Balal Arezou (also Belal or Bilal; born 28 December 1988) is an Afghan

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

and currently plays for Norwegian club

Grane Arendal Idrettsklubben Grane is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Arendal. It has sections for association football, team handball, athletics and orienteering. The club was founded on 10 February 1902 and named after Grani of Norse mythology. The men's ...

. He ranks second in the all-time top scorer table of the

Afghanistan national football team The Afghanistan national football team represents Afghanistan in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Afghanistan Football Federation. History Early history The Afghanistan Football Federation was est ...

with nine goals.

Club career

Asker

Arezou grew up in Afghanistan and moved to Norway as a refugee. In Norway, he played football for

Senja or is an island in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway in northern Europe. With an area of , it is the second largest island in Norway (outside of the Svalbard archipelago). It has a wild, mountainous outer (western) side facing the A ...

, IK Grane, Grane, Arendal and

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

's youth team before he joined

Asker Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...

in 2009.

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 Sunil Chhetri (, born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and captains the India national team. He is the all-time top scorer in Indian Super League history. He is ...

from

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

Moss FK

On 7 March 2015 he joined

Moss FK Moss Fotballklubb is a Norwegian football club, founded on 28 August 1906. They play in the 1. divisjon, the second highest division in the Norwegian football league system. They played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937–1939, 1953–5 ...

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.

International career

Arezou was included in Afghanistan's squad for the

2014 AFC Challenge Cup The 2014 AFC Challenge Cup was the fifth and the final edition of the AFC Challenge Cup, an international Association football, football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging co ...

in the Maldives. In the group stages of the tournament Afghanistan claimed their first ever win at the

AFC Challenge Cup The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that were categorised as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. It was created by former AFC president Mohammed ...

with a 3–1 victory over

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. After Afghanistan's 0–0 draw with

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

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 Zohib Islam Haroon Fakhruddin Amiri (; born 15 February 1990) is an Afghan former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Over his two-decade career, he became a pivotal figure in Afghan football, representing clubs across Asia and ...

, and Mustafa Azadzoy. All five players were set to miss the semi-finals against

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. Former coach

Mohammad Yousef Kargar Mohammad Yosuf Kargar () is an Afghan former football player and manager who is president of the Afghanistan Football Federation. He formerly coached the Afghanistan national team. Career Kargar's family set up Afghanistan's first ski resort, a ...

and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injuries.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Afghanistan's goal tally first.''

Personal life

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

Club career stats

Honors

Churchill Brothers *

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Afghanistan *

2013 SAFF Championship The 2013 South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly referred to as 2013 SAFF Championship, was the 10th SAFF Championship for List of men's national association football teams#AFC (Asia), men's national football teams organized by the ...

Individual * 2010 South Asian Games Top Scorer

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arezou, Balal 1988 births Living people Footballers from Kabul Afghan refugees Refugees in Norway Afghan emigrants to Norway Sportspeople of Afghan descent Afghan men's footballers Afghanistan men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Fredrikstad FK players Asker Fotball players Norwegian First Division players Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Expatriate men's footballers in India Afghan expatriate men's footballers Afghan expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate men's footballers in Norway FK Arendal players FK Senja players moss FK players South Asian Games silver medalists for Afghanistan South Asian Games medalists in football