Ameen Al-Dakhil
Footballer (born 2002)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ameen Al-Dakhil (Arabic: أَمِين الدَّخِيل; born 6 March 2002) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart. Born in Iraq, he played for the Belgium national team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ameen Al-Dakhil[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 6 March 2002[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Baghdad, Iraq[2] | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[3] | ||
| Position | Centre-back[4] | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | VfB Stuttgart | ||
| Number | 2 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2009–2011 | Kortenaken | ||
| 2011–2012 | Hoegaarden-Outgaarden | ||
| 2012–2013 | Tienen | ||
| 2013–2017 | Anderlecht | ||
| 2017–2021 | Standard Liège | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2021–2022 | Standard Liège | 13 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | Sint-Truiden | 25 | (0) |
| 2023–2024 | Burnley | 21 | (1) |
| 2024– | VfB Stuttgart | 15 | (0) |
| 2024–2025 | VfB Stuttgart II | 3 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2018–2019 | Belgium U17 | 7 | (1) |
| 2019 | Belgium U18 | 1 | (0) |
| 2022 | Belgium U20 | 1 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | Belgium U21 | 4 | (0) |
| 2023–2024 | Belgium | 6 | (0) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17:30, 1 March 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 23:16, 17 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
Early life
Al-Dakhil was born in Iraq, and moved to Belgium with his family at the age of 5, as a refugee during the Iraq War. He began playing football with the youth academies of Kortenaken, Hoegaarden-Outgaarden, Tienen, Anderlecht and Standard Liège.[5] Originally a striker, Al-Dakhil was then converted to a centre-back.[6]
Club career
Standard Liege
Al-Dakhil made his professional debut for Standard Liège on 23 July 2021, in a 1–1 Belgian First Division A tie with Genk.[7]
Sint–Truiden
On 31 January 2022, Al-Dakhil moved to fellow Belgian side Sint-Truiden on a permanent deal.[8]
Burnley
On 13 January 2023, Al-Dakhil joined English side Burnley for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the club.[9] On 31 January 2024, he scored his first goal for Burnley against Manchester City in a 3–1 defeat, becoming the first player born in Iraq to score in the Premier League.[10]
VfB Stuttgart
On 27 August 2024, Al-Dakhil signed for Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart on a four-year deal.[11]
International career
Born in Iraq, Al-Dakhil was raised in Belgium and France and holds both Belgian and French citizenship.[5] He has been a youth international for Belgium, having represented the under-17, under-18 and under-21 national teams.[citation needed]
In October 2020, he was called up to represent the Iraqi squad at the AFC U-19 Championship, but the tournament was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]
In June 2023 he was called up to the senior Belgium squad for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Austria and Estonia on 17 and 20 June 2023 respectively.[13]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 9 September 2026
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Standard Liège | 2021–22[1] | Belgian Pro League | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 0 | ||
| Sint-Truidense | 2021–22[1] | Belgian Pro League | 9 | 0 | — | — | — | 9 | 0 | |||
| 2022–23[1] | Belgian Pro League | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | |||
| Total | 25 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 28 | 0 | ||||
| Burnley | 2022–23[1] | Championship | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2023–24[1] | Premier League | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 17 | 1 | ||
| Total | 21 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 29 | 1 | |||
| VfB Stuttgart | 2024–25[1] | Bundesliga | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3[c] | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2025–26[1] | Bundesliga | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 2026–27[1] | Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1[c] | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 21 | 0 | |||
| VfB Stuttgart II | 2024–25[1] | 3. Liga | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| 2025–26[1] | 3. Liga | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Career total | 77 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 95 | 1 | ||
- Includes Belgian Cup, FA Cup, DFB-Pokal
- Appearances in UEFA Champions League
International
- As of match played 17 November 2024[14]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 2023 | 4 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 6 | 0 | |
