Bassel Zakaria Jradi ( ar, باسل زكريا جرادي, ; born 6 July 1993) is a professional

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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

for

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

club

Bangkok United True Bangkok United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลทรู แบงค็อก ยูไนเต็ด) is a Thai professional football club based in Pathum Thani province. Formerly known as Bangkok University Foot ...

and the Lebanon national team. After playing for three years in Denmark – for B.93, AB, and

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...

– Jradi moved to Norway in 2014, signing for

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county), Norway, today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). But since th ...

. Following a loan spell with

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...

, he scored 10 goals and assisted seven upon his return to Strømsgodset in 2017; he was nominated for the "People's favourite player" award at the . In 2018, after four years in Norway, Jradi moved to Croatian side

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

, then to

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

in Cyprus in 2021, helping them lift the 2021–22 league title. In 2023, Jradi joined Bangkok United in Thailand. Born in Denmark to Lebanese parents, Jradi played for Denmark internationally at youth level before switching allegiance to Lebanon in 2015. He represented Lebanon at the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

Early life

Born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark to Lebanese parents, Jradi began his youth career at Skjold aged five.

Club career

B.93

Jradi moved to B.93 aged seven, and made his senior debut in the

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division ( da, Danmarksturneringens 2. division or Herre-DM 2. division) is a semi-professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Footb ...

on 30 April 2011 in the 2010–11 season, in a 4–2 home defeat to LFA. Jradi became the first player born after B.93's 100-year anniversary (19 May 1993) to debut for their first team. In the following match, he scored a brace and assisted once in a 4–2 win against

Avarta Boldklubben Avarta is a Danish football club currently playing in the Danish 2nd Division Group 1, which ranks as the third highest league in Denmark. Avarta's home ground is Espelundens Idrætsanlæg in Rødovre, Copenhagen, which has a capacity ...

. Jradi started the 2011–12 season by scoring in his first two matches, against

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

(2–1 defeat) and Skjold Birkerød (2–1 win). In the second-to-last game of the season, he was sent off in a 2–1 defeat against Svebølle (it was his second red card of the season); B.93 were relegated outside of the "Danish tournament" () for the first time. Jradi played 33 games and scored eight goals for B.93.

AB

Having gone on trial for Danish club OB and English club Blackburn Rovers in 2011, Jradi moved to

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

side AB in summer 2012. He scored eight goals and made three assists, making him the club's top scorer of the season.

Nordsjælland

At the end of the 2012–13 season, Jradi signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Superliga side

. He didn't feature much for the side, only playing four league games and a match in the

UEFA Europa League play-offs Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

Strømsgodset and loan to Lillestrøm

In July 2014, Jradi was purchased by

, and signed a contract which lasted until the end of 2017. In January 2016, he signed for

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

on loan until the end of the year, scoring four league goals in 26 games. Thanks to his performances during the

2017 Eliteserien The 2017 Eliteserien was the 73rd completed season of top-tier football in Norway. The season began on 1 April 2017 and ended on 26 November 2017, not including play-off matches. This was first season of Eliteserien as rebranding from Tippeligaen. ...

season with Strømsgodset, scoring 10 goals and assisting seven, Jradi was nominated for the "''Folkets favorittspiller''" (People's favourite player) award at the ; he then made it to the final shortlist of four people.

Hajduk Split

2018–19 season

On 11 August 2018, Jradi joined

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva ...

club

on a two-year deal. His first goal for the club came on 10 May 2019, in a 2–0 home win over

Slaven Slaven may refer to: * Slaven (given name) Slaven is a masculine Slavic given name. Cognates include Slavko. Czech feminine form is Slavena. Notable people with the name include: * Slaven Bačić, Serbian Croat lawyer * Slaven Bilić, Croatian ...

. He scored once again in the following matchday, played four days later, against

Rudeš Rudeš is a neighbourhood of the city of Zagreb, Croatia, within the Trešnjevka – sjever district. The area covered by the local city council Rudeš has a population of 9,725 (2011). There is a small Salesian church in the neighbourhood, called ...

in a 4–1 away win. Jradi ended the 2018–19 season with two goals in 25 appearances, helping his side finish fourth in the league.

2019–20 season

On 18 July 2019, Jradi scored his first Europa League qualifier goal in the home game against Gżira United of Malta. However, his side lost on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

and were knocked out of the qualifiers. In the Eternal derby against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in the league, on 31 August 2019, Jradi scored the lone goal in the 56th minute, before being sent off after receiving two yellow cards during the match. Thanks to his performance in the game, Jradi was nominated Man of the Match and helped his side reach the top of the table for the first time in 1,399 days. After the game, the player stated: "This was a crazy game with crazy fans. Incredible. Red cards, goals, everything was crazy". On 29 June 2020, Hajduk Split extended Jradi's contract, which was due to expire in July, for an additional year. On 25 July 2020, Jradi scored from outside the box and assisted a goal against

Inter Zaprešić Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

in a 4–1 away win on the last matchday of the season. Jradi ended the season with three league goals in 32 games.

