Afrden Asqer (; born 15 September 2003) is an ethnic Uyghur Chinese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

currently playing as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Guangzhou F.C. Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, trained in

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

, Asqer played for

Shaanxi Laochenggen Shaanxi Laochenggen is a football club which plays in Xian, Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE ...

until 2017, when he moved to Japan to sign for

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which began ...

. While in Japan, he also played for

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

. In 2018, he returned to China to join the youth ranks of

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. Asqer went on to represent the China under-19 and under-20 teams in the

China League Two The Chinese Football Association Division Two League (Simplified Chinese: 中国足球协会乙级联赛), or China League Two, is the third tier league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football As ...

in 2020 and 2021.

2021 season

While also representing the China under-20 select in League Two, Asqer also played for Suzhou Dongwu in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, again on loan from Guangzhou. In March 2023, Asqer signd for

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

club

Mjällby AIF Mjällby Allmänna Idrottsförening, also known simply as Mjällby AIF, Mjällby or (especially locally) MAIF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Hällevik. The club is affiliated to Blekinge Fotbollförbund and play its home ...

on loan for the 2023 season with the option to make the move permanent.

Age controversy

Asqer's outstanding performance in the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup captaining for China drew widespread media attention. However, reports emerged that Asqer may have altered his age in the past. Accordingly, bone age reports published by the Chinese FA in 2012 showed a youth player by Asqer's same name with birthday of 2 May 2000. Bone age reports in 2014 showed another player with Asqer's name having been born on 28 January 2001. The same series of report in 2015 again showed a player with Asqer's name with a birthday of 15 September 2003. The Chinese FA and Guangzhou have not, as of March 2023, responded to the allegation of age change. Asqer rejected the allegations on 11 March 2023.

Career statistics

Club

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asqer, Afrden 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Xi'an Footballers from Shaanxi Chinese men's footballers China men's youth international footballers Chinese expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards China League Two players China League One players Chinese Super League players Shimizu S-Pulse players Kashima Antlers players Guangzhou F.C. players Suzhou Dongwu F.C. players Mjällby AIF players Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Chinese Muslims 21st-century Chinese people Uyghur sportspeople