Bader al-Mutawa
Al-Mutawa with Qadsia in 2007
Personal information
Full name Bader Ahmed al-Mutawa
Date of birth (1985-01-10) 10 January 1985 (age 39)
Place of birth Kuwait City, Kuwait
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Qadsia
Number 17
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002– Qadsia 272 (161)
2007 → Qatar SC (loan) 0 (0)
2011 → Al Nassr (loan) 9 (3)
International career
2003–2022 Kuwait 196 (56)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Bader Ahmed al-Mutawa (Arabic: بدر أحمد المطوع; born 10 January 1985) is a Kuwaiti professional footballer who plays for Qadsia. He usually operates as a second striker. He wears the jersey number 17.[1] Al-Mutawa is the second-most-capped international player behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

Club career

Al-Mutawa was born in Kuwait City. His performance for both club and national teams led to him being nominated for the best Asian player in 2006 and 2010, though Al-Mutawa did not win the prize.[2]

He was awarded the Kuwaiti league's top scorer for local players in the 2008–09 season with 10 goals.

On 23 July 2012, he began training with Nottingham Forest as their new owners, the Al-Hasawi family, arranged a one-month trial for the striker.[3] He impressed manager Sean O'Driscoll enough that the club were looking to sign him on a permanent basis but he was denied a work permit and the club wasn't able to sign him.[4]

On 11 May 2021, he scored his 300th goal for Qadsia in all competitions, including friendly matches, in a 3–1 win over Kuwait SC.[5][6]

International career

Al-Mutawa's first major competition on international level was the 2003 Arabian Gulf Cup, hosted by Kuwait. The home side finished sixth with only five points from six matches (only Yemen, the newcomer to the Gulf Cup finished the tournament with fewer points, sparing Kuwait the embarrassment of ending up at the bottom of the table of the gulf cup for the first time in their history). Al-Mutawa scored once in Kuwait's only victory of the tournament, a 4–0 win against Yemen.

Al-Mutawa played in the 17th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2004, scoring a goal in the 87th minute against Saudi Arabia in Kuwait's opening match. Al-Mutawa excelled in this tournament, forming a strike partnership with captain and star striker Bashar Abdullah. They managed to score five goals between them. This partnership was short lived as Bashar retired from international football shortly after the tournament and Kuwait was eliminated in the semi-finals by Qatar after topping Group B with two victories and one draw with Bahrain.

At the 18th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2007, Al-Mutawa scored goals against Yemen and in the final group match against the United Arab Emirates, but Kuwait exited the tournament for the first time in their history without winning a single game.

On 3 September 2015, Al-Mutawa scored his second senior hat-trick, in a 9–0 defeat of Myanmar in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.[7]

Al-Mutawa was the men's all-time record appearance holder with 196 caps,[8] after having surpassed Soh Chin Ann's record of 195 recognized by FIFA matches on 14 June 2022.[9][10][11] His record was equalled by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2022 FIFA World Cup and later beaten by Ronaldo in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers.[12][13]

Personal life

Al-Mutawa holds the military rank of colonel and he is also director of the Security Affairs Department of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Guard, as sports professionalism is not fully applied in Kuwait.[14]

Career statistics

Club

As of 13 February 2024[15]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[a] Continental Other[b] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Qadsia 2002–03 KPL 1 1 1 1 — 0 0 2 2
2003–04 6 3 2 1 0[c] 0 4 1 12 5
2004–05 8 5 2 2 — 6 4 16 11
2005–06 16 19 3 1 6[d] 5 +18 14 +43 39
2006–07 9 3 3 2 4[d] 0 +18 9 +34 14
2007–08 4 3 1 0 4[d] 1 3 0 12 4
2008–09 12 10 3 3 2[d] 0 5 6 22 19
2009–10 12 7 1 0 6[e] 5 1 1 20 13
2010–11 5 7 0 0 5[e] 2 +2 2 +12 11
2011–12 8 7 5 2 7[e] 3 10 4 30 16
2012–13 14 3 4 4 7[e] 9 3 3 28 19
2013–14 7 5 5 3 5[e] 1 1 1 18 10
2014–15 20 12 2 1 11[f] 8 2 2 35 23
2015–16 14 20 2 1 3[e] 2 1 1 20 24
2016–17 18 11 5 4 — 4 2 27 17
2017–18 19 6 1 0 — 6 3 26 9
2018–19 19 5 3 2 4[e] 2 3 1 29 10
2019–20 14 9 2 2 0 0 1 0 17 11
2020–21 23 8 2 0 — +6 5 +31 13
2021–22 14 5 1 0 — 0 0 15 5
2022–23 14 5 2 1 — 4 3 20 9
2023–24 15 7 3 0 — 0 0 18 7
Total 272 161 53 30 64 38 +98 62 +487 291
Qatar (loan) 2006–07 QSL 0 0 1 0 — 0 0 1 0
Total 0 0 1 0 — 0 0 1 0
Al Nassr (loan) 2010–11 SPL 9 3 0 0 7[d] 5 3 1 19 9
Total 9 3 0 0 7 5 3 1 19 9
Career total 281 164 54 30 71 43 +101 63 +507 300
  1. ^ Includes Kuwait Emir Cup, Emir of Qatar Cup, King Cup
  2. ^ Includes Kuwait Crown Prince Cup, Kuwait Super Cup, Kuwait Federation Cup, Al-Khurafi Cup, Saudi Crown Prince Cup, GCC Champions League, Arab Club Champions Cup
  3. ^ Does not include three matches in the AFC Champions League due to Al-Qadsia being expelled from the tournament after security assaulted the visiting team
  4. ^ a b c d e Appearances in AFC Champions League
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Appearances in AFC Cup
  6. ^ Two appearances and one goal in AFC Champions League, nine appearances and seven goals in AFC Cup

International

Main article: List of international goals scored by Bader Al-Mutawa
As of 14 June 2022[15][8]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Kuwait 2003 13 5
2004 22 7
2005 13 3[a]
2006 8 3
2007 4 2
2008 9 0
2009 18 5
2010 15 10
2011 19 4[b]
2012 8 3
2013 12 5
2014 9 1
2015 9 4
2016 0 0
2017 4 0
2018 3 0[c]
2019 12 3
2020 0 0
2021 10 0
2022 8 1[d]
Total 196 56
Notes
  1. ^ RSSSF doesn't include the goal against UAE.[8][15]
  2. ^ Neither RSSSF nor FIFA recognize the match, and so also the goal, against S. Arabia U-23 on 17 December 2011.[8][15]
  3. ^ RSSSF wrongly attributes a goal on Al-Mutawa in the match against Iraq on 10 September 2018.[8][15]
  4. ^ RSSSF doesn't include the goal in the match against Latvia on 25 March 2022.[8][15]

Honours

Qadsia

Kuwait

Individual

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "IFFHS AWARDS – THE WORLD'S BEST TOP GOAL SCORER 2010 : BADER AL-MUTAWA (KUWAIT/AL QADSIA SC)". IFFHS. 9 November 2019. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  2. ^ Asian Cup 2011: Asian Cup Ten Players To Watch: Bader Al Mutwa Archived 11 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine – Goal.com
  3. ^ Chong, Edwin (21 July 2012). "Al-Mutawa lands Forest chance". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  4. ^ McDaid, Paul (22 August 2012). "Nottingham Forest fail to land work permits for Kuwaiti trio". Sport360.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  5. ^ "القادسية يحتفي بتسجيل بدر المطوع 300 هدف". kooora.com (in Arabic). 11 May 2021. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  6. ^ "المطوع... 300 هدف مع القادسية". alraimedia.com (in Arabic). 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  7. ^ "WORLD CUP QUALIFYING – AFC 3/9/2015 12:00*". ESPN FC. 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Mohammed, Husain; Mamrud, Roberto (25 May 2022). "Bader Ahmed Al-Mutawa – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Al-Mutawa reclaims title of most-capped men's player". FIFA.com. FIFA. 16 June 2022. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Bader Al-Mutawa, the star of the Kuwaiti national team, is the only dean of world players". News.MiddleEast-24.com. 15 June 2022. Archived from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  11. ^ "Pelatih Tinggalkan Kuwait, Bader Al Mutawa Pecahkan Rekor" [Coach leaves Kuwait, Bader Al Mutawa breaks record]. Goal.com (in Malay). Goal. 15 June 2022. Archived from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  12. ^ "World Cup 2022: Is Portugal's exit the end of the road for Cristiano Ronaldo?". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  13. ^ "Portugal 4 Liechtenstein 0". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  14. ^ الغانم يقلد العقيد بدر المطوع رتبته الجديدة Archived 10 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Al Rai, 27 July 2021
  15. ^ a b c d e f Bader Al-Mutawa at National-Football-Teams.com
  16. ^ AFC Player of the Year: It is down to 15 nominees Archived 29 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine – Asian Football Confederation
  17. ^ AFC Player of the Year nominees: 33 in contention for top award Archived 27 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine – Asian Football Confederation

External links

Arabian Gulf Cup Top Scorers
IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer
Kuwait Squads
Qadsia SC – current squad
Categories