Zohib Islam Amiri

Zohib Islam Amiri

Personal information
Full name	Zohib Islam Amiri
Date of birth	(1987-05-02) May 2, 1987
Place of birth	Kabul, Afghanistan
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current team	DSK Shivajians
Number	18
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2005–2007	Shoa
2007–2011	Kabul Bank
2011–2014	Mumbai	58	(3)
2014–2015	Dempo	16	(5)
2014	→ FC Goa (loan)	9	(0)
2015–	DSK Shivajians	6	(0)
National team‡
2005–2015	Afghanistan	55	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:52, 14 February 2016 (UTC). † Appearances (goals) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of June 07, 2014

Zohib Islam Amiri (Persian: ذهیب اسلام امیری‎‎; born May 2, 1987) sometimes also called Haroon Fakhruddin is an Afghan footballer who plays for DSK Shivajians in the Indian I-League. He was also a member of the Afghanistan national football team.^[1] He wears the number 3 for his national team and plays as the defender.

Early life

Zohib Islam was born on May 2, 1987^[2] to an ethnic Hazara shopkeeper in Kabul. Growing up Zohib Islam played football often, using a homemade ball consisting of rolled up fabric stitched together. During the Taliban rule he often witnessed executions at the national stadium.^[3]

Club career

Early career

Zohib Islam started his career in 2005 at Shoa F.C, where he played 50 games. Afterwards, in 2007, he went to play for Kabul Bank F.C..^[4]

Mumbai FC

Zohib Islam joined Mumbai FC in 2011, and quickly became one of the star players at the club. Following his impressive performances during the 2012–13 I-League Zohib Islam received the award for the fan's players on the season.^[3] Despite reviving this prestigious award his contract with Mumbai FC was n ot renewed and Zohib Islam began thinking of moving to Bahrain or Oman to play club football, but ultimately decided to stay in India.^[5]

Dempo SC

On January 11, Zohib Islam along with Tolgay Özbey signed for Indian giant Dempo SC for a one-year contract, and received shirt number 18.^[6][7] He made his debut against Rangdajied United and scored. On the 7 of April Zohib Islam was involved in an ugly brawl in a match between Dempo SC and his former club Mumbai FC.^[8]

On May 30 both he and Özbey signed extensions with Dempo.^[9]

On April 4, 2015 Zohib Islam scored two goals, including one only one minute from time to salvage a 2 - 2 draw with Sporting Goa.^[10]

DSK Shivajians

In January 2016, Amiri announced he signed a contract with Indian football club DSK Shivajians.^[11]

International career

Amiri made his debut in the 2005 SAFF Gold Cup against Maldives. Zohib Islam was part of the Afghanistan squad for the 2011 SAFF Championship, where they reached the final for the first time. Wearing number 3 Zohib Islam contributed many memorable performances, including scoring 1 of the goals in Afghanistan's biggest ever victory over Bhutan ^[12]

Zohib Islam Amiri (in red uniform) against Jeje Lalpekhlua of India during the 2011 SAFF Championship

Two years later Zohib Islam served as captain for Afghanistan at the 2013 SAFF Championship, and was the rock of which the Afghan defense was built on. Zohib Islam scored goals in a 3-0 win over Bhutan^[13] and a 3-1 win over Sri Lanka.^[14] He played a crucial role as Afghanistan made it to the final for a second consecutive time an achieved a 2-0 victory against India.^[15]

In May 2014 Zohib Islam captained the squad to the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives. On May 22 Zohib Islam scored the first goal of the game with a bullet header in Afghanistan's 3-1 victory over Turkmenistan at the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. This was also Afghanistan's first every victory at the AFC Challenge Cup in eight attempts.^[16] 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. Zohib Islam suffered minor injuries, along with Faisal Sakhizada, Ahmad Hatifi, Balal Arezou, 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.^{[17][18][19][20]} In February 2015 Amiri and 8 other teammates of the Afghan national team decided to quit playing for the national team anymore. They made this decision because they didn't seem to fit in the team and because there was many foreign players from Europe especially from Germany. Amiri said he doesn't see no future in the National Team if the foreign players only get the chance to play for their country. After this decision many people disgraced the decision on social media.

References