Bader Al-Mutawa

Bader Al-Mutawa
Bader Ahmed al-Mutawa (born 10 January 1985) is a Kuwaiti professional footballer who plays for Qadsia and the Kuwait national team. He usually operates as a second striker. He wears the jersey number 17 for both club and country. 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 lead to him being nominated for best Asian player in 2006 and 2010, though Al-Mutawa did not win the prize.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Al-Mutawa was the men's all-time record appearance holder with 196 caps, after having surpassed Soh Chin Ann's record of 195 recognized by FIFA matches on 14 June 2022. 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.
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.
Career statistics
Club Career Stats
International
Notes
Honours
Qadsia
Kuwaiti Premier League: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16
Kuwait Emir Cup: 2003–04, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15
Kuwait Crown Prince Cup: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2017–18
Kuwait Super Cup: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019
Kuwait Federation Cup: 2008, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2018–19
Al-Khurafi Cup: 2002–03, 2005–06
GCC Champions League: 2005
AFC Cup: 2014; runner-up 2010, 2013
Kuwait
Arabian Gulf Cup: 2010
2010 WAFF Championship: 2010
Individual
Arabian Gulf Cup top goalscorer: 2010
IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer: 2010
Asian Footballer of the Year nominee: 2006, 2010; longlist: 2007
See also
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals
References
External links
Rising Arab stars making their mark at FIFA.com
1985 births
Living people
Kuwaiti men's footballers
Kuwait men's international footballers
Kuwaiti expatriate men's footballers
Al Nassr FC players
Qadsia SC players
2004 AFC Asian Cup players
2011 AFC Asian Cup players
2015 AFC Asian Cup players
FIFA Men's Century Club
Men's association football forwards
Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games
Footballers from Kuwait City
Asian Games competitors for Kuwait
Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia
Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar
Kuwaiti expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia
Kuwaiti expatriate sportspeople in Qatar
Qatar SC players
Colonels (military rank)