Aymen Hussein

In 2009, Hussein was spotted as a gifted teenager with his local team and it was because of a local resident who was also a board member at the Al-Alam SC who recommended the player to his club. He played for youth Al-Alam in the provincial league, and for the first team and then moved to Tuz FC, and with no club from Kirkuk in the top divisions in the Iraqi league, Aymen took the unorthodox route in his attempts into getting into a top flight of the Iraqi Premier League by signing for Gas Al-Shamal a club which was then in the second tier of the Kurdistan League, a division formed of primarily reserve players from the top Kurdish clubs.

Duhok

At the conclusion of the 2012–13 season, Hussein received his first opportunity to play in the Iraqi Premier League when Duhok assistant coach Khalid Mohammed Sabbar contacted him with a lucrative contract offer. Hussein accepted immediately, expressing immense joy at the prospect of workign under the former Iraq captain alongside renowned coaches Fajr Ibrahim of Syria and Thair Ahmed during his tenure with the club. He appeared only a few times for Duhok scoring one goals in the first stage of the season, however with salaries going unpaid for months at the cash-strapped club feeling the full ramifications of the financial crisis which had hit the Kurdistan region, Hussein made the decision to try his luck in Baghdad. He had been one of six players at Duhok released due to their financial troubles during the latter part of…

Iraq U23

Hussein first represented Iraq in 2015, also playing for the U23 Iraqi team. He was called up to the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship in Qatar. He scored the winning goal in the third-place playoff match against Qatar, which won Iraq the bronze medal and sent them to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Hussein was injured in a friendly match with the senior team against Syria on 18 March 2016, preventing him from going to the Olympics. The following year, Hussein was present at the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, he scored 5 goals in the first match against Afghanistan. He also scored another goal against Saudi Arabia, to ensure that Iraq won all three games and qualified for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship. Hussein scored twice in three games in the tournament, as Iraq went out in the quarter-finals. Hussein was called up to the Iraqi U23 side participating in the 2024 Summer Olympics as one of the three overage players. He scored a penalty in a 2–1 win against Ukraine, and a header against Argentina in the group stage as Iraq finished bottom of their group with 3 points.

Senior team

On 26 August 2015, Hussein earned his first international cap, playing against Lebanon in a friendly match. He scored his first goal against the United Arab Emirates on September 5, 2017, in a 1–0 victory in a World Cup qualifying match. Iraq failed to qualify to the world cup, finishing 5th in their group in the final round. He was called up to the 23rd Arabian Gulf Cup,…

Hussein is seen as the typical complete forward who can play up front. Not seen as the most versatile, but he is a natural goal scorer. Aymen is often deployed as a target man, tasked with holding up the ball, being physical with defenders, and being in the box for crosses. Aymen is also known for his work-rate, being able to press defenders and capitalize on their mistakes. Since 2015, he has been seen as the best heir to former international striker Younis Mahmoud.

Hussein was born in the rural village of Al-Safra in the Hawija district of Kirkuk, which had been controlled by ISIS and was the scene of coalition air-strikes from 2014 to 2017. Insurgents have frequently targeted oil pipelines in the village since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, with car bombs, suicide bombings and improvised explosive device (IED) blasts becoming a normal part of life for Hussein. His father, an officer in the Iraqi Army, was killed on duty by an al-Qaeda attack in 2008. His brother was kidnapped by ISIS and his whereabouts are still unknown, while he and his family became internally displaced within Iraq in 2014. Upon his arrival at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, he was detained and questioned by U.S. authorities for seven hours before being allowed to enter the country.