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Liverpool refugee hoping for Iraq World Cup debut

Ali Al-Hamadi, who has a shaved head, has his eye on the ball in his Iraqi strip during a friendly played before the World Cup in the USA.Reuters

Paul Burnell

North West

A footballer whose family fled Iraq when he was a baby has said representing the nation of his birth at the World Cup was a "cool story" and poignant for his parents.

Ali Al Hamadi, now 24, was a baby when his mother and father escaped Saddam Hussein's regime in the early 2000s and came to Liverpool.

Toxteth-raised Hamadi represented Liverpool schoolboys before joining Tranmere Rovers.

The striker signed for Ipswich Town two years ago and spent last season on loan at Luton Town in League One.

Iraq will meet Norway in their opening Group I game later. The match kicks off at 23:00 BST in Boston.

He said it was a proud moment for his whole family.

"It's not just my father, it's my mother, because for a young woman to carry me as an 18 or 19-year-old and have to leave her home country, her mother, her father, and go through what she went through was really damaging," he said.

"I also know that representing my country for them is probably the biggest pride because it's a cool story, isn't it?

"Like after everything they've been through and their story for their son to go back and pull that jersey on, it's probably an amazing feeling for them."

Another player who grew up in Liverpool could play against Hamadi.

Midfielder Thelo Aasgaard, whose father is Norwegian and his mother French, also played for Liverpool Schoolboys.

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