Balal Arezou

Balal Arezou (also Belal or Bilal; born 28 December 1988) is an Afghan footballer who plays as a forward and is currently playing for Norwegian club Asker FK. He is currently the topscorer with 9 goals for the Afghanistan national football team.

Club career

Asker

Arezou grew up in Afghanistan and moved to Norway as a refugee. In Norway, he played football for Senja, Grane, Arendal and Fredrikstad's youth team before he joined Asker in 2009.^[1]

Churchill Brothers

In February 2013 he joined Churchill Brothers S.C. on a four-month loan from Asker. His move completed with the return of Indian striker Sunil Chhetri from Sporting Clube de Portugal.^[2]

Moss FK

On 7 March 2015 he joined Moss FK on a 2-year contract. He will wear shirt number 90.

International career

Balal Arezou made his debut for his native country Afghanistan on 2010 when he was called up for 2010 South Asian Games. Afghanistan took everyone by surprise to top the group stage with wins over India (1–0), Pakistan (2–1), and Sri Lanka (2–0). Nepal was again the opponent in the semi final (similar to the recent South Asian Football Federation Cup ) to once again win marginally 1–0. Arezou scored all six goals of Afghanistan and eventually went on to become the top scorer of the tournament with six goals in his name. Unfortunately Afghanistan lost the final to host nation but earned Balal Arezou the title of the best player in the tournament. It was amazing to produce such an excellent display for his native country and it was a treat to watch and a sign of things to come.

His scoring foot did not stop for the national team, becoming the second Afghanistan player in history to score in a World Cup Qualifying match. Obaidullah Karimi scored Afghanistan's first ever World Cup goal in a 1–2 (1–5 on aggregate) loss to Syria in the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, and Arezou scored Afghanistan's second in a 1–1 (1–3 on aggregate) draw to Palestine in their 2014 World Cup Qualifying match. Later in the year in SAFF Championship 2011 he scored the opening goal of Afghanistan against India which ended to 1–1 draw. He scored 4 amazing goals against Bhutan which ended 8–1 and earned Arezou the man of the match award and was the only hat trick of the tournament in which he was the captain of the team also. With amazing goals against Bhutan Afghanistan moved to top the group ahead of India. Balal Arezou was the hero against Nepal in semi Finals when he scored the only goal of the match at extra time and took his team to the Finals of the tournament. Afghanistan lost the finals in a controversial moments when skipper was sent out 20 minutes before the match ends but brilliant display from Arezou never stopped in the game. Arezou once again showed his brilliance by sending the national team to AFC Challenge Cup 2014 after winning the group stage of 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification. He scored two winning goals each vs Sri Lanka and Mongolia to ensure victory for Afghanistan. Afghanistan draw with hosts Laos but still qualified as a group winner.

Arezou had the honor of being included in Afghanistan's squad for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives. In the group stages of the tournament Afghanistan claimed their first ever win at the AFC Challenge Cup with a 3-1 victory over Turkmenistan.^[3] Unfortunately after Afghanistan's 0-0 draw with Laos that confirmed their progression out of the group stage, an accident occurred while the Afghan players were being driven back to their hotel. Arezou sustained minor injuries in the accident along with his teammates Faisal Sakhizada, Ahmad Hatifi, Zohib Islam Amiri, and Mustafa Azadzoy, the latter of which will have to take three weeks off to recover. All five players are set to miss the semi finals against Palestine. Former coach Mohammad Yousef Kargar and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injures.^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

International goals

Scores and results list Afghanistan's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	3 July 2011	Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Al-Ram	Palestine	1–1	1–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
2.	3 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi	India	1–0	1–1	2011 SAFF Championship
3.	7 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi	Bhutan	3–0	8–1	2011 SAFF Championship
4.	7 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi	Bhutan	4–0	8–1	2011 SAFF Championship
5.	7 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi	Bhutan	5–1	8–1	2011 SAFF Championship
6.	7 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi	Bhutan	8–1	8–1	2011 SAFF Championship
7.	9 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi	Nepal	1–0	1–0	2011 SAFF Championship
8.	2 March 2013	New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane	Sri Lanka	1–0	1–0	2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifier
9.	4 March 2013	New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane	Mongolia	1–0	1–0	2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifier

Club career stats

As of 16 August 2014

Honors

• I-League 2013
• Top Scorer 2010 South Asian Games

Afghanistan

• 2013 SAFF Championship

References

External links

• Balal Arezou profile at Soccerway
• Balal Arezou at worldfootball.net