Abdul Najim Haidary (; born 26 December 1999) 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

VV Capelle Voetbalvereniging Capelle is a football club based in Capelle aan den IJssel, Netherlands. It was founded in 1930. VV Capelle plays its home matches at Sportpark 't Slot. History Since 2018, VV Capelle competes in the Vierde Divisie. In the ...

. Born in the Netherlands, he represents the Afghanistan national team.

Club career

Having progressed through the academy of

Excelsior Rotterdam Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known as Excelsior, is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024– ...

, Haidary joined

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie (; ) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and between 1962 and 19 ...

side

BVV Barendrecht Barendrechtse Voetbalvereniging Barendrecht, commonly known as BVV Barendrecht, is a football club from Barendrecht, Netherlands. The club was founded on 12 February 1926 and plays its matches at Sportpark de Bongerd. With more than 2,000 members ...

in 2018, going on to make his debut for the club later the same year. After three appearances, he joined

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

side

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

in 2019, but during his time with the club he suffered a serious knee injury which side-lined him for eight months, and he was unable to make his debut. In February 2022, he returned to the Tweede Divisie with

ASWH ASWH, short for Altijd Sterker Worden Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, is an association football club from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1929. It won section championships in 1949, 1959, 1961, 1970, 1883, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, a ...

. However, despite making fifteen appearances, he could not help prevent the club being relegated to the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede D ...

. Ahead of the 2022–23 season, in August 2022, he moved to Cyprus, joining

Cypriot Third Division The Cypriot Third Division (Greek language, Greek: Πρωτάθλημα Γ΄ Κατηγορίας) is the third tier Association football, football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Each year, the top finishing ...

side

ENAD Enad may refer to: People * Abdulhameed Enad (born 1995), Qatari football player * Abdulmajeed Enad (born 1994), Qatari football player * Abdurahman Enad (born 1996), Qatari football player * Enad Ličina (born 1979), Serbian boxer * Thamer E ...

. After only two appearances for ENAD, Haidary moved to Sweden, joining

Ettan Fotboll Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

side Ariana.

International career

Haidary was eligible to represent both Afghanistan and the Netherlands at international level, and during his time in the academy of Excelsior Rotterdam, his coach, Marinus Barendregt, was in contact with then-manager 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 ...

, Anoush Dastgir, informing Dastgir that Haidary was a player in the team with Afghan roots. In December 2018, having made his debut in the Tweede Divisie for Barendrecht, but still mostly featuring for their second team, Haidary received a call-up to the Afghanistan national football team for a training camp. The following year, he made his international debut in a 1–1 friendly draw with

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

, and by October of the same year, he had already featured in two

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

games. Following his call-up in November 2021, he stated that he was proud to represent Afghanistan, and that he played for the country, not for the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

, who had taken control of the nation earlier in the year, forcing the national team to play their home games in other countries.

Personal life

Though he was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Haidary's parents live in Afghanistan, and in August 2021, following the

2021 Taliban offensive The 2021 Taliban offensive was a Offensive (military), military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and allied militants that led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the end of the nearly 20-year War in Afghanistan (200 ...

, he stated that the situation was "very scary" and that he feared for his family.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haidary, Najim 1999 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Afghan men's footballers Afghanistan men's international footballers Dutch men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football utility players Tweede Divisie players Excelsior Rotterdam players BVV Barendrecht players FC Den Bosch players ASWH players ENAD Polis Chrysochous FC players Afghan expatriate men's footballers Afghan expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Afghan expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Dutch people of Afghan descent Sportspeople of Afghan descent 21st-century Dutch sportsmen