Abou Bakr Al-Mel

Abou Bakr Ali Al-Mel (Arabic: أبو بكر المل‎; born 15 November 1992), also known as Bako (Arabic: باكو‎), is a Lebanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Malaysia Super League club UiTM.

Bako
Bako with Bourj in 2020
Personal information
Full name Abou Bakr Ali Al-Mel
Date of birth (1992-11-15) 15 November 1992
Place of birth Tripoli, Lebanon
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 UiTM
Number 25
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2012 Nejmeh 5 (0)
2012–2013 Egtmaaey Tripoli 17 (1)
2013–2015 Salam Zgharta 35 (9)
2015–2017 Tripoli 37 (21)
2017 Kelantan 9 (1)
2018 Tripoli 11 (3)
2018 PSIS Semarang 3 (0)
2018–2019 Nejmeh 18 (4)
2019–2020 Tripoli 0 (0)
2020 Bourj 7 (2)
2020– UiTM 0 (0)
National team‡
2016–2017 Lebanon 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:35, 29 December 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 November 2018

Club career

2011–12 season

Abou Bakr made his debut in Lebanese Premier League with Nejmeh SC in 2011 as an 18-year-old and made five appearances with his came on 30 December 2011 in the match where Al-Safa' SC against Nejmeh SC when he was substituted in to replace Hassan Al Mohamed on minute 85, and able to make 5 appearances as a substitute for the club and had 38 minutes of play.[1]

2012–13 season

Abou Bakr signed for Al Egtmaaey Tripoli for the 2012–13 season. On 19 March 2013 he scored his first goal in his career and for Al-Shabab in a 5–3 win over Shabab Al-Ghazieh.[2] He had 770 minutes played after had played 17 matches where he had 6 appearances as first eleven.

2013–14 season

Abou Bakr joined Salam Zgharta for 2013–14 season and made his debut against his former club, Nejmeh SC where they lost 0-2.[3] He scored his first goal for the club on 2 November 2013 against Racing Beirut.[4] On 14 November 2013, he scored two goal against his former club, Al Egtmaaey Tripoli which is the first time he scored twice in a match in his career. He also started to make more appearances as the first eleven as he made 20 appearances where 19 of them is as the first eleven. He is also one of the Lebanese FA Cup winning squad on that year as Salam Zgharta won 1-0 after extra time on 31 May 2014.[5]

2014–15 season

He stayed at Salam Zgharta for 2014-15 season to make it his first club where he played for two seasons straight. His first season this season came on 23 November 2014 against Al-Nabi Shayth F.C..[6] He make 15 appearances with 5 goals for this season. For winning the Lebanese FA Cup in the previous season, Salam Zgharta was given the chance to compete in AFC Cup which will be his and the club inaugural season competing in the cup. His debut in AFC Cup came on 17 February 2015 in 2015 AFC Cup qualifying play-off against Tajikistan club, Khayr Vahdat FK where they won 3-0 and qualified to the group stage. His first goal in the AFC Cup was during the match against Al-Nahda Club, an Oman based club where he scored twice to make a 2–1 win. Their journey in the 2015 AFC Cup came to an end after placed in 4th position with only 3 points after only 1 match won from 6 matches.[7]

2015–16 season

After making 35 appearances and 9 goals with Salam Zgharta, he signed with Tripoli SC and his debut came on 16 October 2015 against Al-Ansar SC.[8] He scored his first goal for the club on 1 November 2015 against Al-Safa' SC.[9] As Tripoli SC was the Lebanese FA Cup champion for 2014–15 Lebanese FA Cup, he get another chance in the AFC Cup where he get to scored two goals also in this campaign but still failed to pass the group stage after Tripoli only placed 3rd in group[10]

2016–17 season

2016-17 was a great season for Abou Bakr as he was named as Lebanese Premier League top scorer as he scored 16 goals.

2017 season

On 18 May 2017, Abou Bakr joined Liga Super side, Kelantan on a one and a half year contract that will end in November 2018. He was signed to replace his fellow countryman, Mohammed Ghaddar. This was also the first time in his career for him to expatriate from Lebanon to play at foreign country.[11][12][13] It was also revealed he had rejected a trial offer from West Ham United and an offer from Saudi Arabia based club to joined Kelantan.[14][15] He made his debut on 24 May 2017, playing against Penang.

2018 season

Abou Bakr signed for Indonesian side PSIS Semarang in the 2018 Liga 1. He made his first team debut on 30 July 2018 in a 1–1 2018 Liga 1 home draw against PSM Makassar, replacing Bayu Nugroho after 56 minutes and assisting Hari Nur Yulianto's goal.

