Amjad Kalaf Mansour Al-Muntafiq (; born 20 March 1991) is an Iraqi former professional footballer who played as a right winger and sometimes as a striker.Al-Ghazal Al-Asmar scores against Al-Sulaimaniya Retrieved 22 December 2018.
Kalaf represented Al-Kut, Al-Shorta, Al-Zawraa and Al-Talaba in the Iraqi Premier League. On the international level, Kalaf played 30 matches for Iraq, scoring against the United Arab Emirates in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.
Kalaf played for Al-Shorta from 2007 to 2016, saving the club from relegation in 2011 with a brace against Al-Naft. He was the club's top scorer and top assist-maker in their league title win in 2013. He also scored Al-Shorta's first two goals in the AFC Cup in 2014, and is the club's joint-sixth highest league scorer in history.
Club career
Al-Kut (2005–2007) The forward is the youngest of three footballing brothers, Mohammed and Alaa, the sons of former army track and field athlete Kalaf Mansour. Born and brought up in the city of Kut, Kalaf signed for the team as a youth player.
Kalaf broke into the first team in the 2004–05 season under coach Nassir Maribi. On 14 January 2005, at 13 years of age, he made his debut in a 2004–05 Iraqi Premier League match against Al-Basra, becoming the youngest player ever to play a match in the Iraqi Premier League at that time (this record was broken by Mohanad Ali in 2014).Amjad Kalaf: Youngest Ever Iraqi League Player (in Arabic). Retrieved 22 December 2018. That season, Al-Kut surprised everyone by finishing second in their group in the first stage with 8 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses, qualifying to the elite stage, where they lost all 4 matches.Iraqi League 2004/2005 Retrieved 22 December 2018. This was an historic achievement for Al-Kut.
Unlike the previous season, Al-Kut were not very successful in the 2005–06 Iraqi Premier League. They won just 1 match, drawing 3 and losing 8, finishing bottom of their group and being relegated to the Iraqi First Division League.Iraqi League 2005/2006 Retrieved 22 December 2018. Kalaf played a few games including 50 minutes of a match against Misan on 25 November 2005,Al-Kut vs Misan, 2005 22 minutes of a match against Naft Al-Junoob on 27 January 2006Al-Kut vs Naft Al-Junoob, 2006 and the first 60 minutes of a match against Karbalaa on 3 March 2006.Al-Kut vs Karbalaa, 2006 Kalaf was also part of the Iraq U-17 squad and was selected by coach Kadhim Khalaf for the 2006 AFC U-17 Championship.(2014-12-29) PROFILE OF IRAQ’S 23-MAN 2015 ASIAN CUP SQUAD Retrieved 22 December 2018.Mohammed Kalaf interview
In the 2006–07 season, Al-Kut played in the Iraqi First Division League and failed to earn promotion back to the top division. Kalaf played a friendly for the Iraq U-17 team against his own club Al-Kut on 11 November 2006 and the match finished 0–0.Kooora Forums (in Arabic). Retrieved 22 December 2018. In this season he caught the eye of one of the biggest clubs in Iraq: Al-Shorta.
Al-Shorta (2007–2010) Al-Shorta signed Kalaf from Al-Kut in 2007 on a two-year contract, ahead of the start of the 2007–08 Iraqi Premier League. At just 16 years old, Kalaf made his Al-Shorta debut in the first match of the 2007–08 season against Al-Shualah. He started the match on the bench, and within minutes of coming on as a substitute, Kalaf scored an overhead kick to put Al-Shorta 3–0 ahead in the 46th minute.Goals from the 1st Round of the 2007/2008 Iraqi League Retrieved 22 December 2018. He scored his second goal for the club in the very next match, the Baghdad derby between Al-Shorta and Al-Zawraa to help Al-Shorta to a 2–1 win.Goals from the 2nd Round of the 2007/2008 Iraqi LeagueGoals from the 5th Round of the 2007/2008 Iraqi League Retrieved 22 December 2018.Amjad Kalaf Goals in his Career (in Arabic). Retrieved 22 December 2018. He received the first red card of his Al-Shorta career when he was sent off in a 3–1 defeat to Al-Zawraa, a game where he played as a right-back and assisted a goal.Iraqi League 2007/2008 First Stage Retrieved 22 December 2018. In total, Kalaf scored four goals in his debut season, and he extended his contract at the club after the end of the league campaign.Iraqi League 2007/2008 Elite Stage Retrieved 22 December 2018.
