Tariq Raihan Kazi ( bn, তারিক কাজী; born 6 October 2000) is a Finnish-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 ...

who plays as a defender for

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 ...

club Bashundhara Kings. Born in Finland, he represents the Bangladesh national team at international level. During his youth career he was primarily used as a

right wing-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 ...

, who could also be 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 ...

, later on he was transitioned into a

center 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 ...

by coach Óscar Bruzón. Kazi is the second Bangladeshi descent footballer to represent Bangladesh internationally after Danish-born

Jamal Bhuyan Jamal Harris Bhuyan ( bn, জামাল হ্যারিস ভূইয়া; born 10 April 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bangladesh Premier League club Sheikh Russel KC. Born in Denmark, he represents a ...

. He represented

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 ...

at U17 and U19 levels internationally, before switching national sides. He also made an appearance in the

UEFA 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 ...

qualifying stage for

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city ...

Personal life

Kazi was born to a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

mother and a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

father in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

. Kazi, who has represented

in the U17, U18, U19 national team, also has a

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

due to his family roots. His father Sahidul Kazi is a teacher of Tampare University of applied science. Kazi is the grandson of the heroic freedom fighter and school teacher of

naogaon Naogaon ( bn, নওগাঁ ''Nôogã'') is a city and district headquarter of Naogaon District in northern Bangladesh. It is located in the bank of Mini Jamuna river. It is the centre of commerce within the Naogaon District Naogaon Di ...

, Abdul Jabber Kazi, who was martyred in the battlefield of 1971 liberation war. He has a brother and two sisters.

Club career

Ilves

Kazi began his career with

, making his

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 ...

debut for the club in June 2018 as a substitute in a 3–1 loss to

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 19 July 2018, Kazi became the first ever Bangladeshi to play in a Europa League match. He came on as a substitute in the 76th minute for

Jani Tanska Jani Tanska (born 29 July 1988) is a retired Finnish professional footballer who played as a central defender. He was a product of MyPa youth academy and later spent three years with Charlton Athletic in 2004–2007. Career Club career Tanska ...

, as

defeated Bulgarian club

PFC Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground ...

2–1.

HJS Akatemia

Tariq spent the 2018–19 season on loan at Swedish club HJS Akatemia who currently play in the

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kakkonen (Finnish for 'Number Two' ...

which is the third level in the

league system A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids, due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in many sports in ...

Finnish football ) , country = Finland , sport = association football , noncountry = , teamlabel1 = , nationalteam = Men's national team Women's national team , teamlabel2 = , repteam = , nickname = , first ...

and comprises 36

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams. During the season Tariq managed to make 8 appearances for the club.

Bashundhara Kings

In November 2019, Kazi joined

side Bashundhara Kings on a three-year deal.

International career

Having represented Finland at youth international level, in November 2020, Kazi was called up to the

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

squad for their friendlies against

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

but had to withdraw from the squad due to injury. On 3 June 2021, Kazi made his senior international debut for Bangladesh in a 1–1 draw against

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 ...

in the country's

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

qualifier, playing full 90 minutes.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

Honours

Ilves *

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Bashundhara Kings *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021-22 *

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 ...

* Independence Cup:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

Profile
at the

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland ( fi, Suomen Palloliitto, abbr. SPL; sv, Finlands Bollförbund) is the governing body of football in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the men's and women's national footb ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kazi, Tariq 2000 births Living people Footballers from Tampere Bangladeshi people of Finnish descent Finnish people of Bangladeshi descent Bangladeshi men's footballers Finnish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Ilves (football) players HJS Akatemia players Bashundhara Kings players Veikkausliiga players Kakkonen players Bangladesh Premier League footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers