He is the most expensive player in Jordanian football history and is known as "Jordan Messi" or "Jordan Salah...... But Tamari, who shined in the Asian Cup, did not like such a nickname. He said he was Tamari and no one else. In his heart, the Jordanian national team is supreme, and of course, Palestine, where the blood origins are located. Despite his humble background, Tamari put his football ideals first. He has turned down offers from the Saudi league for high salaries, just to prove himself in the higher-tier five leagues.
After leading the Jordan team to defeat South Korea, Tamari became a Jordanian national hero, not only attacking the first major championship of Jordanian football, but also attracting the attention of European giants such as Liverpool, and he is also expected to become a new Arab superstar after Salah in the future.
Born in Amman, Jordan's capital, Tamari came from a football-loving family, and despite his poor background, his father was his staunchest supporter. Just to make a living for his family, he had to play football and go to school at the same time, ready to enter the workforce at any time. But he held on to his football dreams, starting at the local Jordanian youth club and moving into the first team and the Jordanian national youth team, which changed his life. In the summer of 2018, Tamari joined Atletico Greece for a low price of 400,000 euros and led the team to win the 2019 Super Cup and the 2018/19 season, and was voted Player of the Season. Joining Atletico Greece has given him a lot of experience in European competition: "I've played against European teams like Ajax and Sevilla and that's important for me. "In 2020-2023 when he played for OH Leuven in the Belgian League, he was the player who dribbled the ball (384) and completed the most dribbles (174) in the first division during the same period.
He turned down an offer from Leicester City last summer because they asked for a two-month trial. Tamari said his pride should not be taken lightly: "I'm good enough to want me to sign directly, otherwise I don't like people who only look at the nationality of the player and not the quality. Montpellier beat Blackburn, Levante and Fenerbahce to win Tamari and became the first Jordanian player to play in Ligue 1. Tamari quickly proved his mettle: three goals in his first month in Ligue 1 and a brace against giants Lyon, making him a finalist in the Team of the Round and Ligue 1 Player of the Month in August. During the same period, he was also the 2nd player in Ligue 1 with the 2nd number of shots on goal (13) and the 7th with the ball (10).
Tamari came close to becoming a taekwondo athlete and is very similar to Swedish superstar Ibra. He trains in taekwondo every Monday to build his core strength and physical toughness. When he played for OH Leuven, the coach also practiced boxing after football training every day, allowing Tamari to play boxing matches with his teammates to improve his fighting spirit and physical confrontation ability. The strong and technically strong Tamari at the Asian Cup came from relentless training in football and taekwondo.
Tamari, who is worth 6 million euros, is already the most valuable Arab player in West Asia. He hopes that his performance will give more Jordanian players the opportunity to play in Europe: "Most Jordanian players play in the Middle East because European scouts don't come to Jordan to observe players. "He is indeed a pioneer in opening the doors of Europe for Jordanian football: Tamari have performed well at Atletico Greeks and OH Leuven, which led to the signing of three more players from Jordan by two European teams.
In an interview with The Jordan Times last year, Tamari revealed that he dreamed of playing in the top five leagues at the age of six. But his mother wanted him to focus on his studies and pursue other better-paying careers as an adult. It's not that the mother doesn't believe in her son's abilities, but because it is very difficult to achieve the dream of football in poor Jordan. Tamari's initiation club Jordan has a budget of 1 million Jordanian dinars ($1.4 million) for the youth season, but the championship prize is only 120,000 Jordanian dinars. Players are paid less and clubs can only stay afloat by developing academy players.
Despite this, the Jordanian national team reigns supreme in Tamari's heart. He once said that he would not hesitate to choose Jordan between the Jordanian team, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich: "I can still recall what I ate three meals a day when I was training in the Jordanian youth team and the senior team, which was not enough to meet the needs of professional players, but it strengthened my determination to win glory for Jordanian football." ”
Tamari is of mixed descent as a Palestinian refugee from Jordan, and his support for Palestine is at the root of his blood. Back in 2021, he publicly supported Palestine on several occasions, and he was also one of the first players in the top five leagues to publicly support Gaza. Last year, he was almost suspended from training by the club for showing a T-shirt with the words "Stop the war in Gaza" after scoring a goal. He may even be imprisoned for it, but he has no regrets.
Tamari is very sportsmanlike, and after Jordan defeated Iraq in the quarter-finals, he held the Iraqi flag to pay tribute to his opponents. As he wrote on his social media account: "Football unites, not divides. We have always been together, we are fraternal friends, to the dear Iraqi team. "He always took every opportunity to show the world the culture of Jordan, Palestine and the Arab world, and became a veritable ambassador for Jordan.
Liverpool, who could lose Mohamed Salah in the summer, have their sights on the Jordanian winger and Tamari could well realise their Premier League dreams. However, rather than his personal dreams at the club, Tamari hopes to lead Jordan to the Asian Cup and the 2026 North American World Cup. In the near future, he will replace Salah as the new Arab legend in the football world.