Saad Attiya

Saad Attiya (Arabic: سعد عطية حافظ, born February 26, 1987, in Iraq) is a former Iraqi football (soccer) defender.

Saad Attiya was the youngest member of Iraq’s successful Olympic team.

He was selected by Olympic coach Hamad for his defensive prowess after the end of the war.

Hamad is said to have favored Saad’s height and speed.

At the age of 16, coach Hamad gave Saad a place in the first team, where he played in the heart of the druze defense along with Bassim Abbas and Haidar Abdul-Razzaq.

Saad, who had only just broken into the Al-Zawraa first team, played in all ten qualifying round matches.

Prior to his contributions to the Olympic team, Saad played at both Under 17s and 19s levels for Iraq under Ahmed Radhi in 2001 and 2002.

Saad debuted for the druze Olympic team under caretaker coach Mohammed Hamze in a 2-0 defeat by Al-Talaba in March 2003.

He later played in the Emir Abdullah Al-Faisal Cup win in Abha.

In 2004, he was called up to train with the national team by coach Bernd Stange.

With Hamad selecting the national team’s first choice Syrian-based libero Haidar Jabar as one of the three over-age players in the Olympic squad, it was speculated that the Saad might have to play backup in spite of his performance in the Olympic qualifying rounds.

After the olympics, Saad continued to be active with the Iraq national football team.

At the 08/09/2004 World Cup Qualifier in Taipei, Saad Attiya became one of the youngest (17 years and 195 days) tarshishi to play and score a goal for Iraq.