Bassam Al-Rawi


Bassam Hisham Ali Al-Rawi is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Al-Duhail and the Qatar national football team. Born in Iraq, he represents the Qatar national team.

Personal life

Born in Iraq, Bassam was naturalized to represent the Qatar national team. Bassam's father, Hisham Ali Al-Rawi, played for the Iraq national football team in the 1990s. His brother Ahmed is also a footballer. Bassam attended school in Qatar before being admitted to the Aspire Academy.

International career

2019 AFC Asian Cup

Bassam made his appearance for Qatar in a 0-1 loss to Czech Republic in Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium. He was included in Félix Sánchez Bas' Qatari squad for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates. He made his first international goal on 9 January 2019 against Lebanon. On 22 January, he scored his second international and the winning goal for Qatar against his country of origin, Iraq, which helped his team reach the quarter-finals of the competition. His team would eventually conquer the Asian title for the first time.

Eligibility dispute

On 30 January 2019, soon after the 2019 Asian Cup semi-final tie between the UAE and Qatar, which Qatar won 4–0, the UAE Football Association lodged a formal appeal to the on the fact that Bassam did not qualify to play for Qatar on residency grounds of the Article 7 of the FIFA statutes, which states a player's eligibility to play for a representative team if he has "lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association". It was claimed that Bassam had not lived continuously in Qatar for at least five years over the age of 18. On 1 February 2019, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee dismissed the protest lodged by the United Arab Emirates Football Association.

Career statistics

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.9 January 2019Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates1–02–02019 [AFC Asian Cup Group E|2019 AFC Asian Cup]
2.22 January 2019Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates1–01–02019 AFC Asian Cup

Honours

Al-Duhail
Qatar
Individual