Amjad Riola Iqbal ( Urdu: ; born 2 May 1983) is a former footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. Born and raised in England, he earned ten caps with the Pakistan national team.

Club career

Born in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, West Yorkshire, Iqbal started his career at youth level with Bradford City before moving to local non-league club, Thackley in the Northern Counties East Football League and signed for

Farsley Celtic Farsley Celtic Football Club is a football club based in Farsley, West Yorkshire, England. The club was founded in 1908, but folded in 2010 and were reformed as Farsley AFC before returning to the name Farsley Celtic in 2015.

in 2002. Iqbal helped Farsley achieve four promotions in five years, the last promotion being in the 2006–07 season when they were promoted to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

with Iqbal as club captain. Iqbal played 20 consecutive games for Farsley in their 2006–07 promotion season in which they finished in fifth place in the Conference North and beat Hinckley United in the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

to earn promotion to the Conference National. He has twice won the Farsley Player of the year award. He remained with Farsley until March 2009, when he rejoined his former manager Lee Sinnott at

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 ...

. In August 2010, he returned to Farsley to play for the reformed Farsley AFC in the Northern Counties East Football League. In 2013, Iqbal joined FC United of Manchester. He played in one league game and one cup game for the club.

International career

Iqbal become Farsley's first international when he received a call up to the Pakistan squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

qualifying matches against Iraq, in October 2007. Pakistan lost 7–0 on aggregate over two matches, but held Iraq to a nil-nil draw in the second leg. However, Iqbal could not take part in the AFC Challenge Cup 2008 and was not called up for

SAFF Cup 2008 The 2008 SAFF Championship was held in Malé, Maldives and Colombo, Sri Lanka between 3 and 14 June 2008. Initially, the tournament was due to be held in 2007 but was postponed to 2008. Venues Squads Group stage Group A ---- ---- --- ...

due to club and work commitments. He did play in SAFF Cup 2009 for Pakistan after a two-year absence from national team.

Personal life

Iqbal is a British Pakistani and is born to Pakistani parents. Other than being a football player, Iqbal is also a part-time

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

lecturer at

Bradford College Bradford College is a further and higher education college in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, with approximately 25,000 students. The college offers a range of full and part-time courses from introductory level through to postgraduate ...

. His nickname was ''Ammers'' at Farsley.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iqbal, Amjad 1981 births Living people Footballers from Bradford English footballers English people of Pakistani descent Pakistani footballers Pakistan international footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Association football utility players Bradford City A.F.C. players Thackley F.C. players Farsley Celtic A.F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Farsley Celtic F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Northern Counties East Football League players British sportspeople of Pakistani descent British Asian footballers