Yussef Suleiman ( ar, يوسف سليمان, also transcribed as Sleman; 17 September 1986 – 20 February 2013) was a

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. Suleiman was born in

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

and last played for

Al-Wathba SC Al-Wathba Sport Club ( ar, نادي الوثبة الرياضي) is a Syrian professional football club based in Homs, that competes in the Syrian Premier League. History Al-Wathba is a professional football club based in Homs, Syria, and the ...

. He was killed by a mortar shell fired by the armed opposition during the Syrian civil war, while preparing for training practice inside a hotel in Baramkeh, Damascus. The attack occurred a few hours before the team was to play a league game against the

Hama , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , ar ...

-based Nawair club at

Tishreen Stadium Tishreen Stadium ( ar, مَلْعَب تِشْرِين, Malʿab Tišrīn) is a multi-use all-seater stadium in Damascus, Syria, currently used mostly for football matches and serves as the home venue of the al-Shorta SC. The capacity of the stad ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. His teammates reported that he was the father of a six-month-old baby.

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

president

Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...

expressed his condolences in an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

to the

Syrian Football Association The Syrian Arab Football Association (SFA; ar, الاتحاد العربي السوري لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Syria, controlling the Syrian national team and the Syrian Premier League. The Syrian Football Ass ...

over the matter. He played for Al Karamah in the

2008 AFC Champions League The 2008 AFC Champions League was the 27th AFC Champions League, the top-level Asian club football tournament, and the 6th under the current AFC Champions League title. It was the last AFC Champions League before the competition expanded to 32 te ...

knockout stages.

Notes

According to some sources Suleiman was 19 years old at the time of his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suleiman, Yussef 1986 births 2013 deaths Syrian footballers Al-Karamah players Association football forwards Sportspeople from Homs Deaths by explosive device People killed in the Syrian civil war Syrian Premier League players