Mahdi Karim

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Mahdi Karim
Mahdi Karim
Personal information
Full name	Mahdi Karim Ajeel
Date of birth	December 10, 1983 (1983-12-10) (age 24)
Place of birth	Baghdad, Iraq
Playing position	Winger, Outside forward, Wingback
Club information
Current club	Al-Khor
Youth clubs
1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999	Al Shurta Al-Khutot Al-Salikh Al-Shabab
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999-2002 2002-2005 2005-2007 2007-2008 2008-Present	Al Naft Al Talaba Apollon Limassol Al Ahly Tripoli Al-Khor	? (?)  ? (?) (83) (10) (18) (11) 0 (0)
National team2
2001-present	Iraq	58 (9)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 7 June 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Mahdi Karim Ajeel (Arabic: مهدي كريم عجيل, born December 10, 1983) is an Iraqi footballer who is a winger for Al-Khor in Qatar and the Iraq national football team.

[edit] Profile

• Date of birth: 10 December 1983
• Birthplace: Baghdad, Iraq
• Height: 174 cm (5'8")
• Weight: 71 kg (153 lbs.)
• Position: Midfielder
• Previous Clubs: Al-Shorta, Al-Khutot, Al-Salikh, Al-Shabab, Al-Naft, Al-Talaba, Apollon Limassol
• Current Club: Al Ahly Tripoli
• Int'l Goals: 8
• Int'l Caps: 54

[edit] Career

Mahdi Karim was one of the most exciting young forwards in Iraq before he was switched to the right wing by Talaba coach Thair Ahmed. He had joined the club in 2002 and found his path to the forwards position blocked by Ala Khadim, Younis Mahmoud and Ahmed Salah.

The previous season, he had led Al-Nafat to the Iraqi Cup semi-final for the second consecutive season and netted 13 goals in the 2001-2002 season earning him a move to the Students club. Mahdi began his career with the Al Shurta youth team in 1995 and decided to move after finding his first team chances limited, joining Al-Khutot, Al-Salikh and Al-Shabab before finally settling at Al-Nafat.

In late 2001, he was called into the Iraqi national team by Iraq’s Croatian coach Rudolf Belin after scoring two goals in six minutes to help his club beat Defaa Al-Jawia 2-1 in the only the second league game of the Iraqi Premiere League 2001 –2002 season and made his debut in the 2-1 defeat by Iran in Tehran coming on as a substitute for Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail for the last quarter of an hour.

After the end of the war, he was called into the Olympic team by Adnan Hamad and formed a lethal formation with Hawar Mulla Mohammed on the left flank and Mahdi on the right, their performances together later earned themselves a place in the Iraqi national team. [1] [2] He currently plays for the Libyen team, Al-Ahly Tripoli.

[edit] Other honours (individual)

• 2007 Asian Cup winner
• Libyan League Best foreign Player 2007 (voting sponsored by Libyana and Al-Madar)
• Libyan League Best goal 2007 (was against Al-Madina) (voting sponsored by Libyana and Al-Madar)

[edit] Famous matches

• Iraq olympic team vs. Costa Rica olympic team (Men's Olympic Football Tournament 2004) -- Mahdi scored the second goal of the game to secure Iraq a place in the quarterfinals.
• Iraq vs. Jordan (Friendly 2005) -- Mahdi scored a spectacular goal from almost half field.
• On October 22 2007, he scored four goals in a 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification match against Pakistan, a game Iraq won 7-0.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Profile on Iraqsport
• Apollon Limassol Official Club Website

v • d • e Iraq squad - 2007 AFC Asian Cup Champions 1 Ahmad Ali • 2 Ghulam • 3 Bassim • 4 Khaldoun • 5 Nashat • 6 Sadir • 7 Ali Abbas • 8 Kobi • 9 Nasser • 10 Younis • 11 Hawar • 12 H. Abdul-Razzaq • 13 Karrar • 14 H. Abdul-Amir • 15 Ali Rehema • 16 Mnajed • 17 Luay • 18 Mahdi • 19 Haitham • 20 Nabeel • 21 Qusay • 22 Noor • 23 M. Kassid • Coach: Jorvan Vieira