Abdullah Abu Zema

Abdullah Abu Zema (born 4 April 1976) is a Jordanian former footballer of Palestinian descent who is currently the manager of Jordan national team. He was the manager of Al-Wehdat from 2013 to 2015 and Jordan in 2016.

Abu Zema officially announced his retirement in playing football at the age of 29 after receiving a strong injury and losing the love of his fans. The mark of his retirement in playing football took place on 1 August 2005 in an international friendly match between his country Jordan and Armenia in Amman, sponsored by Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein. After playing the first five minutes of the match, Abu Zema passed on the captain armband to his teammate Haitham Al-Shboul, and his #18 jersey shirt to his young teammate of Al-Wahdat SC Hassan Abdel-Fattah.

Coaching career

Immediately after his retirement as a football player, Abu Zema became one of the assistant coaches of his national team (2006–09), under head coaches Mahmoud El-Gohary (2006–07) and Nelo Vingada (2007–09) until the Iraqi Adnan Hamad took over coaching the national team. When Dragan Talajić became head manager of Shabab Al-Ordon (2009–10), Abu Zema became his assistant coach ever since then. They both then moved to Abu Zema's home club Al-Wehdat (2010–11). When Ra'fat Ali, one of Abu Zema's companions, took proficiency in Kuwait, Abu Zema and Talajić joined him by coaching his team (2011–12). It was then Amer Deeb, another companion of Abu Zema, when he took proficiency in Ittihad Kalba' of the UAE.

Abu Zema had finally become a head coach himself when he began coaching his lifelong club, Al-Wehdat, in February 2013 succeeding the Egyptian Mohammad Omar after failing to help Al-Wehdat reach the semi-finals of the 2012–13 Jordan Cup losing to Al-Ramtha on penalties in the quarter-finals, and losing to the 2012–13 Jordan league winners, Shabab Al-Ordon, in the second half of the season. He won the Jordan Premier League with Al-Wehdat in 2013–14 and 2014–15, Jordan FA Cup 2014 and Jordan Super Cup 2014, he demitted after losing from round of 16 of AFC Cup.

In AFC Asian Cups

• 2004 Asian Cup

In Pan Arab Games

• 1997 Pan Arab Games
• 1999 Pan Arab Games

In Arab Nations Cup

• 1998 Arab Nations Cup
• 2002 Arab Nations Cup

In WAFF Championships

• 2000 WAFF Championship
• 2002 WAFF Championship
• 2004 WAFF Championship

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	18 July 1999	Amman	Syria	4–0	Win	Friendly
2	18 August 1999	Amman	Palestine	2–0	Win	1999 Pan Arab Games
3	18 August 1999	Amman	Palestine	2–0	Win	1999 Pan Arab Games
4	31 August 1999	Amman	Iraq	4–4	Draw	1999 Pan Arab Games
5	4 April 2000	Doha	Palestine	5–1	Win	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
6	4 April 2000	Doha	Palestine	5–1	Win	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
7	6 April 2000	Doha	Pakistan	5–0	Win	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
8	8 April 2000	Doha	Qatar	2–2	Draw	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
9	23 May 2000	Amman	Kyrgyzstan	2–0	Win	2000 West Asian Football Federation Championship
10	9 February 2002	Ta'Qali	Malta	2–1	Loss	Friendly
11	18 December 2002	Kuwait City	Morocco	1–1	Draw	2002 Arab Nations Cup
12	20 December 2002	Kuwait City	Sudan	2–1	Win	2002 Arab Nations Cup
13	26 August 2003	Amman	Iraq	2–1	Win	Friendly

Managerial statistics

As of 15 November 2016