Hussam Fawzi


Hussam Fawzi Naji is a retired Iraqi footballer who played as a forward. He was the captain of the Iraq national football team.

Playing career

Hussam was a leader of the Iraqi strikeforce capable of moments of genius during a game. He scored two goals against Al-Shorta in the 2–1 win in the Iraqi Cup final in 1996.
The greatest moment in his career came when he scored one goal and set-up another against Iran at the 1996 Asian Cup and was later awarded man of the match. The goal came after Hussam had pounced on a ball from Samir Kadhim, who had sent a long ball from the Iranian defence straight into the Iranian box and to the feet of the player, the striker ferociously shot from an impossible angle from the right and scored, starting endless celebrations from the Al-Makhtoum Stadium on to the streets of Iraq.
His 2 goals for Iraq in the Pan-Arab final underlined his importance to the team after Iraq was 4–0 down with less than 20 minutes left.
He represented Iraq whilst playing his club football at Al-Zawraa. He played for in Iraq at the time when Uday Hussein was in charge of the national team. Hussam was included in the 1996 and 2000 squads for the Asian Cup.

Punishment

The Iraqi football team came into public attention when newspapers started publishing stories of how Uday Hussein was known to punish players physically for achieving poor results in matches. This was used as one of the many reasons used by Tony Blair for justifying the Iraq War.
As a result of difficulties and the resulting Iraq War Hussam was unable to play international football for a while, however with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein football started to be played again. Hussam captained Iraq for the first time on 13 August 2003 against Iran in the first international after this, and for the determination in a difficult time, the 2003 FIFA Presidential Award was presented to the Iraqi footballing community, whom Husam represented at the award ceremony as the National Team captain.
After the war Hussam spoke about his experiences in London, saying:
He also admitted the after the Iraqi players were relieved the past was behind them but he refused to justify the war.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
111 08 1996Amman International Stadium, Amman2–03–01996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
205 12 1996Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai1–02–11996 AFC Asian Cup
323 05 1997Lahore Stadium, Lahore1–06–21998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers
423 05 1997Lahore Stadium, Lahore4–26–21998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers
520 06 1997Al Shaab Stadium, Baghdad4–16–11998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers
607 08 1999Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe2–15–12000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
707 08 1999Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe2–15–12000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
819 08 1999Amman International Stadium, Amman1–02–01999 Pan Arab Games
923 08 1999Amman International Stadium, Amman1–03–01999 Pan Arab Games
1023 08 1999Amman International Stadium, Amman2–03–01999 Pan Arab Games
1129 08 1999Amman International Stadium, Amman2–13–11999 Pan Arab Games
1231 08 1999Amman International Stadium, Amman1–44–41999 Pan Arab Games
1331 08 1999Amman International Stadium, Amman2–44–41999 Pan Arab Games
1423 05 2000King Abdullah International Stadium, Amman2–12–12000 West Asian Football Federation Championship
1513 08 2003Azadi Stadium, Tehran1–01–0LG Cup
1620 10 2003Bahrain National Stadium, Manama5–15–12004 Asian Cup qualifiers
1709 06 2004King Abdullah International Stadium, Amman3–06–12006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers