Mohammed Ariful Islam ( bn, মোহাম্মেদ আরিফুল ইসলাম; born 20 December 1987) is a retired Bangladeshi 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 last plays as a defender for

Brothers Union Brothers Union is a football club based in Gopibag, Dhaka. The club was founded in 1949 and the regal business tycoon Kazi Ghiyasuddin Ahmed, better known as K. G. Ahmed served as the founder chairman of the club. At the beginning it was a well ...

in the

Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...

. He usually played as a center back, however earlier on his career he was also deployed as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He represented the Bangladesh national team between 2006 and 2016.

Club career

Ariful started his career with Little Friends Club, he then went on to play for minnows Young Men's Fakirerpool and

Farashganj SC Farashganj Sporting Club commonly known as ''Farashganj SC'' is an association football club based in Farashganj, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is currently competing in the Bangladesh Championship League. It is situated between the historical sites Rupl ...

, before getting his big move to Mohammedan SC and eventually

. He injured his right ankle while playing in Mohammedan during the early years of his career. During his time at Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in 2012, Ariful underwent surgery on his right knee and in 2014, he underwent surgery on his left knee. And although he maintained a strict diet and underwent daily weight training from the beginning, he could not get his career back on track, as he dropped out of the national team in 2013. He captained Abahani Limited Dhaka to the 2016 Premier League title and made a brief return to the national team. In 2017, he joined newcomers

Saif SC Saif Sporting Club is an association football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It currently competes in the Bangladesh Football Premier League, the top flight of Bangladeshi football. The club is owned by Saif Powertec Limited. The main goal of ...

, as they spent big after getting promoted. The following four years saw Ariful changed clubs three times, before returning to Brothers Union in 2021, after 13 years. Ariful witnessed the lowest point of his career, as the historic Brothers Union, who were once considered the third biggest club in the country, were relegated from the

. This was the clubs first ever taste of relegation in its 72 years existence.

International career

Arif was a regular face in the under-20 and 23 national team, before he made his national team debut in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers 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 ...

, on 6 September 2006. He then went on to play the

2007 Nehru Cup The 2007 Nehru Cup International Football Tournament, also known as the ONGC Nehru Cup due to the competition's sponsorship by ONGC, was the 13th edition of the Nehru Cup a tournament organized by the All India Football Federation since 1982. It ...

and

2008 SAFF Championship The 2008 SAFF Championship was held in Malé, Maldives and Colombo, Sri Lanka between 3 and 14 June 2008. Initially, the tournament was due to be held in 2007 but was postponed to 2008. Venues Squads Group stage Group A ---- ---- --- ...

. During the Nehru Cup, coach

Syed Nayeemuddin Syed Nayeemuddin (born 1944), known as Nayeem, is an Indian football coach and former player. He played for and was captain of the Indian national team2010 SA Games, under Serbian coach Zoran Đorđević, which was his only international title in his 11-years playing for Bangladesh. He also played at the

2011 SAFF Championship The 2011 South Asian Football Federation Championship, sponsored by Karbonn Mobiles and officially named Karbonn SAFF Championship 2011, was the 9th tournament of the SAFF Championship, which held in New Delhi, India. Venue It was originally sc ...

and

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 ...

, during the latter he was vice-captain. Ariful was last called up to the national team in 2016 for Bangladesh's disastrous 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, by Lodewijk de Kruif. During the qualifiers Bangladesh conceded a total of 13 goals in the two matches Ariful played in, including a 8–0 defeat at the hands of

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Honours

Little Friends Club * Dhaka Third Division League: 2003 Mohammedan SC *

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

: 2009, 2013 Abahani Limited Dhaka *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

Bangladesh U23 *

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic C ...

Gold medal:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Islam, Mohammed Ariful 1987 births Living people People from Kishoreganj District Bangladeshi men's footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers Bangladesh men's youth international footballers Fakirerpool Young Men's Club players Farashganj SC players Saif Sporting Club players Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club players Sheikh Russel KC players Mohammedan SC (Dhaka) players Brothers Union players Abahani Limited Dhaka players Men's association football defenders Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Bangladesh South Asian Games gold medalists for Bangladesh South Asian Games medalists in football Sportspeople from Dhaka Division