Baker Kamal Mohmmad Walid Kalbouneh (; born 14 August 2003) is a Jordanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for

Jordanian Pro 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 ...

side Al-Faisaly and the Jordan U-23 national team.

Club career

Early life and career

Kalbouneh began his career at

Al-Wehdat Al-Wehdat Sports Club () is a Jordanian sports club founded in 1956. They compete in the Jordanian Pro League, the top flight of Jordanian football. The club is based in and represents the Amman New Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp also know ...

when he was 10 years old. He left the club and departed to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to study English, and then traveled to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to study another year of English. Upon his return to Jordan, then joined the Jordan Knights academy. He later joined

Al-Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pr ...

's youth ranks until late 2021.

Al-Jazeera

Kalbouneh signed his first professional contract with

on 1 January 2022. He was a contributor to their squad for the

2022 Jordanian Pro League The 2022 Jordanian Pro League (known as The Jordanian Pro League, was the 70th season of Jordanian Pro League since its inception in 1944. The season started on 8 April and finished on 4 November 2022, Al-Faisaly won the title for the 35t ...

season. He was linked with

by the end of the season, as he sought to play at a higher level than the

Jordanian First Division League The Jordanian First Division League () is the second-level football competition in Jordan. Sama Al-Sarhan are the most recent champions in the 2024–25 season. Promotion and relegation The winner and runner-up are promoted to the Jordanian Pr ...

upon Al-Jazeera's relegation. However, he stayed for the

2023 Jordanian First Division League The 2023 Jordanian First Division League started on 3 September 2023 and concluded on 13 December 2023. The league featured 10 teams from the 2022 campaign, two new teams relegated from the 2022 Pro League: Al-Sareeh and Al-Jazeera, and two ne ...

season, where he ended as the top scorer of the league and promoting the club in the process.

Al-Faisaly

On 8 January 2024, Kalbouneh signed with Jordanian club Al-Faisaly during the 2023-24 Jordanian Pro League season, signing with the club for a season and a half. His previous club,

, demanded to Al-Faisaly to pay 20 thousand

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 ...

as a sponsorship for the player, for a period of 4 years.

International career

Kalbouneh was called up to various Jordanian youth national teams during his career. During the

2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup The 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup was the 41st edition of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Footb ...

, Kalbouneh found himself sent off after five seconds into the match, after a head-high tackle was made to Tajikistan U-20 player Mekhrubon Karimov. He was subsequently suspended for two matches by the AFC as a result of the red card. On 19 March 2024, Kalboueh was called up to the Jordan national under-23 football team for the

2024 WAFF U-23 Championship The 2024 WAFF U-23 Championship was the fifth edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship, the international age-restricted football championship organized by the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia. ...

. He also participated in the

2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup The 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup was the 6th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup (previously the AFC U-23 Championship before rebranding from 2021), the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confeder ...

Personal life

In addition to being a footballer, Kalbouneh is noted for being an author and screenwriter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalbouneh, Baker 2003 births Living people Jordanian men's footballers Al-Jazeera SC (Amman) players Al-Faisaly SC players Jordanian Pro League players 21st-century Jordanian sportsmen Men's association football forwards