Rafayel Tudu (; ; born 7 May 2001) is a Bangladeshi 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 striker 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 Fakirerpool YMC.

Early life

Born in

Godagari Upazila Godagari Upazila () is an Upazila of Rajshahi District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. This is the place where Mahananda river fall to Padma or Ganges. History The Deopara Prashasti, an important inscription in Sanskrit poetry describi ...

Rajshahi District Rajshahi District () is a district in mid-western Bangladesh. It is a part of Rajshahi Division. The metropolitan city of Rajshahi is in Rajshahi District. Geography Rajshahi District is bounded by Naogaon District to the north, Natore Distric ...

, Tudu hails from the ethnic Santal community. He began his football journey as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

while training at the Kishore Football Academy in

Rajshahi Rajshahi (, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major Urban area, urban, administrative, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi Distr ...

Club career

Victoria SC

In 2020, Tudu began his professional league career as the third-choice goalkeeper for

Victoria Sporting Club Victoria Sporting Club (), commonly known as Victoria SC, is a football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1903, the club competes in the Dhaka Second Division League, the fourth tier of football in Bangladesh. They were relegated from ...

in the

Bangladesh Championship League Bangladesh Championship League (), simply known as the BCL and officially Bashundhara Group, ABG Bashundhara Bangladesh Championship League since 2023 for sponsorship reasons, is the second-tier professional association football, football league ...

. He made 8 appearances, 4 of which were as a substitute during the 2020–21 league season as his club suffered relegation. He notably started as goalkeeper during the club's 0–6 and 2–8 defeats to NoFeL SC and Fortis FC, respectively. Eventually, he departed the club following his debut season.

Fakirerpool YMC

During both the 2021–22 and

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

seasons of the

, Tudu missed out, instead regularly training at the Kishore Football Academy. However, during a local tournament, Tudu showcased his skills as a striker, even scoring against his own academy team. Impressed by his performance, his academy coaches began utilizing him as an attacking player. This led to

Fakirerpool Young Men's Club Fakirerpool Young Men's Club () is a Bangladeshi professional football club from Motijheel area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is currently competes in the Bangladesh Premier League, the top flight of Bangladeshi football, having gained promotion from ...

signing him for the 2023–24 Bangladesh Championship League, where Tudu would register as a striker, making his position change official. On 19 February 2024, Tudu made his debut for Fakirerpool and scored in a 2–3 defeat to BFF Elite Academy during the league's opening game. On 16 April 2024, Tudu scored a brace as Fakirerpool defeated league leaders

PWD Sports Club PWD Sports Club (), also referred to as PWD SC, is a professional football club based in Segunbagicha area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club currently competes in the Bangladesh Championship League, the second tier of Bangladeshi football, after bein ...

4–1. On 7 April 2024, Tudu was

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

, scoring all four goals as Fakirerpool defeated Uttara FC 4–1. His super hat-trick saw him overtake teammate Dalim Barman in the league's top scorer charts with 10 goals, with three games remaining.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tudu, Rafayel Living people 2001 births Bangladeshi men's footballers Victoria Sporting Club players Fakirerpool Young Men's Club players Men's association football forwards People from Rajshahi District Santali people Bangladeshi Buddhists