Mustafa Azadzoy (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: مصطفي آزادزوي; born 24 July 1992) is an Afghan 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a winger for German club WSC Frisia and the Afghanistan national team.

Early life

Azadzoy was born in Afghanistan to a Tajik mother and a Pashtun father. He has five older brothers and sisters. When he was just six months old, his family moved to Germany, although his uncle and aunt remain in Afghanistan. Soon clubs started noticing his talent, after spending time with Delmenhorster BV he was recruited by

VfB Oldenburg VfB Oldenburg is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg, Lower Saxony. In the 2022–23 season, they played in the 3. Liga, the third level of football in Germany. History Founded by a gro ...

who put Azadoy in their youth system.

Club career

After spending his youth career in

he signed for TB Uphusen in 2013.

International career

In 2011, Azadzoy made his debut for Afghanistan national team in the

2011 SAFF Championship The 2011 South Asian Football Federation Championship, sponsored by Karbonn Mobiles and officially named Karbonn SAFF Championship 2011, was the 9th tournament of the SAFF Championship, which held in New Delhi, India. Venue It was originally ...

. In February 2013 Azadzoy was called up by Afghan 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 ...

to play for Afghanistan against Sri Lanka, encouraged by fellow Afghan-German footballer Mansur Faqiryar. Azadzoy was part of Afghanistan's squad at 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 ...

, in which he scored his first ever goal against

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 , ...

in a 3–0 win in the group stages. He also scored the first goal in the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, helping Afghanistan to a 2–0 win and handing them their first ever SAFF Championship. Azadoy 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 ...

. Unfortunately 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. Azadoy had to spend time in hospital over night and is set to miss three weeks, while his teammates

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 ...

, Faisal Sakhizada, Ahmad Hatifi and

Balal Arezou Balal Arezou (also Belal or Bilal; born 28 December 1988) is an Afghan footballer who plays as a forward and currently plays for Norwegian club Grane Arendal. He ranks second in the all-time top scorer table of the Afghanistan national football ...

all suffered minor injuries. All five players are 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

and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injuries.

Career statistics

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

Honours

Afghanistan *

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 ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * *
Goal.com Profile
*
football.com profile
1992 births Living people Footballers from Kabul Afghan men's footballers Afghan emigrants to Germany Sportspeople of Afghan descent Afghanistan men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Asian Games competitors for Afghanistan Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy Atlas Delmenhorst players Mustafa Azadzoy Mustafa Azadzoy Regionalliga players Afghan expatriate men's footballers Afghan expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Afghan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany {{Afghanistan-footy-bio-stub