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FRIDAY WITH… BILAL AHMAD

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Bilal Ahmad (right) fights off Jordanian Olympic star Ihsan Haddad

Born in what is now the war-torn governorate of Al-Anbar in Iraq, Bilal Ahmad is on his way to helping Kufrsoum consolidate themselves in the Manaseer Jordanian Pro League after their magnificent promotion from the Jordanian First Division with his strong performances in the heart of defence.

Currently 6 points ahead of the relegation spots in the Jordanian Pro League, with one win Kufrsoum are able to move up to 5th place and further away from relegation. However, for Bilal Ahmad it’s not just avoiding relegation as he aims to learn a wealth of experiences from his first season in the top league.

 

His ultimate dream is to “play for the Iraqi National team, above all. The biggest honour, in my opinion, is to be playing for your national team.” He’s aiming for that by building his way through football, which is a trait that is not often seen with Middle Eastern footballers. Bilal Ahmed is a planner and a person who motivates himself by thinking of the ultimate goal.

Many times you see players who want to sign for the top league, for the biggest amount of money that they can fork out of the club. Yet with Bilal, this clearly isn’t the case and he mentions it when I ask him about the case of stability in the Jordanian League. As you may have heard in our Podcast Review of 2015 in Middle Eastern Football, the Jordanian League is volatile if you are a manager or a player.

Take Imad Khankan for example, while he was managing Jordanian giants Wehdat at the top of the table. He was ultimately sacked due to issues over finances hinting at how managers (and players) come to Jordan looking for a pay off that ranges from $8000 to $15000. Bilal Ahmed claims “the biggest success for a team isn’t just trophies, but stability.”

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Bilal Ahmad (#4)

Bilal seems to agree with my philosophy for Middle Eastern football clubs. I believe that winning 2 trophies in the 3rd year is better than winning 1 in 6 months, if the latter isn’t part of a calculated project. “Jordanian clubs have little to no stability at their clubs, in all honesty, however there are 2 or 3 clubs that can be attributed to this group of clubs that can proudly claim they have stability in Jordan”, Bilal continued.

This has lead to many up and down changes in the league table, namely Al-Faisaly’s rise to 1st place from 11th and Wehdat’s fall from the top of the league to 4th behind Al-Ahli and Shabab Ordon. But, Bilal has other opinions: “In my personal opinion, the 2015-16 season of the Jordanian League has seen the best start yet. Halfway through the season and we still don’t know who is going to win the title unlike the 2014-15 season, and even more so, anybody from 5th to 14th is technically still in the relegation fight.”

Bilal speaks the truth, as a poor run of form up to 2 games can ultimately see your team flirt with the relegation zone in the 12-team Jordanian Pro League. This is the beauty of the Jordanian League, and Bilal hopes to make the village of Kufrsoum proud.

Bilal Ahmad with the Jordanian First Division trophy

Bilal Ahmad with the Jordanian First Division trophy

His agent Saddam Al-Soudi describes Bilal with pride, “Bilal is a very ambitious player and that is great to see in the region. He has a big future and hopefully we get to see him as one of the players in the Iraq National Team.” He continued, “As a Kufrsoum fan myself, the fact that I would rather see Bilal play outside after growing himself as a footballer shows how special he is as a character and a player. I wish him the best of luck.”

Bilal Ahmad is working his hardest to become the role model for young kids in countries in the Levant such as Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Often, you see players aim to maximise income and it almost always ends up with a complaint to FIFA, a fight with the club and the player being forced to spend time out of football for 6 months or more. Bilal Ahmad thrives on being the opposite of that character.

About Hamoudi

The man behind the idea of Ahdaaf.me. Based in Dubai, Hamoudi will bring you an unprecedented level of coverage of the Alfa Lebanese League in English as well as the best of the UAE’s Arabian Gulf League. With dreams of working in the coaching industry in the near future, don’t be surprised by the amount of tactical analysis that he works on to bring in a modern day feel to the very scarce analysis on Middle Eastern Football. (PS: Beware of his rants about the ignominious status of football in his native country Lebanon…).

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