Omar Faraj ( ar, عمر فرج, 'Omar Faraj}; pronounced ; born 9 March 2002) is a Swedish 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

club

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

Club career

Early career and Brommapojkarna

Faraj was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

to Palestinian parents, and was an

and

IF Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish football club located in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality. Brommapojkarna is t ...

youth graduate. He made his first team debut on 14 June 2020, starting and being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 1–0

Ettan Norra Ettan might refer to: *Ettan (football) Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish Swedish or ' may refe ...

away win over

IK Frej IK Frej is a Swedish sports club located in Täby kyrkby. It currently plays in Division 4, the sixth tier in Swedish football. Background IK Frej was founded 5 February 1968 by Åke Berghagen and his friends. Today, IK Frej has more than 1200 ...

. Faraj scored his first senior goal on 28 June 2020, netting his team's second in a 3–3 home draw against Team TG FF. He finished his first senior season with five goals, and renewed his contract until 2023 on 18 March 2021. Faraj scored a brace in a 4–1 home routing of

IFK Haninge IFK Haninge is a Swedish football club located in Haninge in Stockholm County. Background Since their foundation Brandbergens IF is now IFK Haninge and has participated mainly in the lower divisions of the Swedish football league system. The cl ...

on 2 May 2021, and also netted a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 6–0 thrashing of Täby FK late in the month.

Levante

On 6 August 2021, Faraj moved abroad and signed a five-year contract with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

, being initially assigned to the reserves in Segunda División RFEF. He was the B-side's top goalscorer during the season with seven goals, as the team was unable to avoid relegation. Faraj made his first team – and

– debut on 20 May 2022, coming on as a late substitute for

Alejandro Cantero Alejandro "Álex" Cantero Sánchez (born 8 June 2000) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Levante. Club career A youth product of CD Brunete and Real Madrid CF, Cantero joined the youth academy of Levante UD in 20 ...

in a 4–2 away success over

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

, as the ''Granotes'' were already relegated. On 21 July 2022, Faraj was loaned to

Degerfors IF Degerfors IF is a Swedish football club located in Degerfors. The club, formed 13 January 1907, is currently playing in the highest tier in Swedish football, Allsvenskan. Background Degerfors IF first played in the Allsvenskan in 1939 maki ...

back in his home country, until December.

AIK

On 26 October 2022, it was officially announced that Faraj would join his boyhood club

on a permanent deal in January 2023, signing a three-year contract in the process.

International career

Faraj made his full international debut for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

on 9 January 2023, replacing

Hugo Larsson Nils Hugo Charles Larsson (18 December 1906 – 25 February 1986) was a Swedish engineer and civil servant. He was Chief Director of the Swedish National Defence Research Institute from 1952 to 1957. Early life Larsson was born on 18 December 190 ...

68 minutes into a friendly 2–0 win against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Faraj, Omar 2002 births Living people Footballers from Stockholm Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Allsvenskan players Ettan Fotboll players IF Brommapojkarna players Degerfors IF players La Liga players Segunda Federación players Atlético Levante UD players Levante UD footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Swedish people of Palestinian descent