In the 2008–09 season, Kalaf was Al-Shorta's top scorer for the season for the first time, scoring six goals, and he scored a further five in the following campaign.Iraqi League 2008/2009 Retrieved 22 December 2018. This caught the eye of Iraq manager Radhi Shenaishil who gave him his international debut in 2009.List of Iraq International Matches and Lineups Retrieved 22 December 2018.Iraqi League 2009/2010 First Stage Retrieved 22 December 2018.Iraqi League 2009/2010 Elite Stage Retrieved 22 December 2018.
Erbil (2010) On 18 September 2010, Erbil announced the signing of Amjad Kalaf from Al-Shorta, alongside the signings of Ous Ibrahim (also from Al-Shorta), Ali Mansoor (from Baghdad), Mohammed Gassid and Mustafa Ahmed (both from Al-Zawraa).Official: Amjad Kalaf signs for Erbil Retrieved 22 December 2018. Four days later, the Iraq Football Association approved of the contract at their headquarters.Iraq FA approves player contracts Retrieved 22 December 2018.
However, Kalaf said he felt homesick outside of Baghdad and that he had stayed in contact with many Al-Shorta fans while in Erbil. Before Erbil entered their pre-season training camp, Kalaf called Al-Shorta manager Younis Abed Ali and asked him to return to the club. He then had a long conversation with Abdul Khaliq Masood, the vice president of Erbil, asking for his contract to be terminated. Masood refused at first but eventually accepted Kalaf's request. In November, two months after signing for Erbil, Kalaf's contract was terminated. Former club Al-Shorta and fellow Baghdad club Al-Naft both made offers to Kalaf, and Kalaf decided to rejoin Al-Shorta ahead of the start of the 2010–11 Iraqi Premier League.
Al-Shorta (2010–2016) Kalaf scored goals in four consecutive matches between round 2 to round 5 of the 2010–11 Iraqi Premier League. On 5 February, Kalaf scored the winning goal against defending champions Duhok, and four days later he scored a brace in a 3–1 win over eventual runners-up of the league, Erbil. Kalaf suffered a serious injury which kept him out for months, and in his absence Al-Shorta's results plummeted as they went on a run of 1 win in 12 matches. This led to Al-Shorta finding themselves in a battle to avoid being relegated to the Iraqi First Division League for the first time in their history. Kalaf was substituted on in the second half against Samarra on 1 July and scored within a few minutes to put Al-Shorta 1–0 up in a match they eventually won 3–1. In the final match of the season against Al-Naft, Al-Shorta needed a victory to avoid relegation. Al-Shorta won the match 2–0 with Kalaf scoring both of Al-Shorta's goals in the game to save them from the drop.Iraqi League 2010/2011 Retrieved 22 December 2018. For the second time in his career, Kalaf was Al-Shorta's top scorer for the season with 11 goals, despite being injured for a large period of it.Iraqi League 2010/2011 Top Scorers Retrieved 22 December 2018.
In Al-Shorta's first match of the 2011–12 season, a 0–0 draw against Al-Sinaah, Kalaf wore the captain's armband because the club's captain Ali Hussein Jalil and the vice-captain Fareed Majeed were both not playing. Therefore, Kalaf set a new record for the youngest player ever to captain Al-Shorta in a match at just 20 years old (this record was broken by Dhurgham Ismail in 2012).Iraqi League 2011/2012 Retrieved 22 December 2018. Kalaf was Al-Shorta's top scorer for the second season in a row, again with 11 goals, with his team finishing seventh in the league table.Iraqi League 2011/2012 Top Scorers Retrieved 22 December 2018. Al-Zawraa manager Radhi Shenaishil and Al-Shorta manager Mohammed Tabra both voted for Kalaf in their Team of the Season selections, but Kalaf did not make the final team chosen by Al-Batal magazine.Team of the Season Iraqi League 2011/2012 Retrieved 22 December 2018.
