Born in the northern city of Mosul in 1934, Abdellilah enrolled at the Sports Training College in Baghdad in 1955 and later traveled to England, where he earned a widely recognised coaching certificate at Lilleshall with the likes of Adil Basher, Shawqi Aboud and Maan Al-Badry. In England, he also spent time looking at coaching methods, techniques and tactics at English clubs Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur while in 1974, he traveled to Germany where he spent time with European giants FC Bayern Munich.