Ammo Baba

Ammo Baba was born in Baghdad, Iraq, of Assyrian ethnicity. He emerged in the Middle Eastern football scene at the age of 16 at a 1951 Pan Arab School Championship in Cairo playing for the Iraq against the home nation Egypt. He had been discovered by Iraqi schoolboys' coach Ismail Mohammed while playing for the Liwa Al-Dulaim school province team. Mohammed gave him the nickname 'Ammo Baba' and advised him to move to Baghdad to play for one of Iraq's top teams. Ammo who is still revered by generations who never saw him play, was an instinctive out and out goalscorer, known for his bicycle kicks or backward double-kicks as they are known in Iraq, heading ability, and the power of his shooting. He had an opportunist's eye for goal but also displayed magnificent technique and virtuoso skill of a great footballer. Ammo was born in Baghdad on the British controlled military camp RAF Hinaidi but moved with his family to live on the Civil Cantonment on the large RAF base in Habbaniya in 1937, where he first learnt to play the game of football. After playing for his school team, he moved to RAF Employees' (Assyrian) Club in 1951 replacing legendary striker and fellow Assyrian Aram Karam, where he played with other famous Assyrian footballers such as Hormis Goriel, Emmanuel "Ammo Simsim" Samson and Youra Eshaya. In 1954 he signed for Baghdad-based Al-Haras Al-Malaki where he was a huge success, scoring bundles of goals, season after season. The goalscorer wore the legendary number 8,…

Due to a serious injury he sustained in 1965 while playing for Iraq at the Pan Arab Games in Cairo, Ammo was nearly forced to retire from the game but returned to play for a further five years. He began his coaching career at Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab (Passenger Transport) team in Baghdad in 1967 in a player-coach role. A year earlier while returning from injury, the Iraq FA named him coach of the Baghdad XI side for a match against East Germany however they were beaten 4-0 by the Germans and Ammo was relieved of his duties. In 1978, Baba was appointed as Iraq's football military national team coach, leading the team to its third CISM World Military Championship title a year later beating nations such as Austria, Morocco, and Greece, on the way to the final where they beat Italy, on penalties. The same year he was appointed as the head coach of Iraq's national team for the first time. He would be appointed and re-appointed on seven occasions, during the 1980s and 1990s (see below for exact years). Iraqis often call the 1980s as the "golden years" of Iraq football, where Baba led the national team to numerous tournaments and many titles. Throughout his coaching years, Baba was also the Olympic team head coach, where he led the team to two Olympic appearances in Los Angeles 1984, and Seoul 1988. In addition, Baba led Iraq to three titles in the Gulf Cup (1979, 1984, 1988), the Asian Games of 1982, and the Arab Nations Cup in 1988. Baba also found success in the Iraqi League,…

Ammu Baba was one of the few prominent Iraqis to openly confront Uday Hussein, the president of the Iraqi Football Association, once even refusing to accept a medal from him in front of 50,000 fans after a game in 1992. After the Iraq war, all of his family, including his children, moved to Chicago where there is a sizeable Assyrian community, while he stayed in Baghdad, where he ran a football academy for teenagers. On 20 January 2006, the 71-year-old Baba was attacked in his home, where he was tied, blindfolded, beaten and then robbed. Ammo Baba died in Dohuk at the age of 74 on Wednesday, 27 May 2009, due to complications from diabetes. He was buried at Baghdad's largest stadium as he requested before his death. The Al-Rusafa Stadium under construction in the north of Baghdad was renamed to the Ammo Baba Stadium in his honour.

Player

Al-Haras Al-Malaki

Iraq Central FA Premier League: 1954–55, 1955–56 Army Cup: 1955, 1956 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya

Iraq Central FA Premier League: 1957–58, 1961–62, 1963–64 Iraq Central FA Perseverance Cup: 1962, 1964 Army Cup: 1959, 1964 Authority Director Cup: 1964 Iraq Military

Arab Military Games: 1965 Iraq

Tripoli Fair Tournament: 1967

Player-manager

Al-Athori

Iraq Central FA Premier League: 1959–60

Manager

Al-Tamim Province XI

Republic Championship: 1976 Iraq

Asian Games: 1982 Arab Cup: 1988 Arabian Gulf Cup: 1979, 1984, 1988 Merdeka Tournament: 1981 Iraq Military

World Military Cup: 1979 Al-Talaba

Iraqi Premier League: 1980–81 Al-Rasheed

Arab Club Champions Cup: 1987 Al-Zawraa

Iraqi Premier League: 1993–94 Iraq FA Cup: 1993–94