Amjad Kalaf

Al-Kut (2005–2007)

The forward is the youngest of three footballing brothers, Mohammed and Alaa, the sons of former army track and field athlete Kalaf Mansour. Born and brought up in the city of Kut, Kalaf signed for the team as a youth player. Kalaf broke into the first team in the 2004–05 season under coach Nassir Maribi. On 14 January 2005, at 13 years of age, he made his debut in a 2004–05 Iraqi Premier League match against Al-Basra, becoming the youngest player ever to play a match in the Iraqi Premier League at that time (this record was broken by Mohanad Ali in 2014). That season, Al-Kut surprised everyone by finishing second in their group in the first stage with 8 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses, qualifying to the elite stage, where they lost all 4 matches. This was an historic achievement for Al-Kut. Unlike the previous season, Al-Kut were not very successful in the 2005–06 Iraqi Premier League. They won just 1 match, drawing 3 and losing 8, finishing bottom of their group and being relegated to the Iraqi First Division League. Kalaf played a few games including 50 minutes of a match against Misan on 25 November 2005, 22 minutes of a match against Naft Al-Junoob on 27 January 2006 and the first 60 minutes of a match against Karbalaa on 3 March 2006. Kalaf was also part of the Iraq U-17 squad and was selected by coach Kadhim Khalaf for the 2006 AFC U-17 Championship. In the 2006–07 season, Al-Kut played in the Iraqi First Division League and failed to earn…

Kalaf's first international participation was for the Iraq U-17 team in 2005, when he was called up by coach Kadhim Khalaf for the qualifiers for the 2006 AFC U-17 Championship. Kalaf scored his first goal against China in the 2006 Tehran International Championship. Kalaf played a part in all three of Iraq's games at the 2006 AFC U-17 Championship, where Iraq were knocked out in the group stage with 2 draws and 1 loss. Also in 2006, Kalaf scored against Lebanon in the qualifiers for the Arab Junior Cup. In 2008, Kalaf was called up for the Iraq school football team for the Pan Arab School Games in Jordan, and Kalaf scored two goals against Kuwait in the group stage, with Iraq eventually finishing fourth in the tournament. Qatar offered Kalaf a path to naturalisation after his impressive performance for the Iraq school team, but Kalaf refused. Kalaf made his debut for the senior Iraq national team at the age of just 18 years old when Radhi Shenaishil called him up for a friendly with Saudi Arabia on 22 March 2009. Kalaf did not start the match but was subbed on for Halgurd Mulla Mohammed. 6 days later he made his second appearance, against South Korea, being subbed on for Herdi Nuraddin. Kalaf scored the opening goal in a 2–0 win over Oman in 2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualification; Kalaf received a red card in the same match. On 16 January 2012, Kalaf played for the Iraq U-23 team in a match against FC Anzhi Makhachkala, with the likes of Samuel Eto'o and Roberto Carlos…

Kalaf's main attribute is his blistering pace. Described as "a gazelle on the wings", Kalaf (being the son of a former sprinter) has often made bursting, defence splitting runs down the right flank. He is also praised for his heading ability as he has scored many goals for Al-Shorta using his head, and his clinical finishing has allowed him to score more than a half-century of goals for his club. When played on the wing, he is capable of creating goals by putting in low or high crosses into the penalty area, as demonstrated by the fact that all of his assists in the 2013 AFC U-22 Championship and 2014 Asian Games tournaments were from crosses.

International