Zayn Mohammed Junayd Hakeem (born 15 February 1999) is a British-born Antiguan

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 Shepshed Dynamo, where he plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Early life

Hakeem attended

The Martin High School, Anstey The Martin High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in the village of Anstey, Leicestershire, on the outskirts of Leicester. The school accepts students from nearby Beaumont Leys, Glenfield, Thurcaston and ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

starting in 2012.

Playing career

Mansfield Town

Hakeem began his career with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

and made his professional debut on 7 May 2016 in a 0–0 draw against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

Coalville Town (loan)

Zayn joined Southern League Premier Central side Coalville Town on loan on 13 October 2018, on a deal that ran until 1 January 2019.

Bradford (Park Avenue)

Zayn signed for

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

side

Bradford (Park Avenue) Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

on 30 July 2019 following his release from

Barwell

Hakeem joined Southern League Premier Division Central side

Barwell Barwell is a civil parish and large village in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents, Increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census, the name literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from a boar that ...

for the 2019–20 season in September 2019. He made his Southern League Premier Division Central debut on 28 September 2019 coming on as a 70th minute substitute for Tolani Omotola, in a 3–1 away defeat at

Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton t ...

. Zayn scored his first Southern League Premier Division Central goal for

on 21 December 2019, in an away fixture against Peterborough Sports, again coming on as a 70th minute substitute for Tolani Omotola, Hakeem scored the equaliser on the 73rd minute to make it 4–4, only for Dan Lawlor to score an 80th-minute winner for Peterborough Sports.

Coleshill Town

Zayn signed for Southern League Division One Central side Coleshill Town on 23 January 2020. He made his Southern League Division One Central debut the following day in a home fixture against

Aylesbury United Aylesbury United Football Club is a football club based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. They are currently members of Division One Central of the Southern League and play at Chesham United's Meadow ground, having been evicted from their ...

, it wasn't one to remember with his new team succumbing to a 6–0 home defeat.

Northern Premier League

In July 2021, he signed for

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Division One East side

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. As of the 2021–22 season the team plays in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History First clu ...

, following a curtailed season at Anstey Nomads in the previous campaign in the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

. In October 2021, he was on the move again to divisional rivals Stamford. He returned to Anstey Nomads in January 2022, as he had found his game time limited at Stamford. Hakeem made the move back to the NPL, signing for Shepshed Dynamo at the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

International career

Hakeem has represented Antigua and Barbuda U-20s. He scored twice against Bermuda in the

2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying The qualifying competitions for the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship were handled by two regional of CONCACAF's bodies; the Caribbean Football Union (Caribbean zone) and the Central American Football Union (Central American zone). Representative tea ...

tournament.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hakeem, Zayn 1999 births Sportspeople from Leicester Living people Antigua and Barbuda men's footballers English men's footballers English sportspeople of Antigua and Barbuda descent English Football League players Southern Football League players Northern Premier League players Mansfield Town F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Basford United F.C. players Coalville Town F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Barwell F.C. players Coleshill Town F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players Stamford A.F.C. players Anstey Nomads F.C. players Men's association football forwards Antigua and Barbuda men's under-20 international footballers