2020–21 season

On 29 August 2020, in matchday 3 of the league, Jradi provided his first assist of the season against

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo ( en, Slaven Belupo Football Club), often referred to as NK Slaven Belupo, Slaven Belupo or simply Slaven, and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city ...

, in a 2–2 draw. In February 2021, Jradi refused to renew his contract with Hajduk Split, wanting to move to another team on a free transfer the following summer transfer window. The management sent him to train with the reserves for the rest of the season as a form of "punishment". According to the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIF ...

, however, he couldn't play official games as "a player older than 21 who has already played at least five games during the season for the first team cannot play for the B team". On 21 May, Jradi and Hajduk Split agreed to terminate the contract on mutual consent; he scored seven goals in 81 games in all competitions in his three-year stay.

Apollon Limassol

On 22 June 2021, Jradi joined

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

side

. He scored on his club debut on 22 July, in a 3–1 defeat to

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Sl ...

in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League qualification. Jradi also scored in the away game against Žilina one week later, with the match ending 2–2. On 23 August, he scored in the first matchday of the 2021–22 league season, helping Apollon win 4–2 against

Ethnikos Achna Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club current ...

. In May 2022, Jradi was shortlisted in the 2021–22 PASP Football Awards as one of 11 nominees in the

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 ...

position. With three goals in 22 league games, he helped Apollon win the league title for the first time in 15 seasons.

Bangkok United

On 27 July 2023,

side

announced the signing of Jradi; he was assigned the number 10 kit.

International career

Denmark

After impressing during his season with AB in 2012–13, Jradi represented Denmark internationally at

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and under-21 levels. He played for Denmark at all youth levels (from the under-16s to the under-21s) between 2008 and 2013, playing a combined 23 games and scoring twice.

Lebanon

Eligible to represent Lebanon through his descent, Jradi made his debut for their senior team on 26 August 2015; he scored the temporary 2–1 goal in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, which eventually finished in a 3–2 defeat. After the match, regarding his national team choice between Lebanon and Denmark, he stated: "both countries mean a lot to me. It's a big decision". Although in January 2018 Jradi had stated that he aimed to play for Denmark, in November of the same year he was called up for

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

for the friendly matches against

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In December 2018, he was called up for the

squad. After playing the whole 90 minutes in the first group stage game against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, Jradi fell into a disagreement with coach

Miodrag Radulović Miodrag Radulović (; born 23 October 1967) is a Montenegrin professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Montenegro national team. Club career Born in Titograd, Montenegro, his football career began in 1980 at Bu ...

and was subsequently ruled out of the national team for the rest of the tournament. On 5 September 2019, the

Lebanese Football Association The Lebanese Football Association (LFA) ( ar, الاتحاد اللبناني لكرة القدم, Al-Ittiḥād Al-Lubnānī Likurat Al-Qadam; french: Fédération Libanaise de Football) is the governing body of association football in Lebanon. ...

(LFA) announced Jradi's indefinite exclusion from the national team, alongside teammate

Joan Oumari Joan Noureddine Oumari (, ; born 19 August 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for the Lebanon national team. After playing for eight seasons in Germany, between the fifth and second division, Oumari moved to Turkish ...

, for refusing a call-up for a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. After issuing an apology explaining his reasons for refusing the call-up, the LFA lifted the exclusions and Jradi was reintegrated to the national team on 19 September. In December 2023, Jradi was included in the Lebanese squad for the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in 201 ...

Style of play

Usually deployed as an

, Jradi can also play on both

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

, as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, or as a

false nine Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Lebanon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jradi goal.''

Honours

Strømsgodset *

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

runner-up:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Apollon Limassol *

: 2021–22 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is us ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

Profile
at

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

Profile
at

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

Profile
at

Apollon Limassol FC Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisio ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jradi, Bassel 1993 births Living people Footballers from Copenhagen Danish people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Lebanese men's footballers Danish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Boldklubben Skjold players Boldklubben af 1893 players Akademisk Boldklub players FC Nordsjælland players Strømsgodset Toppfotball players Lillestrøm SK players HNK Hajduk Split players Apollon Limassol FC players

Bassel Jradi Bassel Zakaria Jradi ( ar, باسل زكريا جرادي, ; born 6 July 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Thai League 1 club Bangkok United and the Lebanon national team. After playing for three year ...

Danish 2nd Division players Danish 1st Division players Danish Superliga players Eliteserien players Norwegian Second Division players Croatian Football League players Cypriot First Division players

Early life

Club career

B.93

AB

Nordsjælland

Strømsgodset and loan to Lillestrøm

Hajduk Split

2018–19 season

2019–20 season

2020–21 season

Apollon Limassol

Bangkok United

International career

Denmark

Lebanon

Style of play

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

See also

References

External links