Omar Abdullahi Mohamed ( so, Cumar Cabdullahi Maxamed; Arabic: عمر محمد; born 5 May 1996) is a Somali 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 for the Somalia national team.

Early life

Omar Mohamed was born in

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, where he lived until the age of six when his family moved to

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. He moved with his family to the United States in 2005 and grew up in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

Career

Early career

Mohamed first began playing organized soccer at the age of 12, where he played for local Columbus youth club FC Blast. At the age of 16, he began playing for the academy of

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

. He also trained and played with the first team of Columbus Crew, making four appearances for the Crew reserve team and scoring two goals. Mohamed also played one year 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 ...

Jackson College Jackson College is a public college in Jackson County, Michigan. Originally established as Jackson Junior College in 1928, Jackson County electors voted to reincorporate the institution as a community college district under the "Public Act 188 ...

in 2015.

Professional

Mohamed signed with new

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

club

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 ...

in January 2016. Mohamed joined USL side

Portland Timbers 2 Portland Timbers 2 is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. The team, often referred to as "T2", serves as the reserve squad for the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team was a member of the USL Champio ...

in March 2017. After spending time with

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

side

Des Moines Menace Des Moines Menace is an American soccer team based in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The Menace have had sustained success in USL League Two duri ...

, Mohamed joined

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 ...

side

Greenville Triumph SC Greenville Triumph SC is a professional soccer team based in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. The club began play in USL League One in 2019. History The formation of USL D3 was first announced in April 2017, and league officials began ...

on February 8, 2019, ahead of their inaugural season. Greenville opted to decline Mohamed's contract option following their 2020 season. He joined

Menemenspor Menemenspor, formerly Menemen Belediyespor, is a Turkish professional football club located in the Menemen district of İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the provi ...

on January 22, 2021.

International

In September 2019, Mohamed was called into the

Somalia national football team The Somalia national football team ( so, Kooxda Qaranka Soomaaliya, Arabic: الاتحاد الصومالي لكرة القدم), nicknamed the ''Ocean Stars'', represents Somalia in international football and is controlled by the Somali Footbal ...

for its 2022 World Cup qualifiers against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. On September 5, 2019, he made his international debut for Somalia in their 1–0 win over Zimbabwe. On September 10, 2019, he scored his first international goal in Somalia's second leg qualifier against Zimbabwe at the Zimbabwe National Stadium in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

. In December 2019 He was again called into the

for Its participation in

2019 CECAFA Cup The 2019 CECAFA Cup was the 40th edition of the annual CECAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of the national teams of member nations of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA). It took place in ...

held in Kampala, Uganda. Mohamed played all the group matches for Somalia and scored the only goal Somalia has scored during the tournament. Somalia won against

Burundi national football team The Burundi national football team, nicknamed ''The Swallows'' (french: Les Hirondelles) ( rn, Intamba m'Urugamba), represents Burundi in international football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Burundi. The team has never qualifie ...

, lost against

Uganda national football team The Uganda national football team (nicknamed ''The Cranes''), represents Uganda in men's international football and is controlled by the Federation of Uganda Football Associations, which is a part of CAF. Their best finish in the Africa Cup of ...

, while drawing against

Djibouti national football team The Djibouti national football team, nicknamed the ''Riverains de la Mer Rouge'' ("Shoremen of the Red Sea"), is the national football team of Djibouti. It is controlled by the Djiboutian Football Federation, and is a member of the Confederat ...

and

Eritrea national football team The Eritrea national football team ( ti, ጋንታ ኩዕሶ እግሪ አርትራ) represents Eritrea in men's international football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the ''Red Sea Boys ...

without conceding a goal.

International goals

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

References

External links

* *
FC Cincinnati bio
1997 births Sportspeople from Mogadishu Soccer players from Ohio People from Westerville, Ohio African-American men's soccer players 21st-century African-American sportspeople Living people Somalian emigrants to the United States People with acquired American citizenship American soccer players Somalian footballers Somalia men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Cincinnati players Portland Timbers 2 players Des Moines Menace players Greenville Triumph SC players Menemen F.K. footballers USL League Two players USL League One players USL Championship players TFF First League players American expatriate soccer players Somalian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey American expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Somalian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey {{Somalia-footy-bio-stub , clubs1 =

, clubs2 =

, clubs3 =

, clubs4 = Greenville Triumph , clubs5 =