Mohammed Mezher Herez El-Ayawi (; born 24 March 1998) is an

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

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-Karma in the

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 ...

Club career

Naft Maysan

Mezher started his career at boyhood club Naft Maysan, where he came up the youth ranks before making his debut for the first-team in 2017 in the

Al-Shorta

In January 2020, after impressing for Naft Maysan in their league match against defending champions

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 ...

as well as the Iraq U-23s at the

2020 AFC U-23 Championship The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship was the fourth edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted men's football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for under-23 national teams. A total of ...

, the league's defending champions signed Mezher on loan until the end of the season, alongside teammate Akram Raheem, ahead of the season restart and their

2020 AFC Champions League The 2020 AFC Champions League was the 39th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 18th under the current AFC Champions League title. Ulsan Hyundai won their second Cham ...

campaign. Mezher quickly established himself as a key player for Al-Shorta, filling the gaps left by national team stars Amjad Attwan and Safaa Hadi excellently as they headed to Kuwait and Russia, respectively, to join

Kuwait SC Kuwait Sports Club () is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Kuwait City. Their football team has won Kuwait Premier League 19 times and has won over 50 trophies overall. The club plays in the Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium located i ...

Krylia Sovetov Samara, starting all three of Al-Shorta's league matches as well as both Champions League matches, impressing in all five before the season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. At the end of the season, Al-Shorta made his loan deal permanent.

International career

Iraq U-23

Mezher was called up to the Iraqi olympic team in 2019, helping his country qualify for the

, where he played all three matches.

Iraq

Following his impressive performances at the

and his new club

, Mezher was called up to the senior Iraqi national team for the first time in June 2020, as the 35-man squad entered a one-month long training camp ahead of Iraq's

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

matches. On 12 November 2020, Mezher made his international debut with Iraq against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

in a friendly. He won his second cap for Iraq on 17 November 2020, when he captained his country to a 2-1 victory over

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. He then got called up to the preliminary squad in March 2022 ahead of the last two games of the Third Round of qualifiers by new interim boss Abdul-Ghani Shahad.

Honours

Club

;

: 2021–22, 2023–24 *

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 ...

: 2023–24 * Iraqi Super Cup:

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 ...

References

External links

* 1998 births Living people Iraqi men's footballers Iraq men's international footballers Al-Shorta SC players People from Maysan Governorate Men's association football midfielders {{Iraq-footy-midfielder-stub