Buddy Farah

Football player infobox
playername = Badawi "Buddy" Farah


fullname = Badawi Farah
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1978|08|18
countryofbirth = Sydney, Australia
currentclub = A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs = Marconi Stallions
years = 1997-2001
2001-2003
2003-2004
2004
2005
2005-2006
2006
2007-"present"
clubs = Marconi Stallions
Wollongong Wolves
Nejmeh SC
Marconi Stallions
Bankstown City Lions
Selangor FA
Keflavík ÍF
A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers
caps(goals) = 74 (2)
31 (0)
? (?)
0 (0)
? (?)
? (?)
4 (0)
? (?)
nationalyears = 1997- 2000
2000-2004
nationalteam = Australia U-23
Lebanon
nationalcaps(goals) = 10 (0)
20 (1)

Buddy Farah (born August 18 1978 in Sydney, Australia), is an Australian football player of Lebanese decent who currently plays for A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers in the NSW Premier League.

Marconi Stallions

Buddy played youth football at NSL club Marconi Stallions, he was signed to the senior squad in 1997 when he was also called up to play for the Australian U23 Olympic squad. Buddy played 74 league games for Marconi and scored 2 goals before being transferred to fellow NSL side Wollongong Wolves in 2001.

Wollongong Wolves

Buddy was with the club from 2001 to 2003 and although he had gained international experience at U23 level and most controversially (his decision to play for) Lebanon, he struggled in the NSL. He had played 31 league games for the side and at the end of the 2002/2003 season the club decided to offer him a new contract how ever, it was worth only one-third of his previous contract. After six years of struggling in the NSL he decided to go abroad to the county of his parents, Lebanon.

Nejmeh

Buddy took his game to Lebanon in 2003, he immediately became a star. He was signed in 2003 to Lebanese Premier League side Nejmeh on a two-year contract and left the club in 2004, with in that team he had played some of his best football due to the fact that he was getting game time for both his club and the Lebanese national football team. Another controversy, Buddy was the first Christian to be signed by the Muslim club. The club was a passionate side who would get spectators of up to 50, 000 per game and Farah was a fan favourite. Farah could not walk in the streets with out being mobbed by fans, his face was in news paper ads, on billboards and drinking cans as he was the face of Coca-Cola in the Middle-East. The contract was worth at least ‘six times’ of what he would have been receiving if he had stayed in Australia. He had been exposed enormously which led to the power house club of Saudi Arabia, Al Hilal showing their interest offering $1 to prise him from Nejmeh but the Nejmeh president was not going to sell him. While with the club, Buddy had won the Lebanese Premier League, the Lebanese Super Cup, the Lebanese Elite Cup all in 2004, also Nejmeh went out at the quarter-final stage of the AFC Cup. Along with the success, Buddy would then hope to help Nejmeh in the early rounds of the 2004 Asian Champions League. He did not look back at his time in Australia with any regrets:

"In Asia, football is second only to religion," "The way it's booming over here is incredible."

In mid-2004, despite being contracted for two years Buddy left the club due to a pay dispute.

Marconi Stallions

Buddy returned in the middle of 2004 and began preparing for a second spell with the Marconi Stallions, this time in the NSW Premier League as the NSL folded in 2004.

Bankstown City Lions

Buddy was signed to the Bankstown City Lions in the NSW Premier League for one season, winning the minor premiership of the state league competition before making the move to Malaysia at the professional level.

elangor FA

Farah spent two seasons with Malaysian club Selangor FA. He played in the Malaysian Super League, winning the Malaysian FA Cup and the Malaysian Cup both in 2005. After his departure of the club, Selangor had made the quarter-final stage of the AFC Cup and had lost to Nejmeh in which would have been another controversy in Buddy’s career had he played against his former side.

Keflavík ÍF

Buddy spent a limited amount of time in Iceland, only playing in four league games in the Iceland First Division but winning the 2006 Icelandic Cup. The club finished fourth in the Premier Division and earned a place in the UEFA Cup which Buddy would not be apart of.

A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers

In 2007 Farah returned to Australia to the NSW Premier League once again, he joined A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers. He won the Johnny Warren Cup with the club and has not played professional football since his stint in Iceland.

International Career

Australian U23 Olympic Team

Buddy had played 10 games for the Olyroo’s leading up to the 2000 Olympic Games where which Australia would be the hosts. At the time, he was still with the Marconi first team and the Olyroo’s coach Raul Blanco selected his final squad for the tournament leaving out Farah. Buddy saw that his ‘chance of fame’ had been gone. After Buddy had chosen to play for Lebanon has stated what he had felt about his decision:

“I was always passionate about playing for Australia, but when the time came he (Blanco) always picked someone else," "It was a bit disappointing, but I guess it wasn't to be. Now I'm playing for Lebanon, I basically get picked for every game, and I'm playing for a club side which gets 40,000 to 50,000 people every game. It's been an incredible ride, I haven't had time to scratch myself."

Buddy has not been the only Lebanese-Australia to do that, Michael Reda, who had played for the Wollongong Wolves and the Melbourne Knights in the NSL also chose to play for Lebanon instead of Australia. It is, with out question, a typical example of many Australians who have decided to play for the country of their parents such as Australian-Croatians Joey Didulica and Josip Simunic.

Lebanon

Buddy’s big break came in September 2003 when he scored in a 1-0 victory in Pyongyang against North Korea in an Asian Cup qualifying match, the game was played in front of 95,000 and it was when Farah began to gain ‘hero’ status.

"It was huge, scoring my first international goal," What made it even better was the way we had been treated before the game. They put us in a dump of a hotel, we had to cook our own food for a week, and our training field had goats and sheep on it. The experience bonded us together, and when we went out and beat them, well, let's just say we enjoyed it."

In January 2006 when Lebanon and Australia were both drawn in the same group for the qualifiers of the 2007 Asian Cup, within hours of the draw being finalised, Buddy got in contact with the Lebanese Football Federation and was told that he would be “welcomed back with open arms” as he had not played a game for Lebanon since 2004. Buddy then stated:

"Australia has given me everything, it's given my family everything," "If my parents didn't come here, we'd probably have nothing. I would have loved to have played for Australia, but it wasn't to be. It's a short career and you sometimes have to make tough decisions.” "Sometimes I think it would be nice to be able to reverse what's happened, but now I'm just excited. It's overwhelming, really, to think I might run out here in Australia with the Lebanese national team. I'm overwhelmed, to be honest. It could be the biggest thing that's ever happened to me."

The draw of Australia and Lebanon made Buddy contemplate returning to an over sea’s club.

"I've had an offer to go to Iceland, but I don't know if it's really worth it now," "I thought I was good enough to play in the A-League, but nobody asked me. But this could be a great shop window, so I'm going to stick with Bankstown for now and see what happens."

Despite those words being said, Buddy followed through with the deal and played in Iceland. Although he had played for Lebanon, Australia is his country and during the World Cup play-off of 2005 in Sydney between Australia and Uruguay, Buddy jumped a fence and celebrated with the players on the pitch after John Aloisi had won the game via the penalty shoot out.