2018–19 season

On 10 September 2018, Bako returned to Lebanon, signing for Nejmeh.[16] In his debut game in the league, 21 September 2018, he scored a goal against Ansar in a 4–2 domestic win.[17] On 29 January he scored a brace in the Lebanese FA Cup Round of 16 game against Takadom Ankoun in a 6–0 win.[18]

Bako was chosen as the best player of the season by a public referendum held by Football Lebanon.[19]

2020–21 season

On 8 September 2020, Bako joined Bourj on a permanent deal.[20] He played seven games, scoring two goals and making one assist in the first half of the 2020–21 Lebanese Premier League.[21]

2021 season

In December 2020 Bako moved back to Malaysia, joining UiTM ahead of the 2021 Malaysia Super League.[21]

International career

Bako first appearance for Lebanon came on 5 February 2016, as a substitute in a friendly against Bahrain.[22]

Career statistics

Club
As of 29 January 2019[23]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Nejmeh 2011–12[24] Lebanese Premier League50— — —50
Egtmaaey Tripoli 2012–13[25] Lebanese Premier League171— — —171
Salam Zgharta 2013–14[26] Lebanese Premier League204— — —204
2014–15[27] Lebanese Premier League155— —22177
Total 359— —223711
Tripoli 2015–16[28] Lebanese Premier League175— —22197
2016–17[29] Lebanese Premier League2016— — —2016
Total 3721— —223923
Kelantan 2017 Liga Super91—53—14 4
Tripoli 2017–18 Lebanese Premier League 11 3 — — — 11 3
PSIS Semarang 2018 Liga 130—00—3 0
Nejmeh 2018–19 Lebanese Premier League 9 4 1 2 — — 10 6
Career total 1263912534413648

Honours

Clubs

Salam Zgharta

Individual

Awards

Performances

References
  1. "SAFA VS. AL NEJMEH 0 - 1". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  2. "AL EGTMAAEY TRABLOS VS. SHABAB AL GHAZIEH 5 - 3". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  3. "SALAM ZGHARTA VS. AL NEJMEH 0 - 2". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  4. "RACING VS. SALAM ZGHARTA 3 - 2". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  5. "Lebanese FA Cup 2013-2014 season". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  6. "Al-Nabi Shayth vs. Salam Zgharta 1–1". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  7. "Group A Schedule & Result". Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  8. "AL ANSAR VS. TRIPOLI 1 - 1". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  9. "SAFA VS. TRIPOLI 2 - 2". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  10. "Group A schedule & results". Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  11. "Abou Bakr Al-Mel Sah Milik Pasukan Kelantan". Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  12. "Kelantan sah ikat 'Bako'". Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  13. "Abou Bakr ganti Ghaddar". Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  14. "This EPL club wanted to sign Bako before he chose Kelantan". Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  15. "Bako tolak tawaran West Ham untuk sertai Kelantan". Archived from the original on 22 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  16. Bolasport.com. "Hengkang dari Tim Promosi Liga 1, Striker Asing Ini Dicap Tak Profesional - Bolasport.com". www.bolasport.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  17. "Al Nejmeh vs. Al Ansar - 21 September 2018 - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  18. "Al Taqdom Anqoon vs. Al Nejmeh - 29 January 2019 - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  19. Lebanon, Football. "إستفتاء الجمهور | أبو بكر المل أفضل لاعب في الموسم". football-lebanon.com. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  20. Mahfoud, Maroun (8 September 2020). "Official: Abou Baker el Mel joins Bourj FC". FA Lebanon. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  21. Diab, Rami Abou (16 December 2020). "Abou Baker Al Mel to join the Malaysian Super League". FA Lebanon. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  22. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Bahrain vs. Lebanon (2:0)". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  23. "ABU BAKER AL MAL". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  24. "Player Details: Season 2011-12: Abou Baker". Perform Group. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  25. "Player Details: Season 2012-13: Abou Baker". Perform Group. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  26. "Player Details: Season 2013-14: Abou Baker". Perform Group. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  27. "Player Details: Season 2014-15: Abou Baker". Perform Group. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  28. "Player Details: Season 2015-16: Abou Baker". Perform Group. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  29. "Player Details: Season 2016-17: Abou Baker". Perform Group. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  30. info@al-binaa.com. "مهرجان كرة المنار الـ 21 لونه "أصفر"" (in Arabic). Retrieved 26 February 2019.
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