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

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 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 or is an island in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway, Europe. With an area of , it is the second largest island in Norway (outside of the Svalbard archipelago). It has a wild, mountainous outer (western) side facing the Atlantic, and a mild ...

, Grane, Arendal and

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

's youth team before he joined

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

in 2009.

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 Sunil Chhetri (born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team. Widely regarded as the greatest Indian footballer of all time, h ...

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 Moss Fotballklubb is a Norwegian football club, founded on 28 August 1906. They play in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. They played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937-1939, 1953-1954, 1 ...

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 The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that was categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. "Vision Asia", created by former AFC president, ...

with a 3–1 victory over

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

. 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,

Ahmad Hatifi Ahmad Arash Hatifi (born 13 March 1986) is a professional football player who is a midfielder and currently plays for Oakland Stompers. Born in the United States, he represents the Afghanistan national team. Career Youth Born in Oakland, C ...

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 and current coach

Erich Rutemöller Erich Rutemöller (born 8 February 1945) is a German retired football manager and player. Coaching career Rutemöller has headed 1. FC Köln, Hansa Rostock and Bonner SC during his coaching career. He was an assistant coach for the Germany nati ...

also suffered minor injuries.

International goals

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

Club career stats

Honors

Churchill Brothers *

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

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