Jamal Haris Bhuyan (; born 10 April 1990) is a 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

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

Brothers Union Brothers Union () is a professional association football, football club based in Gopibagh, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It currently competes in the Bangladesh Premier League (football), Bangladesh Premier League, the top flight of Football in Bangladesh, ...

. Born in Denmark, he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

the Bangladesh national team.

Early life

Bhuyan was born in

Glostrup Glostrup is a Denmark, Danish town in Capital Region of Denmark, Region Hovedstaden, forming one of the Western suburbs (Copenhagen), western suburbs of Copenhagen. It is the administrative seat of Glostrup Municipality, with an estimated populati ...

, Denmark and grew up in the suburb of Brøndby Nord. His parents migrated to Denmark from

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in the late 1960s. At the age of 15, Bhuyan began playing for the youth team of

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

, scoring against F.C. Copenhagen's reserves. After the match, the opposition coach met him and offered him a place in the team, which Bhuyan accepted. By the time Bhuyan turned 16, he was on the verge of being promoted to the senior team of Copenhagen. However, his career was struck with a massive blow after he got stuck in the middle of a gang fight. He was shot four times. One of the bullets reportedly missed his heart by two centimetres. He found himself lying in the hospital bed after being in a coma for two days, later undergoing 12 surgeries, and although the chances of him playing professional football were slim, he returned to the game, eventually having to drop down to the lower divisions of Denmark. He later opened up in an interview about the difficulties he faced while returning to football, stating: ''"A few people around me, they died. But, you know, I survived. Because of the injury, I did not have any feeling in my right hand. So the doctors wanted to take some nerves from my foot and put it up in my arm. But I told them, I need my legs.''"

Club career

Jamal Bhuyan in 2019 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup

Bhuyan began his senior career with

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division () is a professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Football Association (Danish FA; DBU) as part of the nation-wide Da ...

club

Hellerup IK Hellerup IK or HIK is a Danish sport club from Hellerup. Their football team currently plays in the Danish 2nd Division, the third tier of the Danish football league system. HIK consists also of a handball and a tennis Tennis is a List of ...

, where he spent 3 seasons and scored one goal in one match. In 2012, Bhuyan joined the Abahani Limited Dhaka, one of the biggest clubs in

. After a two-year stint, during which he also made his national team debut, he returned to Denmark for a brief period, playing for the second division clubs

BK Avarta Boldklubben Avarta is a Danish professional Association football, football club currently competing in the Danish 3rd Division, 3rd division, which ranks as the fourth-highest league in the country. Avarta's home ground is Espelundens Idrætsanl� ...

and Avedøre IF. In 2014, Bhuyan returned to Bangladesh by joining the

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Lt. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club (Bengali language, Bengali: শেখ জামাল ধানমন্ডি ক্লাব) is a professional association football, football club based in the Dhanmondi area, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club com ...

. In his debut season, he won the domestic double, lifting both the 2015 Bangladesh Premier League and 2015 Federation Cup. He also earned his first continental trophy, winning the 2014 King's Cup in

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. He later went on to make six appearances for the club in their disappointing

2016 AFC Cup The 2016 AFC Cup was the 13th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya from Iraq defeated India's Bengaluru FC in the 2016 AFC ...

campaign. In 2016, he moved to

Sheikh Russel KC Sheikh Russel KC ( Bengali: শেখ রাসেল ক্রীড়া চক্র) is a professional football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1995, the club currently competes in the Bangladesh Premier League. They won Feder ...

, with whom he scored two goals in the league. In the 2017–18 season, Bhuyan joined the

Saif SC Saif Sporting Club was an association football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 2016, the club competed in the Bangladesh Premier League (football), Bangladesh Premier League, the top flight of Football in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi foot ...

. He played for the Chittagong Abahani on loan only in the 2019 Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup. He scored one goal against the

Young Elephants FC Young Elephants Association Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Vientiane, Laos. It competes in the Lao Premier League, Lao League 1. It is owned by Singaporean businessman Jason Lim since 2018. It has w ...

