Amjad Kalaf Mansour Al-Muntafiq (; born 5 October 1991) is an Iraqi professional footballer who plays as a right winger and sometimes as a striker. In 2005, he became the youngest player ever to play in the Iraqi Premier League.
Kalaf has 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 became the youngest player to captain Al-Shorta in a match in 2011, and 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 fifth-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, 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 just 13 years old. 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. 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 Iraq Division One. Kalaf played a few games including 50 minutes of a match against Misan on 25 November 2005, 22 minutes of a match against Naft Al-Junoob on 27 January 2006 and the first 60 minutes of a match against Karbalaa on 3 March 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.
In the 2006–07 season, Al-Kut played in the Iraq Division One 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
In the 2008–09 season, and for the first time in his career, Kalaf was Al-Shorta's top scorer for the season with six goals, and he scored a further five in the following campaign. This caught the eye of Iraq manager Radhi Shenaishil who gave him his international debut in 2009.
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). Four days later, the Iraq Football Association approved of the contract at their headquarters.
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.