Moshtagh Hossain Yaghoubi (; in

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī � ...

: مشتاق حسین یعقوبی) aka Mosa (born 8 November 1994) is an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

-born Finnish

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 for SJK.

Early life

Moshtagh Yaghoubi was born on 8 November 1994 to an ethnic Hazara family in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Youth career

Yaghoubi grew up in Finland and started playing football at the age of 13 with his local club HaPa. After playing in the youth teams of MP, HJK and PK-35 he joined Honka in 2011.

Club career

Honka

Yaghoubi made his debut for Honka against

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura (or KuPS) is a Finnish football club, based in the ninth most populated city of Finland, Kuopio. KuPS plays in Finland's Premier League, Veikkausliiga. KuPS has won the Finnish championship six times, the Finnish Cup 4 times ...

on 13 October 2011. Yaghoubi scored his first goal on 27 May 2012 against

FC Haka FC Haka is a Finnish football club based in the industry town of Valkeakoski. It is currently competing in Finland's premier division of football, Veikkausliiga. It is one of the most successful clubs in Finland, with nine Finnish championships a ...

. Yaghoubi made his

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

debut on 18 July 2013 in the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The 2014 UEFA Europa League Final was played between Sevil ...

second qualifying round where Honka lost 1–3 in the first leg to

2012–13 Ekstraklasa The 2012–13 Ekstraklasa or T-Mobile Ekstraklasa for sponsorship reasons, was the 79th season of the highest level of football leagues in Poland since its establishment in 1927. It began on 17 August 2012 and concluded on 2 June 2013. A total of ...

runners up

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

Pallohonka

Yaghoubi played 1 season on loan for the second team of FC Honka. He played 22 games and scored 2 goals. After his loan he returned to FC Honka.

Spartaks Jūrmala

In February 2014 Yaghoubi was transferred to the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

club

FK Spartaks Jūrmala FK Spartaks is a Latvian football club that is based in Sloka, Jūrmala. In 2012, they finished 3rd in the Latvian First League championship and after winning the play-offs against JFK Olimps were promoted to the Latvian Higher League. The club ...

, signing a three-year contract. He was given shirtnumber 7.

Dynamo Moscow

Soon after his move to Spartaks Jūrmala he immediately was loaned to the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

side

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

. Yaghoubi was given shirt number 61 in the first team, but did not make any appearances for them, mostly remaining on the bench and being involved in the reserve team action.

Return to Spartaks Jūrmala

In August 2014 he returned to Spartaks Jūrmala. Yaghoubi scored his first Latvian Higher League goal on 26 October 2014 in a 1–0 victory over FK Daugava Rīga.

RoPS

On 5 March 2015 he signed a contract with

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club Tech ...

which is a football team in the Finland

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

. He made his debut against SJK on 17 March 2015. He scored his first goal against

FC Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku and colloquially known as Inter, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland, that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded in 1 ...

in the Suomen Cup. He ended the season with a second place in the Finnish league. He scored 4 goals and made 5 assists. He won at the end of the season the Best Midfielder award for his club and the Best Midfielder award for the Finland U21.

Shakhter Karagandy

In February 2016, Yaghoubi went on trial with

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

side

FC Shakhter Karagandy Football Club Shakhter ( kk, "Шахтер" футбол клубы, Shakhter fýtbol klýby), commonly referred to as FC Shakhter Karagandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandı ;Russian: Караганда/Karaganda), is a professional footba ...

. On 17 March 2016, Yaghoubi signed a season-long loan deal with Shakhter Karagandy. Yaghoubi's loan was terminated by Shakhter Karagandy on 17 June 2016.

HJK Helsinki

On 4 November 2016,

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history ...

announced the signing of Yaghoubi.

SJK Seinäjoki

On 31 January 2019,

Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho (or SJK Seinäjoki or SJK) is a Finnish professional football club from the city of Seinäjoki. The club plays in the Veikkausliiga, the highest tier of the Finnish league system. Their home ground is OmaSP Stadion, wh ...

announced the signing of Yaghoubi.

HIFK

After a season at

, it was announced on 29 November 2019, that Yaghoubi would join

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

from 2020, signing a deal until the end of 2021 with the club. He got shirt number 7.

AC Oulu

On 18 December 2021, he joined

AC Oulu AC Oulu (ACO) is a Finnish football club based in Oulu. Formed in 2002, the club have played two seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and seven seasons in the second highest league Ykkönen. The club are currently playing ...

on a two-year contract.

International career

Finland U21

Yaghoubi acquired Finnish nationality in 2013 and got called up for Finland national under-21 team for 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification match against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

on 11 June 2013. Yaghoubi scored his national team debut goal when Finland beat Wales U-21 5–1 in UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification on 14 August 2013.

Finland

On 31 October 2013 Yaghoubi made his debut for

Finland national football team The Finland national football team ( fi, Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body ...

in an unofficial 4–2 friendly match loss to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He eventually made his official debut for Finland in a

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. He came on the field in the 67th minute for Sakari Mattila.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Individual *

Midfielder of the Year:

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 ...

Personal life

Yaghoubi was born in

, to ethnic Hazara parents. Yaghoubi and his family fled Afghanistan in 1999 to settle down in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. After living seven years in Iran his family applied for asylum in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Yaghoubi has a tattoo on his left arm with the name of his late father ''Gholam Sakhi''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yaghoubi, Moshtagh 1994 births Living people Finnish footballers Finland youth international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Finland international footballers Afghan footballers Afghan emigrants to Finland Finnish people of Hazara descent Hazara sportspeople People from Kabul Finnish people of Afghan descent Sportspeople of Afghan descent FC Honka players Pallohonka players FK Spartaks Jūrmala players FC Dynamo Moscow reserves players Rovaniemen Palloseura players FC Shakhter Karagandy players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players HIFK Fotboll players AC Oulu players Veikkausliiga players Kakkonen players Latvian Higher League players Kazakhstan Premier League players Association football midfielders Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate footballers in Latvia Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Naturalized citizens of Finland