Omar Abdullahi Mohamed (; Arabic: عمر محمد; born 5 May 1996) is a Somali 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 for the Somalia national team.

Early life

Omer Muhamed was born in

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, where he lived until the age of six when his family moved to

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. He moved with his family to the United States in 2005 and grew up in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

Career

Early career

Mohamed first began playing organized soccer at the age of 12, where he played for local Columbus youth club FC Blast. At the age of 16, he began playing for the academy of

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

. He also trained and played with the first team of Columbus Crew, making four appearances for the Crew reserve team and scoring two goals. Mohamed also played one year of

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

at Jackson College in 2015.

Professional

Mohamed signed with new

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

club

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

in January 2016. Mohamed joined USL side

Portland Timbers 2 Portland Timbers 2 is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. The team, often referred to as "T2", serves as the reserve squad for the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team was a member of the USL Champ ...

in March 2017. After spending time with

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

side

Des Moines Menace Des Moines Menace is an American soccer team based in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the United States soccer league system. The Menace have had sustained success in USL Lea ...

, Mohamed joined

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's association football, soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019 USL League One season, 2019. The United States soccer league system, Division III league is operated ...

side

Greenville Triumph SC Greenville Triumph SC is a professional association football, soccer team based in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. The club began play in USL League One in 2019. History The formation of USL D3 was first announced in April 2017, and ...

on February 8, 2019, ahead of their inaugural season. Greenville opted to decline Mohamed's contract option following their 2020 season. He joined Menemenspor on January 22, 2021.

International

In September 2019, Mohamed was called into the

Somalia national football team The Somalia national football team (, Arabic: الإتِّحَاد الصُّومَالِي لِكُرَّةُ الْقَدَم), nicknamed the ''Ocean Stars'', represents Somalia in international Association football, football and is controlled ...

for its 2022 World Cup qualifiers against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. On September 5, 2019, he made his international debut for Somalia in their 1–0 win over Zimbabwe. On September 10, 2019, he scored his first international goal in Somalia's second leg qualifier against Zimbabwe at the Zimbabwe National Stadium in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

. In December 2019 He was again called into the

for Its participation in 2019 CECAFA Cup held in Kampala, Uganda. Mohamed played all the group matches for Somalia and scored the only goal Somalia has scored during the tournament. Somalia won against Burundi national football team, lost against

Uganda national football team The Uganda national football team also known as The Uganda Cranes represents Uganda in international football and is controlled by the Federation of Uganda Football Associations. History The Uganda Cranes made their debut on 1 May 1926 against ...

, while drawing against

Djibouti national football team The Djibouti national football team, nicknamed the "Riverains de la Mer Rouge" (), is the national football team of Djibouti. It is controlled by the Djiboutian Football Federation and is a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ...

and

Eritrea national football team The Eritrea national football team represents Eritrea in men's international association football, football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the ''Red Sea Boys''. It has never qualified ...

without conceding a goal.

International goals

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

References

External links

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FC Cincinnati bio
1997 births Footballers from Mogadishu Soccer players from Ohio Sportspeople from Westerville, Ohio African-American soccer players 21st-century African-American sportsmen Living people Somalian emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States American men's soccer players Somalian men's footballers 21st-century Somalian sportsmen Somalia men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Cincinnati players Portland Timbers 2 players Des Moines Menace players Greenville Triumph SC players Menemen F.K. footballers USL League Two players USL League One players USL Championship players TFF 1. Lig players American expatriate men's soccer players Somalian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Somalian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century American sportsmen {{Somalia-footy-bio-stub