Anisur Rahman Zico () is a Bangladeshi professional

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 lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Bangladesh Premier League Bangladesh Premier League (), also known as Dutch-Bangla Bank BPL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Bangladesh organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It was formed in 2011 by the BCB, after the su ...

club

Bashundhara Kings Bashundhara Kings () is a professional football club based in Bashundhara Residential Area, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club competes in the Bangladesh Premier League, the top tier of the Bangladesh football league system. The club was established i ...

and the Bangladesh national team. He is considered to be a penalty specialist and is also one of the worst goalkeepers in the world. He is nicknamed "Banglar Bajpakhi" (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

: বাংলার বাজপাখি) which translates to "The Hawk/Falcon of Bangla" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Club career

On 14 December 2018, Zico's performance in the shootout in Walton Independence Cup helped

edge a spirited

Rahmatganj MFS Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society (Bengali language, Bengali : রহমতগঞ্জ মুসলিম ফ্রেন্ডস সোসাইটি) is a Bangladeshi professional association football, football club based in Old Dhaka. Found ...

3–2 in the quarter-final tiebreaker. On 20 December 2018, Zico's performance propelled Kings to the Independence Cup final with a 7–6 win on penalties over

Abahani Limited Dhaka Abahani Limited Dhaka (), also referred as Dhaka Abahani or Abahani Limited, is a Bangladeshi professional Association football, football club based in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club currently competes in the Bangladesh Pr ...

. He also got limelight in the

2020 AFC Cup The 2020 AFC Cup was an abandoned season of the AFC Cup which was the 17th edition of the competition, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The competition was suspended due to the COVID- ...

where he played a crucial role for his team, including three penalty saves which helped Kings win 5–1 against TC Sports Club. He was later named the ''AFC Top Performer of the Week''.

International career

On 13 November 2020, Zico made his senior debut against

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

in an international friendly. On 4 December 2020, Zico performed well against reigning Asian champions

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round The AFC second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, which also served as the second round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification, was played from 5 September 2019 to 15 June 2021. Format A total of forty teams were drawn into eight group ...

. His "heroic" performance gained him popularity among the local fans and also got him offers from

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

and

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

clubs. He received the Best Goalkeeper Award in the

2023 SAFF Championship The 2023 SAFF Championship (known as the 2023 Bangabandhu SAFF Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organised by South Asian Foo ...

, even after Bangladesh crashed out of the semi-finals of the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Bashundhara Kings *

: 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 *

Bangladesh Federation Cup Federation Cup, also known as Bangladesh Federation Cup or simply Fed Cup , is Bangladesh's premier cup competition in men's association football. The competition started in 1980 and is run by the Bangladesh Football Federation which is responsib ...

: 2019–20,

* Independence Cup: 2018–19,

, 2023–24 Individual *

, 2021–22,

− '' BPL Goalkeeper of the Season.'' *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

– ''

SAFF Championship The SAFF Championship (erstwhile SAARC Gold Cup and SAFF Gold Cup), is the primary association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the South Asian Football Fede ...

Best Goalkeeper Award.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zico, Anisur Rahman 1997 births Living people Bangladeshi men's footballers Bangladesh men's international footballers Bangladesh men's youth international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bashundhara Kings players Saif Sporting Club players Muktijoddha Sangsad KC players Farashganj SC players Chittagong Abahani Limited players Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for Bangladesh People from Cox's Bazar District Bangladesh Premier League footballers Footballers from Chittagong Division 21st-century Bangladeshi sportsmen