. In 2019, he was made captain of the Saif SC. In 2020, he joined the Indian club

Kolkata Mohammedan Mohammedan Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as Mohammedan, is an Indian multi-sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club is best known for their professional men's football section which competes in the Indian Super League, the t ...

in the

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 ...

on a season-long loan deal. In the match against the Churchill Brothers, Bhuyan became only the second Bangladeshi to captain an Indian football club when he wore the armband for Mohammedan, the first being Monem Munna who captained

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

in the 1990s. In August 2023, Jamal joined the Argentine club in the

Torneo Federal A The Torneo Federal A () is one of the two professional leagues that form the regionalised third level of the Argentine football league system, along with Primera B Metropolitana. The competition was established in 2014 as a result of a change in t ...

, following months of speculation. Initially, he was set to remain at the Sheikh Russel KC, as the club included him in their squad list for the 2023–24 season, however, Jamal confirmed his transfer to Sol de Mayo after Sheikh Russel failed to pay his dues from the previous year.

International career

In 2008, at age 16, Bhuyan was sent an offer letter to represent the

Bangladesh national football team The Bangladesh national football team () is the national recognised football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since 1973 and of FIFA sin ...

from the

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānglādesh fūṭbôl fēḍārēshôn'') is the governing body that administers the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national teams, ...

. However, he had to turn down the offer due to family complications. On 31 August 2013, Bhuyan made his debut for the Bangladesh national football team 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 the

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 ...

, becoming the first non-resident player to represent the national side. Bhuyan became the MVP (most valuable player) in the

Bangabandhu Cup The Bangabandhu Cup, also known as the Bangabandhu Gold Cup, is an international football tournament organised by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) as a tribute to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who is the founding father of Banglad ...

where eight countries took part. On 19 August 2018, Bhuyan scored the winning goal in the

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

in a 1–0 victory over the Qatar national under-23 football team to help the Bangladesh national under-23 football team qualify for the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

in the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

and also created history by making Bangladesh qualify for the first time in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

's knockout stage.

Personal life

On 18 May 2019, he was invited to the La Liga studio for a live commentary along with

Joe Morrison Joseph R. Morrison (August 21, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a running back and wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants from 1959 to 1972. M ...

and

John Burridge John Burridge (born 3 December 1951), nicknamed Budgie, is an English former goalkeeper. In his senior career he played for 29 clubs, 18 of them in the Football League, in a career that lasted nearly 30 years. Overall, Burridge played 768 lea ...

. The match was between the Real Valladolid and the

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

. He was also the commentator for the match between the

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

and the FC Barcelona. On 5 January 2020, Jamal Bhuyan was married, the wedding ceremony taking place in his birthplace, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Career statistics

International

International goals

Olympic

Senior

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

Honours

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* Federation Cup: 2014–15 *

Kings Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Bangladesh U23 *

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

bronze medal:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Bangladesh * Bangabandhu Gold Cup runner-up:

Individual * 2015 Bangabandhu Cup Player of the Tournament * 2014 King's Cup Player of the Tournament

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhuyan, Jamal 1990 births Living people Footballers from Copenhagen Danish people of Bangladeshi descent Bangladeshi people of Danish descent Danish men's footballers Bangladeshi men's footballers 21st-century Bangladeshi sportsmen Bangladesh men's international footballers Bangladesh men's youth international footballers Bangladesh Premier League footballers Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club players Men's association football midfielders Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Boldklubben Avarta players Asian Games competitors for Bangladesh South Asian Games bronze medalists for Bangladesh South Asian Games medalists in football Saif Sporting Club players Avedøre IF players Bangladeshi expatriate men's footballers Bangladeshi expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate men's footballers in India Bangladeshi expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina I-League players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players Abahani Limited Dhaka players Chittagong Abahani Limited players Sportspeople from Glostrup Municipality Sheikh Russel KC players 21st-century Danish sportsmen