Ali Faez Atiyah ( or ; born 9 September 1994) is an Iraqi

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 lea ...

and Olympian who plays as a defender 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-Najaf and the Iraq national team. He has established himself as a 'dead ball' specialist or setpiece taker.

Club career

The former graduate of the

Ammo Baba Emmanuel Baba Dawud (27 November 1934 – 27 May 2009), better known as Ammo Baba (, ), was an Iraqi football player and coach of the Iraq national football team. He scored the first international goal for Iraq in 1957 against Morocco at the 2 ...

Football School was born in 1994 and first made his league debut for

Al-Sinaa Al-Sinaa Sports Club () is a football club based in Thawra District, East Districts of the Tigris River, Baghdad, that plays in Iraqi Premier Division League. History Premier League Play Overview Al-Sinaa started playing in the Iraqi Premie ...

and then Al-Karkh where he became a regular in one of the Iraqi league's youngest team before he moved north to four-time Iraqi league winners

Erbil SC Erbil Sports Club (, ) is an Iraqi professional sports club based in the city of Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq that plays in the Iraq Stars League, the first-tier of Iraqi football. Erbil are one of the most successful teams in Iraq, and the ...

halfway through the 2012–2013 season for a -year deal worth 40m Iraqi

dinars The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

. before he joined

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 ...

. Ali has played at every age group level for the Iraqi national team from U-14s to the senior team and by the age of just 21 had already represented Iraq at the Asian Cup, the WAFF Championship and the Gulf Cup. In July 2016 Ali signed for Turkish Team

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Rize, a city on the eastern Black Sea region, Black Sea coast. The team competes in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Football in Turkey, Turkish footba ...

. However, after a season which saw limited playing time and a relegation from the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

, Ali made his debut on August 20, 2016, as a center back playing the full 90 minutes against

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

. Ali requested to leave the club, which was granted by a loan to former club Al Shorta. In June 2018, he signed a one-year contract with

Al Kharaitiyat SC Al Kharaitiyat Sport Club () is a Qatari sports club based in the town of Al Kharaitiyat, best known for its football team of the Qatari Second Division. They won promotion in 2004 and played in the Qatari Stars League the following season. Ho ...

. Ali supported

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 ...

while he was growing up and cites Spanish midfielder

Xabi Alonso Xabier Alonso Olano (, ; born 25 November 1981) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid. He is regarded as o ...

as his favourite player and is a

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

fan. The defender, a dead-ball specialist, taking both free-kicks and penalties, can be deployed in the centre of defence, at right back and as a defensive midfielder.

International career

Ali is one of a select few to have played at every level for Iraq from Ishbal (Cubs) to the senior side after making his international debut last year in the 6–0 defeat to Chile in Copenhagen. On 14 August 2013, Ali played his first international match for Iraq against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

in a friendly match. When he was handed his international debut by Serbian

Vladimir Petrović Vladimir Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Петровић, ; born 1 July 1955) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon (), after the French for ''pigeon''. Club career Dur ...

in 2013 at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 5 days, he became one of the youngest players to represent Iraq. However, he was given a baptism of fire in his first game when he came up against Chilean stars

Alexis Sánchez Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez (; born 19 December 1988), also known mononymously as Alexis, is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Udinese and the Chile national team. He is often regarded as the ...

and Arturo Vidal – a game which ended in a 6–0 defeat at the Brøndby Stadion in Copenhagen. Ali scored his first goal for the senior side against Qatar in the

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 ...

with a sublime free-kick., he scored a penalty on the following match to score in two back-to-back games.

International goals

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

Honours

Al-Shorta *

Iraqi Super Cup The Iraqi Super Cup (), previously called Iraqi Perseverance Cup (), is a super cup tournament in Iraqi football. Founded in 1986 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by six teams: the top four teams from t ...

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 ...

Iraq *

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 c ...

fourth-place:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Iraq U-23 *

AFC U-22 Championship The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 n ...

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 ...

Iraq U-20 *

AFC U-19 Championship The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

runner-up:

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 ...

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

4th-place:

References

External links

Player profile on Goalzz.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faez, Ali 1994 births Living people Footballers from Baghdad Iraqi men's footballers Men's association football defenders al-Sinaa SC players Al-Karkh SC players Erbil SC players Al-Shorta SC players Çaykur Rizespor footballers Al Kharaitiyat SC players qadsia SC players al-Talaba SC players Iraq Stars League players Süper Lig players Qatar Stars League players Olympic footballers for Iraq Iraq men's international footballers 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Iraqi expatriate men's footballers 21st-century Iraqi sportsmen Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Kuwait Kuwait Premier League players Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait