Nazmi Albadawi


Nazmi Albadawi is a soccer player who plays as a midfielder for North Carolina FC in the USL Championship. He played college soccer at North Carolina State University. Born in the United States, Albadawi represents the Palestine national football team.

Club career

Youth

Albadawi played club soccer for Triangle United Soccer Association, where he contributed to 3 consecutive USYSA Region III Championships from 2008 to 2010.
He played high school soccer for the Athens Drive High School Jaguars of Raleigh, North Carolina. He was a 4-year letter winner, winning all-conference selection three times, and all-region honors as a senior. He finished his high school career with 35 goals and 60 assists in 88 games.

College

Albadawi played four years of college soccer at NC State between 2010 and 2013 and prior to that a year at Wake Technical Community College. On November 9, 2013, he scored a game-winner in overtime against in-state rivals UNC.
While at college, Albadawi appeared for NPSL club Carolina RailHawks U-23's in 2012 and 2013.

Professional

Albadawi signed with NASL club Carolina RailHawks on April 11, 2014. On May 28, 2014, he netted his first career goal in a 2–0 win over the Charlotte Eagles in the 2nd round of the Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup. On October 12, 2014, he was named NASL Player of the week after scoring one goal and one assist in a win against the San Antonio Scorpions. On December 1, 2014, the RailHawks picked up his contract option for the 2015 season. On January 12, 2016 the RailHawks announced that Albadawi had been resigned to a multi-year contract. During the 2016 season Albadawi started 29 games for the RailHawks scoring 3 goals and breaking the NASL single season assist record with 10. Following the season he was named to the NASL Best XI.
Prior to the 2017 NASL season, Albadawi trained with Croatian First Football League side NK Istra 1961.
On January 15, 2018, Albadawi signed with USL side FC Cincinnati on a multi-year contract. After playing one game for Cincinnati during their inaugural MLS season in 2019, he was loaned back to North Carolina FC on May 30, 2019. On November 21, 2019, he resigned with North Carolina FC for the 2020 season.

International career

He played his first international match for Palestine in a friendly against Pakistan that ended with a 2–1 win, scoring the winning goal.

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.November 16, 2018Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Al-Ram, Palestine2–12–1Friendly

Personal life

Albadawi is the youngest of three siblings, having two older sisters. Albadawi was voted class president all four years of high school. His family hails from Tarshiha.
He married Yasmeen Mustafa on December 29, 2018.
Albadawi is a Muslim, saying in 2019, "I've grown a lot in faith the last couple years and it's something that's been very important to me."