Rilwan Waheed is a Maldivian professional footballer. Nicknamed "Riley", he plays as a winger for Club Green Streets and the

Maldives national team The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives,, ) and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the A ...

Club career

Club Valencia

2006 & 2007 season

Rilwan signed with Club Valencia at the age of 15 in 2006, but the FAM rules did not allow him to play at senior level football. In the following year 2007, at the age of 16, he started playing in the 1st Division. He made his debut on 30 July 2007 against New Radiant as a substitute in the second half of the match where they won 1–0. Rilwan ended his debut season with third in league, runner up in the FA Cup and crowning the Cup Winners' Cup.

2008 season

Rilwan was used as a substitute in the season most of the time and featured in a few games. He played his Cup Winners' Cup debut on 16 February, coming on as a 65th-minute substitute for the goal scorer Ubaidhulla Hassan in a 2–1 defeat against New Radiant. Despite the bitter start of the season with two losses in the Cup Winners Cup and starting from the bench in the second half in both matches they played against New Radiant SC in the group stage, Rilwan was included in the starting lineup for the quarter-final match of the FA Cup against FC Baaz in which they won 8–0 and scored two goals. Rilwan played his first league match of the season on 25 June against VB Sports Club coming in to play in the second half, coming on for Ahmed Nashid in the 59th minute where they lost the match 3–2. He played his first full match in the league that season on 19 July in the 3–1 win against Thinadhoo ZC. He was also cautioned in that match. On 30 August, Club Valencia won the 2008 Dhivehi League title and Rilwan came in to play as a substitute in the final match against New Radiant in which they won the match 2–1. On 15 September, Rilwan played his first ever President's Cup final against Victory Sports Club and they went on winning the match 3–2. Mohamed Rifau scored the winning goal from a diving header by a cross provided by Rilwan.

2009 season

Rilwan started the 2009 season as a first team player, on 29 January in the Charity Shield match against VB Sports Club where they went on to win the game by 2–1. On 5 May, Rilwan scored his first ever

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

goal on his debut against Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand in the 4–1 away defeat from a penalty when he was just 18 years old. He was involved in three league goals in the season. His first contribution was to assist Ibrahim Shiyam to score against Kalhaidhoo, on 9 July. He was also sent-off with a second caution for a hand ball inside the penalty area, resulting in a penalty for the opposition team. On 10 September, Rilwan provided assists for captain

Mohamed Jameel Mohamed Jameel (born 4 October 1975) is a Maldivian footballer nicknamed "Jambey", who plays as a defender for New Radiant. He was a member of the Maldives national football team. He is from the island of Eydhafushi, Baa Atoll. International ...

and

Ahmed Thariq Ahmed Thoriq (born 4 October 1980) is a Maldivian retired professional footballer, nicknamed "Tom". Biography He is from the island of Mahibadhoo in Alif Dhaal Atoll. International career His first competitive international tournament was the ...

, one for each in their 3–2 win against All Youth Linkage, their last league game of the season.

2010 season

On 25 April, Rilwan was sent off for a slap on Mukhthar Naseer's face during the 1–1 draw league game against Victory. Rilwan scored his first ever league goal on 16 May against Vyansa to put his side 1–0 up, by a thunderbolt shot out from the middle of the opposition half which hit the post before finding the back of the net. The game ended with a 3–0 victory. On 17 July, Rilwan was again sent off for making a harsh tackle against Ali Umar inside the penalty box and giving away a penalty for VB Sports Club, ending the match with a 3–1 defeat. Rilwan missed two of his penalties in the penalty shoot-out during the FA Cup 2010. On 30 September, his first spot kick was saved by Maziya goalkeeper Ahmed Athif in the quarter-finals but won the shoot-out by 3–1 after match ended as a 1–1 draw after 120 minutes. He missed his second penalty, which went wide against Victory in the semi-finals, on 5 October. They lost the shoot-out by 4–1 after 2–2 at the end of extra time.

2011 season

In his last season for Valencia, he made 14 league appearances with one goal. His last goal for the club was scored on 18 September against Maziya in the final league game, scoring the equalizing goal in the 1–1 draw.

