Bader Al-Mutawa

Bader Ahmed al-Mutawa (; born 10 January 1985) is a Kuwaiti professional footballer who plays for Qadsia. He usually operates as a second striker. He wears the jersey number 17. Al-Mutawa is the joint-third most-capped international player with 202 caps, only behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Club career Al-Mutawa was born in Kuwait City. His performance for both club and national teams led to him being nominated for the best Asian player in 2006 and 2010, though Al-Mutawa did not win the prize.

He was awarded the Kuwaiti league's top scorer for local players in the 2008–09 season with 10 goals.

On 23 July 2012, he began training with Nottingham Forest as their new owners, the Al-Hasawi family, arranged a one-month trial for the striker. He impressed manager Sean O'Driscoll enough that the club were looking to sign him on a permanent basis but he was denied a work permit and the club wasn't able to sign him.

On 11 May 2021, he scored his 300th goal for Qadsia in all competitions, including friendly matches, in a 3–1 win over Kuwait SC.

On 2 March 2024, he scored a goal from a penalty kick in the last minutes of the match against Al-Salmiya in a 1–0 win, equaling Firas Al-Khatib’s record as the highest scorer in the Kuwaiti Premier League historically, with 162. Five days later, he scored a goal in Qadsia 7–0 win over Al-Shabab to become the all-time top scorer in the Kuwaiti Premier League history.

International career Al-Mutawa's first major competition on international level was the 2003 Arabian Gulf Cup, hosted by Kuwait. The home side finished sixth with only five points from six matches (only Yemen, the newcomer to the Gulf Cup finished the tournament with fewer points, sparing Kuwait the embarrassment of ending up at the bottom of the table of the gulf cup for the first time in their history). Al-Mutawa scored once in Kuwait's only victory of the tournament, a 4–0 win against Yemen.

Al-Mutawa played in the 17th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2004, scoring a goal in the 87th minute against Saudi Arabia in Kuwait's opening match. Al-Mutawa excelled in this tournament, forming a strike partnership with captain and star striker Bashar Abdullah. They managed to score five goals between them. This partnership was short lived as Bashar retired from international football shortly after the tournament and Kuwait was eliminated in the semi-finals by Qatar after topping Group B with two victories and one draw with Bahrain.

At the 18th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2007, Al-Mutawa scored goals against Yemen and in the final group match against the United Arab Emirates, but Kuwait exited the tournament for the first time in their history without winning a single game.

On 3 September 2015, Al-Mutawa scored his second senior hat-trick, in a 9–0 defeat of Myanmar in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Al-Mutawa was the men's all-time record appearance holder with 196 caps, His record was equalled by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2022 FIFA World Cup and later beaten by Ronaldo in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers. His total number of international matches was later readjusted to 202, making him the first player to reach the 200-match milestone.

Personal life Al-Mutawa holds the military rank of colonel and he is also director of the Security Affairs Department of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Guard, as sports professionalism is not fully applied in Kuwait.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours Qadsia Kuwaiti Premier League: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16 Kuwait Emir Cup: 2002-03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2023–24 Kuwait Crown Prince Cup: 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2017–18 Kuwait Super Cup: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2025–26 Kuwait Federation Cup: 2008, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2018–19, 2022–23 Al-Khurafi Cup: 2002–03, 2005–06 GCC Champions League: 2005 AFC Cup: 2014; runner-up 2010, 2013

Kuwait Arabian Gulf Cup: 2010 WAFF Championship: 2010

Individual Arabian Gulf Cup top goalscorer: 2010 IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer: 2010