Alaa Abdul-Zahra Khashen Al-Azzawi ( , born 22 December 1987), is an Iraqi football player who plays as a forward for

Iraq Stars League The Iraq Stars League (), is the highest level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Iraqi Premier Division League. It is governed by the Iraqi Pro League Associa ...

club Al-Minaa and for the Iraq national team. He can be deployed as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

, and since 2016 plays as a striker. He is the third-most capped player in the history of the Iraqi national team.

Club career

Early life

Abdul-Zahra was born in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, Iraq. Affectionately nicknamed 'the

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime at A.C. Milan, AC Mil ...

of Iraq' road towards fame looked relatively straightforward. At the age of 16, he got his playing career off to a dream start when he was discovered and signed by Iraqi powerhouses

Al-Zawraa Al-Zawra'a Sports Club () is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Utayfia, Karkh District (near Tigris River), Baghdad. Their football team competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top-flight of Iraqi football. Al-Zawra'a have won the most ...

Al-Zawraa

In 2004 at the age of 16, Abdul-Zahra made a move to

. He was part of Al-Zawraa's squad for the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

in 2005 with the number 29 shirt. A year later he won with them the Iraq Super League in 2006.

Mes Kerman

After the AFC Youth Championship 2006, Abdul-Zahra signed a one-year contract with the newly promoted Iranian Premier League club

Mes Kerman Mes Kerman Football Club (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Sân't-e Mes Kârman'') is an Iranian professional association football, football team based in Kerman, Iran. They were promoted to Iran's top league, the Iran Pro League, in the 2005–06 season. ...

. He played 11 times for them and scoring 4 goals, as the team finished in 7th place, before moving to play in Jordan.

Shabab Al-Ordon

Abdul-Zahra signed with

Duhok FC Duhok Sports Club (, ) is an Iraq, Iraqi professional sports club, based in Duhok, Iraq, Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Founded in 1970, the club competes in the Iraq Stars League. Duhok SC's biggest rivals are also their neighbours Zakho FC, Z ...

Before the start of Iraq Super League (2007-2008) but he did not go to Iraq, Instead he signed another contract with the Jordanian club Shabab Al-Ordon, and claimed that signing with Duhok FC was incomplete. On 29 December 2007, in his first appearance with Shabab Al-Ordon, Abdul-Zahra scored his first goal with his new team against Hussein Irbid in Jordan Cup, helped his team to win 3–2 and qualify to the

quarterfinals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. On 3 January 2008, Abdul-Zahra played his second and last match with Shabab Al-Ordon this season against Al-Arabi Irbid in

Jordan League The Jordanian Pro League () is a Jordanian professional league for men's football clubs and represents the top flight of Jordanian football. The championship consists of twelve competing teams in a home and away league system. The league was not ...

, which they won 2–3.

Al-Merrikh

Abdul-Zahra and his Olympic team's mate Saad Attiya signed a Contract with Sudan giant club Al-Merrikh. He won

Sudan Premier League Sudan Premier League () is the top division of the Sudan Football Association, it was created in 1965. It starts on August 1 and ends May 31. Sudan Premier League Clubs (2024–25) Championship history Performance by club Double Titles ( ...

and

Sudan Cup The Sudan Cup is the top knockout tournament of the Sudanese football (soccer), football. It was created in 1990. Preliminaries Pegin 1 Agustus / End 31 May *Round 32 ( Sudan Premier League Clubs and National League 1 Clubs) *Round 16 *Quarte ...

2008, and scored 9 goals.

Time in Qatar

After the success in the Sudanese League, Alaa signed a contract with the Qatari side Al-Khor. which he played with 14 league matches scoring eight goals. After the great months he spent in Al-Khor Alaa moved to another Qatari club this time with Al Kharaitiyat. Scoring 16 goals in 42 occasions, the club finished 8th in the league that season. In June 2011, Alaa signed a one-year deal with Qatar side

Al-Wakrah Al Wakrah () is the capital city of the Al Wakrah Municipality in Qatar. Al Wakrah's eastern edge touches the shores of the Persian Gulf and Qatar's capital Doha is situated immediately north of the city. Governed by Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Jassi ...

. playing 10 times and scoring 3 goals, the team finished 7th in the league. In June 2012, Alaa signed a Half Season with Qatar side

Qatar SC Qatar Sports Club () is a sports club based in Doha, Qatar. It is best known for its football team which competes in the Qatar Stars League. The club was founded in 1961 with the merger of two Qatari football clubs, Al-Oruba and Al-Nasour. They ...

. and scored 2 goals.

Duhok

Before the start of the 2012–13 season, Abdul-Zahra signed with

and made a total of 47 appearances in 2012–13 and 2013–14 scoring 26 goals, plus a further 5 goals in the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

Tractor Sazi

On 20 July 2014, Abdul-Zahra joined Tractor Sazi with signing a one-season contract with the club. He played his first match for Tractor Sazi on 8 August 2014 against Zob Ahan. after a Less than two months with Tabrizi side, he decided leave Tractor Sazi. After pressure from the national team coach to leave the club, And his desire to play the striker instead of the midfielder. He officially released on 10 September 2014.

