Douglas Aziz Shamasha Eshaya (; born 1 January 1942) is an Iraqi former football player and caretaker coach. He represented the Iraq national team, and is ethnically

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

Club career

He was a pillar for club and country during the late 1960s and through the 1970s. He made his league debut in 1964 and spent 15 inspiring seasons with Aliyat Al-Shorta in the

Iraq Central FA League The Iraq Central FA League, previously named the Iraq FA Baghdad League ( ar, دوري الاتحاد العراقي لمنطقة بغداد) and also known as the League of the Institutes ( ar, دوري المؤسسات, ''Dawri Al-Muassasat'') d ...

and Al-Shorta in the

Iraqi Premier League The Iraqi Premier League ( ar, الدوري العراقي الممتاز) is the top level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it is operated by the Iraq Football Association (IFA) and operates on a system of promotion an ...

, where he was a key figure in the side along with Abid Kadhim, Majeed Ali, Latif Shandal and Riyadh Nouri. He became the first outfield player in the Iraqi League to play as a goalkeeper when he was forced to go in goal for the final few minutes of a 5-2 win over Al-Tijara after an injury to Raad Hammoudi.

International career

After making his international debut in 1967, Douglas quickly became a key influence as the midfield general in the heart of the Iraqi team. With the national team, he played in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers in Australia, where Iraq finished second behind the hosts, the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

and

1976 Asian Cup The 1976 AFC Asian Cup was the 6th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Iran between 3 and 13 June 1976. The field of six ...

s in Thailand and Iran, and in the Olympic qualifiers in 1968 and 1972. Douglas was also an important part of the

Iraqi army The Iraqi Ground Forces ( Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army ( Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the co ...

team that won the 1972 and 1977 CISM World Military Championship. Douglas played for the Iraqi national team until 1978 and retired from playing a year later.

Managerial career

He went on to coach at Al-Shurta and in his first season in charge, led the club to their first ever league title in 1979-1980. He continued to coach the club's youth teams after stepping down as head coach in 1983, but was renamed coach of the first team in 1985. In 1989, he stepped down as coach of Al-Shurta to work full-time as assistant to Under-19s coach Bill Asprey. Douglas was also assistant coach to

Ammo Baba Emmanuel Baba Dawud (27 November 1934 – 27 May 2009), better known as Ammo Baba ( ar, عمو بابا, syr, ܥܡܘ ܒܒܐ), was an Iraqi Assyrian football player and coach of the Iraq national football team. He scored the first international ...

in the national team set-up from 1983–1984. He coached Al-Khutot, Salah-Al-Deen and Al-Karkh in the 1990s before leaving Iraq to settle in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It i ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Career statistics

International

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aziz, Douglas 1942 births Living people Iraqi footballers Iraq international footballers 1972 AFC Asian Cup players 1976 AFC Asian Cup players Iraqi football managers Iraq national football team managers Iraqi Christians People from Al Anbar Governorate Al-Shorta SC players Al-Shorta SC managers Al-Karkh SC managers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Assyrian footballers Al-Ramtha SC managers