Saleh Bader Al Yazidi


Saleh Badr Al Yazidi is a Qatari football player who currently plays for Al-Markhiya as a midfielder. He also plays for Qatar's Olympic and U-20 teams. His family is descended from the sheikhdom ruled by the Yazidi tribe in Lower Yafa, a historic state in what was then known as the British Aden Protectorate. He played football for a team in Yemen in his youth years, and was later a student at the acclaimed Aspire Academy in Qatar. He gained Qatari citizenship in July 2011. His family still lives in Yafa.

Club career

Yazidi previously played for Al Muaither's youth teams. He later joined Aspire Academy, before becoming a part of Al Sadd's youth team, where he won the top scorer title for the U-19 league with 14 goals in 2011. He graduated from Aspire Academy in 2010.
He made his first-team debut for Al Sadd in 2010.

International career

U-20 team

Yazidi made his debut for the national youth team on August, 2011, against Japan. He featured in the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship qualification campaign for the Qatar under–20 team. He scored 3 goals in the 5 matches Qatar played, including a brace against Bahrain. Qatar finished at the top of their group, ending the qualification with a loss against Tajikistan.
Yazidi also played one game in the 10th International Friendship Youth Tournament, which Qatar came runners-up in, scoring a goal.
He participated in the ASPIRE U–19 tournament in which Qatar won. He played all 3 games and scored a brace against Tunisia.

U-23 team

Yazidi made his U–23 debut in the 2012 Summer Olympic Qualifiers. His first appearance was on 5 February 2012 against Oman, in a dramatic match which ended 2–2. Shortly after, he featured in a match against Saudi Arabia, which Qatar won 2–1, thanks to an assist Yazidi provided to Hassan Al Haidos two minutes before half-time.
In the qualifying campaign for the 2014 AFC U-22 Asian Cup, he participated in a warm-up game against the UAE. He also came on as a substitute in their first group stage game against Maldives in the 60th minute, scoring a goal 17 minutes later in the 77th minute in order to give Qatar 2–0 win.

Honours

He is a distant relative of Mohammed Al Yazidi, who is also an Al Sadd player.