Al-Shorta

Abdul-Zahra signed with

Al-Shorta Al-Shorta Sports Club () is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Iraq, Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 19 different sports, and the best known section of the club is the football team, whose origins date back to 1932. Al-Shorta was for ...

in September 2014. and scored 8 goals. The club finished 3rd in the league that season and reached the round of 16 at the

Return to Al-Zawraa

Abdul-Zahra returned to

in July 2015. he became instrumental to the team as Al Zawraa went on to win the Iraqi League 2015–16. The team also finished second in the

Iraq FA Cup The Iraq Cup (), commonly known as the Iraq FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in men's domestic Football in Iraq, Iraqi football organised by the Iraq Football Association. Firs ...

, after a 2–0 loss to Al Quwa Al Jawiya. The following season, Ala'a finished as the top goal scorer of the Iraqi league for the first time in his career with 23 goals, however Al Zawraa failed to retain the title and finished in a disappointing 4th place. The team reached the final of the Iraqi FA Cup once again, where he scored the winner in the 94th minute to win the championship.

Second stint at Al-Shorta

On 13 September 2017, Abdul-Zahra signing a one-season contract with

. He scored many goals continuously after sacked Brazilian coach Marcos Paquetá on 27 March 2018. He finished his season with Al-Shorta with 22 goals, including 5 penalties, in 37 matches in the league, as the team finished in 4th position. In the 2018–19 season, he achieved the top scorer of the league with 28 goals, as his club won the league title. On 14 September 2019, he won his first

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

with Al-Shorta, after a 4–3 victory on penalties, over his former club Al-Zawraa.

Third stint at Al-Zawraa

In late June 2020, Abdul-Zahra rejoined Al-Zawraa, where he played for one season, as the club finished second in the league table in the 2020–21 season.

Third stint at Al-Shorta

In August 2021, Abdul-Zahra returned to Al-Shorta, then extended his contract for another year in 2022. He won two consecutive league titles in 2021–22 and 2022–23, in addition to another

trophy. On 27 July 2023, he scored the only goal from a penalty in a 1–0 victory over Club Sfaxien in the

Arab Club Champions Cup The Arab Club Champions Cup (, ) is a club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by top clubs from the Arab world. The tournament is contested by a total of 37 teams from Asia and Africa. F ...

first match.

International career

He first made his mark on the international scene with Iraq's youth team at the

2004 AFC Youth Championship The 2004 AFC Youth Championship was the 33rd instance of the AFC Youth Championship. It was held from 25 September to 9 October 2004 in Malaysia. The tournament was won by for the eleventh time by South Korea in the final against China PR. V ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. Two years later, he would repeat this feat by figuring prominently at the 2006 AFC Youth Championship, where the striking prodigy finished as the tournament's second-top scorer with four goals despite his team's early exit at the quarter-final stage. From there, he went on to showcase his predatory talents in Asia's qualifying final round for the Olympic Football Tournament

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

by topping the scoring charts with a six-goal haul. At senior level, he featured in two of Iraq's eight qualifying matches for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

at South Africa, coming off bench to play in a goalless draw against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

before featuring in the 2–0 loss to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. Alaa played for the Iraq national team from June 2007 to January 2018, scoring 15 goals. In October 2019, he was called up by Iraq team for games against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Style of play

Abdul-Zahra, a playmaker and offensive play, and is often involved in passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativity, and passing ability. and More recently play striker.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Iraq's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Abdul-Zahra goal.''

Honours

Al-Zawraa *

Iraqi Premier League The Iraq Stars League (), is the highest level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Iraqi Premier Division League. It is governed by the Iraqi Pro League Asso ...

: 2005–06, 2015–16 *

: 2016–17 Al-Merreikh *

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Al-Shorta *

: 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 *

: 2023–24 * Iraqi Super Cup:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Iraq * Arab Nations Cup:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

bronze medal *

Arabian Gulf Cup The Arabian Gulf Cup (, ''Kaʾs al-Khalīj al-ʿArabī''), also referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial association football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nations. The history of ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

runner-up *

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

runners-up Individual *

top scorer: 2016–17 (23 goals), 2018–19 (28 goals) * 2008 Summer Olympics qualification (AFC) top scorer: (6 goals) * 20th Arabian Gulf Cup: joint top scorer (3 goals)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdul-Zahra, Alaa 1987 births Living people Iraqi men's footballers 21st-century Iraqi sportsmen Iraq men's international footballers 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Iraqi expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Baghdad Sanat Mes Kerman F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Jordan Expatriate men's footballers in Sudan Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Men's association football forwards Al-Zawraa SC players Al Kharaitiyat SC players Qatar SC players Al-Wakrah SC players Al-Khor SC players Qatar Stars League players Al Merrikh SC players Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Al-Shorta SC players Al-Minaa SC players FIFA Men's Century Club Asian Games silver medalists for Iraq Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists in football