Abdul Aziz Mohammed

Abdul Aziz Mohammed (born 20th November 1946, Koningstad) is a Brunanter former footballer and coach. He was the first major Arab-Brunanter footballer, and the first to play for the Brunant national football team. He was also the manager of Arabian FC for a total of twelve years. He played mainly as a midfielder.

Playing career
Mohammed’s parents were immigrant employees of the Degambir Company, and they named their son after its founder, Abdulaziz Degambir.

Mohammed began his footballing career with the youth system of St. Marks Koningstad in 1965. He played for the Alexandria Koningstad squad, which was at that time not yet part of any league, before being promoted to St. Marks’ main squad in 1967. He did not make many appearances at first, but he developed well and became a starting eleven by 1970, thereby becoming the first Arab-Brunanter to play regularly in the First League. Mohammed soon became one of St. Marks’ most important players, being the team’s top scorer in the 1971-72 and 1973-74 seasons despite being a midfielder.

In 1975, Arabian FC, a football club with strong ties to the Arab-Brunanter community, became professional. Mohammed sought and gained a transfer to the new club, where he would continue to be an important player. At Arabian FC, he formed a powerful midfield duo with Faysal Abujamal. In the summer of 1979, Mohammed retired from playing football at the age of 32.

From 1970 to 1977, Mohammed played for the Brunant national football team. He was never a regular player in the national team’s starting eleven, but he did make multiple appearances at WFC 1976, including during the spectacular win over Italy. His performances in the First League and for the national team have led pundits to describe him as the first major Arab-Brunanter footballer, though he was soon overshadowed by the iconic Hamid El-Zein.

Managing career
At roughly the same time Mohammed retired from playing football, Arabian FC’s manager Victor Rounder was fired due to a quarrel with the club administration. The administration then decided to appoint the newly-available Mohammed to the job of manager. Mohammed went on to hold this job for nine years until voluntarily resigning in 1988. During his tenure, Arabian FC were promoted to the First League after winning the 1979-80 Second League, though they weren’t able to achieve particularly good results in the top division despite good performances from players like Hamid El-Zein and Faysal Abujamal.

After resigning from managing Arabian FC, Mohammed worked as a youth scout for the club for two years until, in mid-1990, his successor Laurens Haak was fired and the club administration offered him the job again, which he accepted. He managed Arabian FC for three more years until resigning again in 1993. He then became the manager of FC Warmhoven in Libertas, helping them to reach new highs in the Libertan Second Division and the Libertan Cup; though, he was unable to get the team promoted to the First Division. In 1999, he was appointed as manager of the First Division club FC Zuidpunt. He remained at FC Zuidpunt until 2005, when he was fired after the club was relegated from the First Division.

Mohammed went without managing a club for one season after being fired from FC Zuidpunt, but returned to Brunant in 2006 to manage Union Swantown FC. He helped them win the 2006-07 Second League and gain promotion to the First League, but was fired again after Union Swantown FC were relegated at the end of the 2009-10 First League. Subsequently, he managed Parish League System club Chester Forest FC until the summer of 2015, when he retired from managing football aged 68.

After his retirement from managing, Mohammed has occasionally appeared as a match commentator for Arabian FC, and done some volunteer work for their youth academy.