Balal Arezou (also Belal or Bilal; born 28 December 1988) is an Afghan footballer who plays 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 ...

and is currently playing for Norwegian club IF Trauma. He is currently the all-time top scorer of the

Afghanistan national football team The Afghanistan national football team ( ''Tīm-e Millī-e Fūtbāl-e Afghānestān'') is the national football team of Afghanistan and is controlled by the Afghanistan Football Federation. Founded in 1922, they played their first international ...

with nine goals.

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.

Churchill Brothers

In February 2013 he joined

Churchill Brothers S.C. Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually part ...

on a four-month loan from Asker. His move completed with the return of Indian striker Sunil Chhetri from

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

Moss FK

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

IF Trauma

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

International career

Arezou was included in Afghanistan's squad for the

2014 AFC Challenge Cup The 2014 AFC Challenge Cup was the fifth and the final edition of the AFC Challenge Cup, an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging countries" in the now de ...

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. After Afghanistan's 0–0 draw with

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

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 Faisal Safa Sakhizada ( fa, فیصل سخی‌زاده; born 15 June 1990) is an Afghan association footballer who currently plays for Kingston City FC, football club from Melbourne, Australia. He is also a player in the Afghanistan national fo ...

, Ahmad Hatifi,

Zohib Islam Amiri Zohib Islam Amiri ( prs, ذهیب اسلام امیری; born 15 February 1990) is a professional footballer from Afghanistan who plays as a centre-back for A.S. Blainville and the Afghanistan national team. Early life Amiri was born on 15 Fe ...

, and

Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy (Pashto: مصطفي ازادزوي; born 24 July 1992) is an Afghan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Atlas Delmenhorst and the Afghanistan national team. Early life Azadzoy was born ...

. All five players were set to miss the semi-finals against

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. Former coach

Mohammad Yousef Kargar Mohammad Yosuf Kargar ( fa, محمد یوسف کارگر) is an Afghan football manager who coached the Afghanistan national football team from 20082009 and from 20102014. Career His family set up Afghanistan’s first ski resort, and he became ...

and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injuries.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Afghanistan's goal tally first.''

Club career stats

Honors

Churchill Brothers * I-League

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Afghanistan *

2013 SAFF Championship The 2013 South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly referred to as 2013 SAFF Championship, was the 10th SAFF Championship for men's national football teams organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The tournament took ...

Individual * 2010 South Asian Games Top Scorer

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arezou, Balal 1988 births Living people Footballers from Kabul Afghan refugees Refugees in Norway Afghan emigrants to Norway Afghan men's footballers Afghanistan men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Fredrikstad FK players Asker Fotball players Norwegian First Division players Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Expatriate footballers in India Afghan expatriate footballers Afghan expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate footballers in Norway FK Arendal players FK Senja players South Asian Games silver medalists for Afghanistan South Asian Games medalists in football