Ghayas Zahid (born 8 September 1994) is a Norwegian 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

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club Ankaragücü and the Norway national team.

Club career

Zahid was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

to Pakistani parents. He played for Klemetsrud IF before he joined

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

as a youth. Zahid made his debut for Vålerenga on 10 August 2012, in a 3–1 win against

Odd Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric. Odd may also refer to: Acronym * ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...

. He was loaned out to

Adeccoligaen The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

club Ullensaker/Kisa for the second half of the 2013 season. He made 10 appearances during his loan spell. On 31 August 2017, it was announced that

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

had secured his signature on a four-year contract until the end of May 2021, for an undisclosed transfer fee from Vålerenga. On 23 July 2019,

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

announced the arrival of Zahid on loan from APOEL, with a purchase option of €1.6 million for the summer of 2020. The option was not triggered, and at the end of the season, he also left APOEL as his contract expired. On 8 September 2021, Zahid signed a one-year contract with

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

club Ankaragücü, with an option for an additional year if the club wins promotion to the

. He made his debut four days later, on 12 September, coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute for Abdullah Durak in a 2–0 win over Gençlerbirliği.

International career

On 6 June 2018, Zahid made his first appearance for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

in an international friendly. He was substituted in the 89th minute. He had previously been called up by the

Pakistan national football team The Pakistan national football team represents Pakistan association football in FIFA-authorized events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Pakistan became a member of FIFA in 19 ...

to join their football camp.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list the Norway's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Zahid goal.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahid, Ghayas 1994 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Association football midfielders Norwegian footballers Norway youth international footballers Norway under-21 international footballers Norway international footballers Vålerenga Fotball players Ullensaker/Kisa IL players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players APOEL FC players Cypriot First Division players Panathinaikos F.C. players MKE Ankaragücü footballers Super League Greece players TFF First League players Norwegian people of Pakistani descent Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Greece Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Turkey Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey