Balal Arezou

Balal Arezou
Personal information
Date of birth (1988-12-28) 28 December 1988 (age 35)
Place of birth Kabul, Afghanistan
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Grane Arendal
Youth career
0000 Senja
0000–2006 Grane
2007 FK Arendal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007 FK Arendal 1 (0)
2007–2008 Fredrikstad 0 (0)
2009–2015 Asker 118 (24)
2013–2014 → Churchill Brothers (loan) 8 (0)
2015–2016 Moss 20 (9)
2016–2018 Asker 2 (0)
2018 Arendal 6 (1)
2019–2024 IF Trauma 44 (28)
2024– Grane Arendal 11 (11)
International career‡
2010 Afghanistan U23 5 (6)
2011– Afghanistan 28 (9)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Afghanistan
SAFF Championship
Winner 2013 Nepal
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 28 January 2019
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 November 2023

Balal Arezou (also Belal or Bilal; born 28 December 1988) is an Afghan footballer who plays as a forward and currently plays for Norwegian club Grane Arendal.[1] He ranks second in the all-time top scorer table of the Afghanistan national football team with nine goals.[2]

Club career

Asker

Arezou grew up in Afghanistan and moved to Norway as a refugee. In Norway, he played football for Senja, IK Grane|Grane, Arendal and Fredrikstad's youth team before he joined Asker in 2009.[3]

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.[4]

Moss FK

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

IF Trauma

Arezou signed with IF Trauma on 26 January 2019, and was reunited with his former coach, Gaute Haugenes.[5]

International career

Arezou was 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.[6] 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. All five players were set to miss the semi-finals against Palestine. Former coach Mohammad Yousef Kargar and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injuries.[7][8][9][10]

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  Palestine
1–1
1–1
 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
2. 3 December 2011 Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India  India
1–0
1–1
 2011 SAFF Championship
3. 7 December 2011 Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India  Bhutan
3–0
 8–1
4.
4–0
5.
5–1
6.
8–1
7. 9 December 2011 Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India    Nepal
1–0
1–0
8. 2 March 2013 New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos  Sri Lanka
1–0
1–0
 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifier
9. 4 March 2013 New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos  Mongolia
1–0
1–0

Personal life

Balal's younger brother Amid Arezou made his debut for the Afghanistan national team in 2024.[11]

Club career stats

As of 16 August 2014
Season Club League League Cup Continental Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
2009 Asker 2. divisjon 25 4 0 0 — 25 4
2010 26 7 2 2 — 28 9
2011 Adeccoligaen 19 0 0 0 — 19 0
2012 2. divisjon 24 10 2 0 — 26 10
2012–13 Churchill Brothers (loan) I-League 8 0 0 0 4 0 12 0
2013 Asker 2. divisjon 7 1 0 0 — 7 1
2014–15 17 2 1 0 — 18 2
Asker total 118 24 5 2 — 123 26
Career total 126 24 5 2 4 0 135 26

Honors

Churchill Brothers

Afghanistan

Individual

References

  1. ^ "DEBUTANTER BLE HELTER" (in Norwegian). arendalfotball. 18 August 2018. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  2. ^ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "NFT player – National team & Club appearances: Arezou, Belal". national-football-teams.com. National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  3. ^ Langerød, Dag (4 February 2010). "Sjekk denne 2. divisjonshelten" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  4. ^ Belal Arezou joined Churchill Brothers of Indian League Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. ahmadfaisalsidiqi.blogspot.in, 14 February 2013
  5. ^ Toppscorer på landslaget til Trauma Archived 29 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine, fvn.no, 26 January 2019
  6. ^ "AFC Challenge Cup: Afghanistan 3–1 Turkmenistan". AFC. 23 May 2014. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Afghan contingent suffers minor injuries in team bus accident". AFC. 25 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  8. ^ Shimaaz Ali (25 May 2014). "Five Afghan players to miss semi". Maldives Soccer. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  9. ^ Mohamed Sajid (25 May 2014). "Afghanistan is all over worried". Maldives Soccer. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  10. ^ Shimaaz Ali (24 May 2014). "Afghan five players injured due to the accident". Maldives Soccer. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  11. ^ "Afghanistan v Qatar game report". ESPN. 6 June 2024.