Ata Yamrali (born 5 July 1982) is a German-Afghan former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Between 2007 and 2013 he made 12 appearances for the Afghanistan national team, scoring 3 goals.

Early life

Yamrali was born in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

. In 1985, when Yamrali was three years old and the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, his family fled from Kabul to Gumbat, Iran. Three years later, they moved to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany.

Club career

Yamrali started playing club football at the age of 11, for SC Poppenbüttel and also played youth football for

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

and TSV Sasel. Having a suffered a shin fracture in May 2001, he had become a regular starter for SC Victoria Hamburg, playing in the fifth-tier Verbandsliga Hamburg, by November.

International career

Yamrali scored his first international goal for Afghanistan in 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers against the hosts

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

, to ensure Afghanistan qualified for the finals. He was a member of the Afghanistan national team and appeared in two

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifying matches.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Afghanistan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yamrali goal''.

References

1982 births Living people Afghan men's footballers Footballers from Kabul Afghan emigrants to Germany Men's association football midfielders Afghanistan men's international footballers SC Victoria Hamburg players FC St. Pauli II players VfL 93 Hamburg players {{Afghanistan-footy-bio-stub