Karim was born and brought in Sadr City in Baghdad and started his career with Al-Sinaa in 1979 before moving to Al-Jaish and Al-Rasheed. [2]
In 1983, he made his international debut against Egypt and played in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
On 27 September 1985 in Taif, Saudi Arabia, Karim scored his most important international goal, when he scored in the last seconds of the game against the U.A.E, after coming on as a substitute only a few minutes previously in the 2nd round World Cup qualifier, had the score-line stayed the same before Karim had come on and scored, Iraq would have been eliminated but Karim’s goal made the game 2-1 to the Emirates, helping Iraq to a win on the away goals rule after Iraq had beaten the U.A.E 3-2, only a seven days before in Dubai.[2]
Iraq later went on to beat Syria and qualified for the World Cup finals in Mexico, where Karim started two games against Belgium and Mexico.[2]
