Jiloan Hamad

BK Forward

Having joined their youth setup aged 14–15, Hamad started his footballing career at the local club BK Forward in Örebro. He debuted in the senior team in 2006, aged 16, when the club competed in the Swedish third tier called Division 1. During the upcoming two seasons, he played 23 competitive games for the club, scoring 8 goals. During this period, he enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Jimmy Durmaz, his childhood friend who later would move on to play with him at Malmö FF. Before switching to the Scanian team he was refused by the local club Örebro SK, with the club citing that Hamad "was too short".

Malmö FF

Hamad came to Malmö FF from BK Forward in December 2007. He made his Allsvenskan debut on 17 September 2008 in a 0–4-loss against IF Elfsborg. After only having played one match for the club in 2008, Hamad had a breakthrough in 2009 when he played 20 matches and scored two goals. In 2010, he battled with teammate Jimmy Durmaz for the position as left midfielder. Hamad ended up playing 27 games although only starting in 10, the majority of which were played as right midfielder. In the final game of 2010, he scored the game-winning goal against Mjällby AIF that secured the title, the day after his 20th birthday. Hamad started the 2011 season with injury problems and missed the start of the season. He recovered and became the natural choice for playing right midfielder after team-mate Guillermo Molins was sold in the summer transfer window…

Having been born in Azerbaijan, Hamad was able to represent both Iraq, Azerbaijan and Sweden.

Sweden

Under-21

Hamad was a member and also for some time the captain of the Sweden U21 national side. On 7 September 2010, Hamad scored a last-minute goal for the 1–0 away win against Bulgaria U21 in a 2011 UEFA Euro U-21 Championship qualifier. In early 2011, Hamad revealed that he had rejected an offer from Azerbaijan coach Berti Vogts to play for his country of birth.

Senior

Hamad was first with the Sweden squad for the 2011 January training tour and played his first cap for Sweden during this tour. His first cap for Sweden was against Botswana on 19 January 2011. Hamad was once again selected for the annual training camp for the Sweden national team in January 2012. The squad selection for the camp traditionally features the best Swedish players in domestic and other Scandinavian leagues. He was selected for the friendly against England on 14 November, but did not get any playing time, and was then again selected for the winter tour in 2013. After a five-year absence, Hamad was called up to the Swedish squad for the training tour in January 2018. He made his return on the pitch in a 1–1 draw against Estonia, where several pundits praised Hamad's performance and voted him as the best player on the pitch.

Iraq

Hamad was reported to be called up by Iraq in October 2018 though he declined to comment. He was not called into Sweden's squad…

Club

As of match played 14 November 2018

International

As of match played 10 October 2019

Hamad was born in Azerbaijan, and is of Kurdish descent. His family originates from Ranya, Iraqi Kurdistan. They sought refugee status in both Turkmenistan and Russia before settling in Sweden in 1992, when Jiloan was two years old. Mohammed Hamad, Jiloan's father, was a guerrilla warrior in the Kurdish peshmerga for 15 years before fleeing Iraq together with his wife and children.