've grown a lot in faith the last couple years and it's something that's been very important to me."

Career statistics

International

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albadawi, Nazmi 1991 births Living people Palestinian footballers Palestine international footballers American soccer players American people of Palestinian descent NC State Wolfpack men's soccer players Carolina RailHawks NPSL players North Carolina FC players Athens Drive High School alumni Association football midfielders Soccer players from Raleigh, North Carolina North American Soccer League players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players FC Cincinnati players FC Cincinnati (2016–18) players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players Soccer players from North Carolina