Mustafa Zazai (born 9 May 1993) 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

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 the Cambodian club Riel Phnom Penh and formerly the Afghanistan national team.

Early life

Zazai 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 1993, to a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

family. He moved to Germany in the following years.

Youth

Zazai played in the youth of many German clubs. He played in the youth of

HSV Hamburg Handball Sport Verein Hamburg is a professional handball club from Germany, located in Hamburg. Currently, Handball Hamburg competes in the Handball-Bundesliga. The full name in German is ''Handball Sport Verein Hamburg e.V.'' but the club has t ...

Concordia Hamburg SC Concordia von 1907 was a Football in Germany, German football club from Marienthal, a quarter in the Wandsbek borough of the city of Hamburg. In 2013, the club has merged with neighbours TSV Wandsbek-Jenfeld 81' (already having used their gro ...

and

VfB Lübeck VfB Lübeck is a German association football club playing in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, in the country's north. It is most known for reaching the semifinals of the German Cup in the 2003/2004 season. They played in the 2. Bundesliga from 199 ...

Club career

After being promoted to the first team of

he played 23 matches and scored 3 goals. At the end of the season he was contacted by FC St. Pauli II if he wants to play for them. He accepted the offer. He played mostly as an attacking midfielder. He scored 5 goal in 24 matches. On 23 January 2019, Zazai signed a contract with

Malaysia Premier League The Malaysia Premier League () was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. The season usually ra ...

side,

Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

International career

He was selected by the head coach 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. He was 21 years old when he gave his debut for the national team.

International goals

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

References

External links

VfB Lübeck Profilesoccerwiki Profile
1993 births Living people Footballers from Kabul Afghan men's footballers German men's footballers Afghan emigrants to Germany Afghanistan men's international footballers Pashtun footballers Men's association football midfielders Regionalliga players VfB Lübeck players TSG Neustrelitz players Lüneburger SK Hansa players Kelantan F.C. players Phnom Penh Crown FC players Visakha FC players Boeung Ket Angkor FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Cambodia Afghan expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Afghan expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Afghan expatriate sportspeople in Cambodia 21st-century German sportsmen {{Afghanistan-footy-bio-stub