Victory Sports Club

2012 season

Rilwan signed for Victory Sports Club at the age of 20 and the team management decided to include him in the club's 2012 FAM Youth Championship as the captain. They crowned the under-21 champions for the first time and Rilwan scored one goal in the competition against Club Eagles from a spot kick in a semi final match, where they lost 2–1. Rilwan made his senior debut for Victory on 18 February 2012 in the

2012 AFC Cup qualifying play-off The 2012 AFC Cup qualifying play-off was contested by two teams (both from West Asia Zone). The draw for the qualifying play-off was held at the AFC house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6 December 2011, 15:00 UTC+08:00. The draw determined the host ...

. They lost the match 3–4 to Yemen's

Al-Tilal Al-Tilal Sports Club ( ar, نادي التلال) is a Yemeni multi-sports club based in Aden, Yemen. The club was founded in 1905. Achievements * Yemeni League: 2 ** 1991, 2005 * Yemeni Presidents Cup: 2 ** 2007, 2010 * Yemeni Naseem Cup: ...

. Victory's second goal of the match was scored by captain

Shafiu Ahmed Shafiu "Shaafee" Ahmed (born 16 March 1987) is a Maldivian footballer, who is currently playing for New Radiant SC. Shaafee is also a player of Maldives national football team. He is from the island of Eydhafushi, Baa Atoll Baa Atoll (includes ...

, a header from a corner kick cross taken by Rilwan. In his first season playing for Victory, he made 16 appearances in the League and ended the season as runners-up. They were also the runners-up of President's Cup, losing 2–1 to New Radiant where Rilwan failed to score in the penalty shoot-out, and Charity Shield losing 1–0 to VB Addu FC in the extra time.

New Radiant Sports Club

2013 season

On 24 October 2013, Rilwan agreed to join New Radiant under two-year contract. He was assigned the number 8 shirt. Rilwan made his debut for New Radiant in the MILO Charity Shield match where they won 3–1 against Maziya on 21 February 2013. Rilwan had an impressive and also one of the successful season with New Radiant in 2013. He was a part of the squad which won the domestic quadruple in the Maldives with a remarkable 100% winning record for the first time in the Maldives. He won his first FA Cup in the 2013 season, along with the

2013 Dhivehi League The 2013 Dhivehi League(a Maldivian football association) started on 26 February 2013 and ended on 28 July 2013.Maldive ...

, 2013 President's Cup and the 2013 Charity Shield. Rilwan also played in the

2013 AFC Cup The 2013 AFC Cup was the tenth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. In an all-Kuwait final, defending champions Al-Kuwait defeated Al-Q ...

in which they reached the quarter-finals. On 14 January 2014, New Radiant terminated the contract with Rilwan, with one year remaining, due to an argument with their captain

Imran Mohamed Imran Mohamed (born 18 December 1980) is a Maldivian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently retired. He retired from international football in 2016 after the Laos vs Maldives match at the age of 35. International career He was ...

during a practice session where Rilwan used offensive and abusive language towards Imran in front of other teammates and supporters. Rilwan was also fined by one month salary and asked to apologize the coach and his teammates during the month of May 2013, for actively participating in a futsal tournament held in Malaysia without the approval from the club.

Maziya Sports & Recreation Club

2014 season

On 15 January 2014, the following day Rilwan's contract with New Radiant was terminated, he signed a one-year deal with Maziya Sports & Recreation Club. On 11 March 2014, Rilwan made his Maziya debut in the

2014 AFC Cup The 2014 AFC Cup was the 11th edition of the AFC Cup, a association football, football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Kuwait SC, Al-Kuwait were the two-time defendin ...

group stage match against Selangor of Malaysia, where they managed to get a point with a 1–1 draw at home. He was sent off during his first league game of the season, where the match ended 2–2 against B.G. Sports Club on 19 June with two cautions. He missed one match due to suspension and played his next match against his former club Victory, on 6 July and provided two assists; for

Ashad Ali Ashad Ali (born 14 September 1986), nicknamed Adey or Adubarey, is a Maldivian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Club Valencia. He was a member of the Maldives national football team. Club career Ashad started his career at Victory Sport ...

and

Riste Naumov Riste Naumov ( mk, Ристе Наумов; born 14 April 1981) is a retired Macedonian football forward. Club career Following his transfer from AC Omonia in January 2008 to Ethnikos Achnas, Naumov was a prolific goal-scorer, scoring 12 goals ...

. The match ended with huge 5–1 win. On 3 August 2014, during the 1–0 league win against his former club New Radiant, his knee got injured and was out for approximately three months.

Return to New Radiant Sports Club

2015 season

On 18 December 2014, Rilwan completed his return to the club and signed a two-year contract and claimed his number 8 shirt. Rilwan made his official return debut against

Lao Toyota FC FC Chanthabouly, previously known as Lao Toyota F.C. for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football club based in Vientiane, Laos, competing in the Lao League 1. History FC Chanthabouly was founded in 2013 as Lao Toyota F.C. by Toyota. T ...

in the

2015 AFC Cup Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

on 11 March 2015, coming into play as a substitute at half-time. They won the match by 2–1. On 20 April, Rilwan was sent-off in the first league game of the season against Victory, where they won by 3–1, after the foul he committed to Ahmed Ziyan. He was later suspended for two league games with a fine of MVR 4000 regarding the incident. On 8 July 2015, during his first game after returning from suspension, Rilwan conceded a penalty for a handball against Valencia, but won the game by 3–1. Rilwan scored his first New Radiant goal, on 16 July against Club Eagles, taking the lead in the fourth minute but ending the match with a 1–1 draw. On 26 September, Rilwan scored the opening goal again, against Club Eagles but this time in the President's Cup semi-finals. They ended the match with a 2–1 win, advancing to the President's Cup final. Rilwan scored his second league goal against Maziya on 20 October, where he scored the only goal of the match, collecting Mohamed Rasheed's long through ball inside the penalty box and volleyed it over goalkeeper Pavel Matyash.

2016 season

On 22 February 2016, Rilwan was assigned as the joint vice captain of New Radiant with Ahmed Niyaz, under the captaincy of Mohamed Rasheed. On 23 February, Rilwan scored in the season debut against Balestier Khalsa in the

2016 AFC Cup The 2016 AFC Cup was the 13th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya defeated Bengaluru FC in the final to win their first AFC Cup title, becoming ...

group stage match. He came into play as a substitute in the 69th minute and scored in the dying second of the game to level the score 2–2.

International career

Under-23

Rilwan was preceded as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Maldives national under-23 football team till the mid-2012 but later his captaincy was succeeded by Hassan Adhuham in the 2012 Rajapaksa International Trophy and he was given the vice-captaincy of the team. Rilwan scored the opening goal from a free kick and supplied a good long through ball to Asadhulla who curled in to the goal to score the second, in the 2012 Rajapaksa International Trophy Final against Pakistan to win Maldives national under-23 football team's first ever gold medal.

Senior team

Rilwan made his debut in a friendly match against Thailand on February 24, 2012 2012 AFC Challenge Cup was his first major tournament with the senior team and he played all the matches as a right back at

2012 AFC Challenge Cup The 2012 AFC Challenge Cup was the fourth edition of the tournament, an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging countries" in the defunct Vision Asia progra ...

for the Maldives. Their first goal of the tournament came with a header from a cross by Rilwan in to the penalty area of Turkmenistan. After the great performance in the tournament, he was one of the most hopeful young players in the Maldives, and also included in the Haveeru Sports Awards' best 5 players of

. He is the only Maldivian player nominated for the

's best Under-21 player Award. Despite being with minor injuries, national coach István Urbányi decided to include Rilwan in the 20 men squad for the

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 ...

. He only featured in the game against Bhutan in the group stage match where they won 8–2, replacing

for the final 10 minutes.

Career statistics

Club

*1.Maldivian Cup Winners Cup. *2.

. *3.

2015 POMIS Cup The 2015 POMIS Cup is the 17th championship, starting group matches on 22 January 2015 and the final match played on 28 January 2015 at National Football Stadium, Malé, Maldives. PDRM FA won the People's Cup final against Maziya S&RC. Teams T ...

International

International goals

=Under–23

= :''Scores and results list Maldives U–23's goal tally first.''

Awards and honours

Valencia * Dhivehi League:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* President's Cup:

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

*Maldives Cup Winners' Cup: 2007 Victory Youth * Youth Championship:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

New Radiant *

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 ...

* Dhivehi League:

* Dhivehi Premier League:

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 ...

* Maldives FA Cup:

* President's Cup:

Maziya * Maldives FA Cup:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Maldives U–23 * Rajapaksa International Trophy:

Individual * 2012 Haveeru Sports Award for the best Under–23 footballer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waheed, Rilwan 1991 births Living people Maldivian men's footballers Maldives men's international footballers Club Valencia (Maldives) players Victory Sports Club players New Radiant S.C. players People from Malé Men's association football wing halves Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for the Maldives Dhivehi Premier League players