Kalaf was linked with a move to close rivals Al-Zawraa in the summer transfer window of 2012 but he ended up staying at Al-Shorta due to his love for the club and its fans. On 16 June 2013, Kalaf featured in the 2013 Baghdad Cup final against Al-Zawraa and started the move which led to the cup-winning goal scored by Hussein Karim. This was Al-Shorta's first trophy in eleven years. In the final match of the league season, where Al-Shorta faced rivals Al-Talaba with a chance to clinch the league title, Nashat Akram gave Kalaf the captain's armband as a sign of respect for his great services to the club. Al-Shorta won the match 3–0 with two assists from Kalaf to become the Iraqi Premier League champions for the first time in 15 years.Iraqi League 2012/2013 Retrieved 22 December 2018. As captain on the day, Kalaf was the first player to lift the trophy on the podium. Kalaf scored 9 goals for Al-Shorta that season, being the club's top scorer for the third consecutive season, and was also the club's top assist-provider with 10 assists.Iraqi League 2012/2013 Top Scorers Retrieved 22 December 2018.
On 12 March 2014, Kalaf made history by scoring Al-Shorta's first two goals in a 3–1 win over Al-Wahda in the 2014 AFC Cup group stage; these were Al-Shorta's first two goals ever in the AFC Cup. Kalaf ended the 2013–14 season as Al-Shorta's second-highest league top scorer with four goals, behind Mustafa Karim.Iraqi League 2013/2014 Top Scorers Retrieved 22 December 2018. Al-Shorta topped the Iraqi Premier League standings for the second season in a row with a record of 12 wins, 7 draws and 2 losses, however the season was ended prematurely due to the war situation in the country.Iraqi League 2013/2014 Retrieved 22 December 2018.2014 AFC Cup Groups Retrieved 22 December 2018.
After the departure of Nashat Akram from the club, Kalaf was named as Al-Shorta's permanent captain. Kalaf was injured for a large part of the 2014–15 campaign, scoring two goals in the season. Both of the goals were in the 2015 AFC Cup group stage. The first was against Al-Hidd in a 2–2 draw and the second was against Taraji Wadi Al-Nes in a 6–2 victory.Iraqi League 2014/2015 Retrieved 22 December 2018.Iraqi League 2014/2015 Elite Stage Retrieved 22 December 2018.Iraqi League 2014/2015 Third Place Match Retrieved 22 December 2018.2015 AFC Cup Round of 16 Retrieved 22 December 2018.
Kalaf's 2015–16 season was interrupted by injuries again. He scored an important goal in a 2–1 win over Al-Hedood which saw Al-Shorta qualify for the elite stage on the final day of the group stage. In the first match of the elite stage (the derby against Al-Talaba), Kalaf was substituted onto the field in the second half after just recovering from an injury, and he scored on 86 minutes to win the match 1–0 for his side. Kalaf was Al-Shorta's second-highest top scorer this season with four goals, one behind Ali Faez.
Kalaf scored his first goal of the 2016–17 season against Al-Bahri in a 2–1 win. He then bagged two goals in a 4–0 win over Al-Karkh at the end of October, and scored his fourth of the season with the only goal in a 1–0 win over Al-Kahrabaa in round 10. After a 2–0 loss to Karbalaa, Mohamed Youssef decided to terminate Kalaf's contract at the club in a controversial and highly-publicised decision. Kalaf was the club's top scorer for the season at the time. Kalaf turned up for Al-Shorta's next home game despite his release in order to cheer on his former teammates from the stands.
Al-Zawraa (2017–2018) On 11 January 2017, Kalaf signed a contract with Al-Zawraa, fierce rivals of his former club Al-Shorta. Kalaf supported Al-Zawraa as a youngster and had previously expressed his admiration for the club.