Balal Arezou

Balal Arezou (also Belal or Bilal; born 28 December 1988) is an Afghan footballer who plays as a forward and is currently playing for Norwegian club Trauma IF.[1] He is currently the topscorer with 9 goals for the Afghanistan national football team.

Balal Arezou
Personal information
Date of birth (1988-12-28) 28 December 1988
Place of birth Kabul, Afghanistan
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Trauma IF
Youth career
Senja
–2006 Grane
2007 FK Arendal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007 FK Arendal 1 (0)
2007–2008 Fredrikstad 0 (0)
2009–2015 Asker 118 (24)
2013–2014 → Churchill Brothers (loan) 8 (0)
2015–2016 Moss 20 (9)
2016–2018 Asker 2 (0)
2018 Arendal 6 (1)
2019– Trauma IF 0 (0)
National team‡
2010 Afghanistan U-23 5 (6)
2011– Afghanistan 22 (9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 January 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 4 June 2017

Club career

Asker

Arezou grew up in Afghanistan and moved to Norway as a refugee. In Norway, he played football for Senja, Grane, Arendal and Fredrikstad's youth team before he joined Asker in 2009.[2]

Churchill Brothers

In February 2013 he joined Churchill Brothers S.C. on a four-month loan from Asker. His move completed with the return of Indian striker Sunil Chhetri from Sporting Clube de Portugal.[3]

Moss FK

On 7 March 2015 he joined Moss FK on a 2-year contract. He will wear shirt number 90.

Trauma IF

Arezou signed with Trauma IF on 26 January 2019, and was reunited with his former coach, Gaute Haugenes.[4]

International career

Balal Arezou made his debut for his native country Afghanistan on 2010 when he was called up for 2010 South Asian Games. Afghanistan took everyone by surprise to top the group stage with wins over India (1–0), Pakistan (2–1), and Sri Lanka (2–0). Nepal was again the opponent in the semi final (similar to the recent South Asian Football Federation Cup ) to once again win marginally 1–0. Arezou scored all six goals of Afghanistan and eventually went on to become the top scorer of the tournament with six goals in his name. Unfortunately Afghanistan lost the final to host nation but earned Balal Arezou the title of the best player in the tournament. It was amazing to produce such an excellent display for his native country and it was a treat to watch and a sign of things to come.

His scoring foot did not stop for the national team, becoming the second Afghanistan player in history to score in a World Cup Qualifying match. Obaidullah Karimi scored Afghanistan's first ever World Cup goal in a 1–2 (1–5 on aggregate) loss to Syria in the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, and Arezou scored Afghanistan's second in a 1–1 (1–3 on aggregate) draw to Palestine in their 2014 World Cup Qualifying match. Later in the year in SAFF Championship 2011 he scored the opening goal of Afghanistan against India which ended to 1–1 draw. He scored 4 amazing goals against Bhutan which ended 8–1 and earned Arezou the man of the match award and was the only hat trick of the tournament in which he was the captain of the team also. With amazing goals against Bhutan Afghanistan moved to top the group ahead of India. Balal Arezou was the hero against Nepal in semi Finals when he scored the only goal of the match at extra time and took his team to the Finals of the tournament. Afghanistan lost the finals in a controversial moments when skipper was sent out 20 minutes before the match ends but brilliant display from Arezou never stopped in the game. Arezou once again showed his brilliance by sending the national team to AFC Challenge Cup 2014 after winning the group stage of 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification. He scored two winning goals each vs Sri Lanka and Mongolia to ensure victory for Afghanistan. Afghanistan draw with hosts Laos but still qualified as a group winner.

Arezou had the honor of being included in Afghanistan's squad for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives. In the group stages of the tournament Afghanistan claimed their first ever win at the AFC Challenge Cup with a 3–1 victory over Turkmenistan.[5] Unfortunately after Afghanistan's 0–0 draw with Laos that confirmed their progression out of the group stage, an accident occurred while the Afghan players were being driven back to their hotel. Arezou sustained minor injuries in the accident along with his teammates Faisal Sakhizada, Ahmad Hatifi, Zohib Islam Amiri, and Mustafa Azadzoy, the latter of which will have to take three weeks off to recover. All five players are set to miss the semi finals against Palestine. Former coach Mohammad Yousef Kargar and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injuries.[6][7][8][9]

International goals
Scores and results list Afghanistan's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.3 July 2011Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Al-Ram, Palestine Palestine
1–1
1–1
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
2.3 December 2011Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India India
1–0
1–1
2011 SAFF Championship
3.7 December 2011Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India Bhutan
3–0
8–1
4.
4–0
5.
5–1
6.
8–1
7.9 December 2011Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India   Nepal
1–0
1–0
8.2 March 2013New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos Sri Lanka
1–0
1–0
2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifier
9.4 March 2013New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos Mongolia
1–0
1–0

Club career stats
As of 16 August 2014
Season Club League League Cup Continental Total
AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
2009Asker2. Divisjon25400—254
201026722—289
2011Adeccoligaen19000—190
20122. Divisjon241020—2610
2012–13Churchill Brothers (loan)I-League800040120
2013Asker2. Divisjon7100—71
2014–1517210—182
Asker total 1182452—12326
Career total 12624524013526

Honors
Afghanistan
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References
  1. "DEBUTANTER BLE HELTER" (in Norwegian). arendalfotball. 18 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  2. Langerød, Dag (4 February 2010). "Sjekk denne 2. divisjonshelten" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  3. Belal Arezou joined Churchill Brothers of Indian League Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. ahmadfaisalsidiqi.blogspot.in, 14 February 2013
  4. Toppscorer på landslaget til Trauma, fvn.no, 26 January 2019
  5. "AFC Challenge Cup: Afghanistan 3–1 Turkmenistan". AFC. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  6. "Afghan contingent suffers minor injuries in team bus accident". AFC. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  7. Shimaaz Ali (25 May 2014). "Five Afghan players to miss semi". Maldives Soccer. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  8. Mohamed Sajid (25 May 2014). "Afghanistan is all over worried". Maldives Soccer. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  9. Shimaaz Ali (24 May 2014). "Afghan five players injured due to the accident". Maldives Soccer. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
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