Akram Hassan Afif Yahya Afif Al Yafei ( ar, أكرم عفيف; born 18 November 1996) is a Qatari 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 as a

left winger 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

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotio ...

club

Al Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd (Qatar), Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, whic ...

and the Qatar national team. Early in his career, he was considered to be one of the most promising players to emerge from Qatar. Akram has been named in a three-man shortlist for the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

’s men's player of the year for bringing the

2019 Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

to Qatar. He won the

Asian Footballer of the Year The Asian Footballer of the Year is an annual prize awarded to the best Asian player in a calendar year, organized by International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC). History The origin of ...

award in 2019.

Familial history

Afif was born in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the c ...

to Somali-Yemeni father Hassan Afif from the Yafa tribe, and Afif’s mother is from

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

. The family is associated with a large Yemeni-Somali clan known as the

Benadiri people The Banaadiri people ( so, Reer Benaadir, ar, البنادريون) are a nationality in Somalia. Banaadiris largely inhabit Somalia's southern coastline. Overview Although the Benadiri are sometimes described as the founders of Mogadishu ( ...

. Afif's father was born in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

and later moved to

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 Constitut ...

. His father was a top player for Horseed in

and the Somalia national team, before moving to Qatar and playing for Al Ittihad. He later became a Qatari citizen. After he retired from playing, he managed

Al-Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari multisports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Ar Rayyan, Al Rayyan. It is best known for its association football, football team, although it also has team ...

from 1986 till 1987 and Al-Markhiya from 2001 till 2003 and 2006 till 2007.

Club career

Akram started off in the youth teams of Al-Markhiya and then

before joining the

as a full-time student in 2009. During his time at Aspire, Afif traveled to Spain on an exchange student program and played for the youth teams of

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...

and

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

. He represented Sevilla in the 2013 Al Kass International Cup, netting a brace and earning an assist in the team's first match, which ended as a 3–0 victory against Aspire Academy. Afif later joined

's youth team.

Eupen

In January 2015, Afif was signed by Belgian club

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border ( Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the " High Fe ...

. He scored a goal in his debut against Eendracht Aalst on 19 January. On 24 January in his next match against

KRC Mechelen K.R.C. Mechelen is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached t ...

, he assisted in three of his side's five goals. Afif finished his first senior season with two goals in nine matches. On 18 March 2016, he scored a brace in a 4–0 home win against

KSV Roeselare Koninklijke Sport Vereniging Roeselare, abbreviated to KSV Roeselare (),''V.'' in isolation: ., also known in French as KSV Roulers, was a Belgian football club from the city of Roeselare in West Flanders. Its matricule was 134. It last play ...

Villarreal

On 8 May 2016, it was confirmed that Afif would be rejoining

, this time on a permanent deal. In doing so, he became the first Qatari-born signing in

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' ...

history. On 4 August, he was loaned to fellow top tier club

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

-long deal. Afif made his debut in the main category of Spanish football on 21 August 2016, coming on as a substitute for Burgui in a 2–1 home win against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...

. After nine league matches, he returned to his first senior club Eupen on a one-year loan deal on 14 July 2017. He went back to his home country in January 2018 to play for Al Sadd where he had a very successful season.

International career

Afif featured in Qatar U20's AFC U-19 Championship qualification campaign in 2014. During the main tournament, he scored the lone goal in the final against DPR Korea to give Qatar the victory. He was called up to the senior national team in September 2015 by coach Daniel Carreño. He scored in Qatar's 15–0 win against

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountai ...

on 3 September 2015 during the 2018 World Cup Qualification rounds. He also registered an assist in the match. During Qatar's successful

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

campaign, Afif played a paramount role in helping his team lift the trophy, registering 10 assists overall, a new record in the tournament.

Personal life

Afif is of

Yemeni Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and sh ...

Arab heritage. He was born in

, Qatar. His mother, Fayza, is of Yemeni descent from the Yafa tribe and is a homemaker. His father, Hassan Afif, is of Yemeni descent however, he played for the national team and spent a portion of his life in

Somali Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Soma ...

and was born in Moshi in

. His father previously played for

Simba Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation's 32nd animated feature, the character subsequently appears in '' The Lion King II: ...

in Tanzania but later moved to Somalia where he went on to play for

Horseed FC Horseed FC is a Somali football club based in Mogadishu, Somalia. It was founded in 1971 by Lt. Col Mohamed Ahmed Alim, who started the Somali Armed Forces Sports Directorate recruiting from the ranks of the Army. It is seven times champion of ...

. He subsequently moved to Qatar and played for Al Ittihad (later renamed

Al Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari multisports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Al Rayyan. It is best known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. It was est ...

). After retiring, he managed Al Gharafa from 1986 until 1987 and Al Markhiya from 2001 until 2003 and 2006 until 2007. His brother,

Ali Afif Ali Hassan Afif Yahya ( ar, علي حسن عفيف يحيى; born 20 January 1988) is a Qatari footballer. He currently plays as a left-back for Al-Duhail. Personal Afif has six siblings. His father, Hassan Afif, is of Somali descent and was b ...

, is a footballer for QSL side

Al-Duhail SC Al-Duhail Sports Club ( ar, نادي الدحيل الرياضي), formerly Lekhwiya SC, is a Qatari sports club, best known for its football team, which plays in the Qatar Stars League. The club is based in the Duhail district in the city ...

. Afif learned Spanish for his move to

. In June 2015, he graduated from

Aspire Academy Aspire Academy ( ar, أكاديمية أسباير, Akādīmiyat 'Asbāyr) is a sports academy based in the Aspire Zone in Qatar, founded in 2004 with the goal to scout and help develop Qatari athletes, whilst also providing them with secondar ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Al Sadd *

: 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22 * Emir Cup:

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 ...

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 ...

Qatar Cup The Qatar Cup is a tournament in men's football. It is played by the top 4 teams of the Qatar Stars League after each season. In 2013, the tournament was renamed Qatar Cup. Previous winners Top-Performing Clubs References External link ...

: 2020,

Qatari Super Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup ( ar, كأس الشيخ جاسم) is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held in ...

: 2019 Qatar *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

*International Friendship Championship:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

Top goalscorer: 2019–20 *

Top assists provider: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Team of the Year: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Player of the Year : 2018–19, 2019–20 *''Estad Doha'' Qatar Player of the Year: 2018, 2019 *

Team of the Tournament:

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for s ...

AFC Man Team of the Year: 2020 *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Amer ...

Best XI:

* FIFA Arab Cup Bronze Ball: 2021

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Afif, Akram 1996 births Living people Qatari people of Yemeni descent Qatari people of Tanzanian descent Qatari people of Somali descent Naturalised citizens of Qatar People from Doha Qatari footballers Association football forwards Aspire Academy (Qatar) players K.A.S. Eupen players Sporting de Gijón players Villarreal CF players Al Sadd SC players Belgian First Division B players Belgian Pro League players La Liga players Qatar Stars League players Qatar youth international footballers Qatar under-20 international footballers Qatar international footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players 2019 Copa América players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players AFC Asian Cup-winning players Qatari expatriate footballers Qatari expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Qatari expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Spain 2022 FIFA World Cup players