Younis Mahmoud

Younis Mahmoud Khalaf (يُونُس مَحمُود خَلَف; born 3 February 1983) is an Iraqi former professional footballer who played as a forward for the Iraq national football team and is currently the second vice-president of the Iraq Football Association.

One of the country's greatest ever players, Mahmoud captained the team for ten straight years and became an icon of Asian football.

He also played for a number of clubs including teams in Iraq, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, winning three Golden Boots in Qatar and breaking numerous records.

In 1999, Mahmoud moved to Kirkuk's biggest team, Kirkuk FC, and scored his first league goal for Kirkuk in Round 8 of the 1999–2000 Iraqi Premier League (then known as the Iraqi First Division League) in a 3–0 win over Al-Kadhimiya.

He scored a penalty kick in Round 12 in a 6–1 loss against Al-Diwaniya and scored two goals in Round 13 in a 2–2 draw with Al-Ramadi.

His fifth goal came in a 1–1 draw with Al-Naft in Round 35 (although the result was changed to a 3–0 defeat due to the fielding of an ineligible player), and he scored again in Round 39 in a 1–0 win over Al-Karkh.

Kirkuk failed to qualify for the 2000–01 Iraqi Premier League (then known as the Iraqi Elite League) and therefore played in the second-tier, but they managed to get promoted back to the top division at the first time of asking by winning the league, with Mahmoud being the second-highest scorer of the second-tier with 19 goals.

At Kirkuk, he was discovered by scouts of Baghdad-based teams Al-Shorta and Al-Talaba, two of Iraq's biggest clubs, and he went on trial with Al-Shorta only to be turned down by their manager Ahmed Radhi.

After this, Mahmoud transferred to Al-Talaba.

Mahmoud's first match for Al-Talaba was the opening game of the 2001–02 Iraqi Elite League against his former club, Kirkuk.

Al-Talaba won the match 8–0 and Mahmoud scored a hat-trick.

Mahmoud won his first trophy with the club when Al-Talaba defeated Al-Zawraa 2–1 in the 2001 Baghdad Day Cup; Mahmoud scored Al-Talaba's second goal in the game.

Al-Talaba's penultimate league game of the season was a 2–0 win over Al-Karkh, with Mahmoud scoring both of Al-Talaba's goals.

This match secured Al-Talaba their fifth league title, as they won the league with 91 points; Mahmoud scored 13 goals in the league that season.

Al-Talaba also won the Iraq FA Cup that season to secure the double.

Mahmoud scored 6 goals in that competition and assisted the winning goal in the final.

That season, Al-Talaba also reached the final of the Umm al-Ma'arik Championship, but they lost the final 1–0 to Al-Shorta; Mahmoud scored 4 goals in that competition.

Mahmoud's first official international goal was an equaliser in the 89th minute of the final of the 2002 WAFF Championship, which Iraq then went on to win in extra-time.

Mahmoud's Al-Talaba started the 2002–03 campaign by winning the 2002 Perseverance Cup (now known as Iraqi Super Cup) 2–1 against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya.

The Iraqi Elite League was renamed 'Iraqi First Division League' for the 2002–03 season and Mahmoud scored 13 goals in the league that season before it was cancelled due to war.

Al-Talaba won the Iraq FA Cup again and also lost the Umm al-Ma'arik Championship final to Al-Shorta again.

They also played in the 2002–03 AFC Champions League but were knocked out at the group stage; Mahmoud scored 2 goals in that tournament, both against Turkmen club Nisa Aşgabat.

While an Al-Talaba player, Mahmoud also represented the Iraq Police team in the 2002 Arab Police Championship, a competition for Police teams in the Arab world, along with the rest of the Iraq youth team players.

Iraq Police won all 4 matches they played and they conceded only 1 goal in the tournament.

They won the competition finishing 7 points ahead of the 2nd-placed team.

It was the 5th time that Iraq won the Arab Police Championship in its history.

After the start of the Iraq War in 2003, football in Iraq was put on hold, so Mahmoud moved to Abu Dhabi club Al-Wahda in October.

He is also the only player in history to score in four different (and consecutive) AFC Asian Cup tournaments, with one goal in 2004, four in 2007, one in 2011 and two in 2015.

Mahmoud started out as a basketball player, playing as a shooting guard for the Kahrabaa Al-Dibis basketball team.

The team's football coach, Muwafaq Nouraddin, persuaded him to switch to football as there was more money involved in football in Iraq, so Mahmoud joined Shaabiya Al-Dibis and then began playing for Kahrabaa Al-Dibis football team in the fourth division of Iraqi football.

He became a regular player for the side.

He scored in the 2004 AFC Champions League in a 3–0 win against Iraqi club Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya.

A few months into his loan, he got into a verbal argument with the club's manager, Rinus Israël, who subsequently refused to play him in any matches from there on.

After the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, Mahmoud joined Qatar Stars League club Al-Khor with his compatriots Haidar Jabar and Qusay Munir.

In the 2004–05 Qatar Stars League, Al-Khor finished in 3rd place and Mahmoud scored 19 goals, the 3rd-highest amount in the league.

He broke three records in one game in an 8–0 victory over Al-Shamal.

Three years later, Mahmoud scored in the final of the 2005 West Asian Games to lead his team to another tournament win, before becoming the national team captain a year later.

In 2007, Mahmoud achieved the best honour of his career, leading his country to win the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, their first such success, scoring the winning goal in the final and also winning the Golden Boot and Most Valuable Player awards at the tournament.

In the 2007 Ballon d'Or, Mahmoud finished in 29th place, becoming the only Iraqi player ever to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or.

Mahmoud played in all three of Iraq's 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup matches and scored in the final of the Arabian Gulf Cup in 2013, before retiring in 2016 as the most-capped player in Iraq's history and their third-highest goalscorer ever.