Yaqoob Ijaz Butt (born 9 September 1988) is a former 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 played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Born in Denmark, he represented

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

at the international level.

Club career

Butt started his career at Stenløse, and subsequently played at the lower divisions of Denmark. In 2014, Butt was approached by

Thai League 1 The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

club Roi Et PB United in a 5 million

Thai baht The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...

deal, though the move seemingly failed to materialise.

International career

Butt hunted for national team call up, first approaching the

Pakistan Football Federation The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is the national governing body of association football in Football in Pakistan, Pakistan. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of Association football, football, and affiliated to the A ...

in 2007 at the age of 18. While he was eventually not called up due to being too young and incomplete documentation being another reason, he came into radar again in 2010, when ''Pakistan International XI'', a team made up of European based players of Pakistani origin played against

Woking FC Woking Football Club is a professional association football club, based in Woking, Surrey, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, they joined the Isthmian League ...

. Butt was subsequently called by the Pakistan national team coach

Graham Roberts Graham Paul Roberts (born 3 July 1959) is an English retired footballer and manager who played as a defender for numerous clubs including Tottenham Hotspur (where he won the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup), Rangers (where he won the Scottish Leagu ...

for the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

, but incomplete documents prevented his participation. In 2013, he received his first international cap in a friendly 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 ...

, ending in a 1–0 victory for Pakistan, as a replacement for the injured international defender

Atif Bashir Atif Qureshi Bashir (; born 3 April 1985) is a former professional football player who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Born in Germany, he represented the Pakistan national football team, Pakistan national team. Club car ...

under the coach

Zaviša Milosavljević Zaviša Milosavljević (Serbian Cyrillic: Завиша Милосављевић; born 14 July 1961) is a Serbian football manager. Milosavljević was a professor of physical education at the University of Belgrade. He is a former coach of the S ...

. He then played in a two-match tour against

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

in the same month, making an impact as a substitute in the last 15 minutes in the game, where his corner led to Pakistan scoring a last-minute equalizer. In March 2013, he participated in the

2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification The 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification phase determined the teams which advanced to the final tournament. The qualification draw was held on 11 December 2012, in AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Qualified nations ;Notes Format Twenty te ...

, playing against

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 ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. He was subsequently called for 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 ...

. After being left out for both the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

and 2018 FIFA World Cup's Asian qualifiers 1st round of March 2015, Butt returned after almost 5 years away in a friendly against Palestine in 2018. He last played in 2019 in the

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 ...

against

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, as Pakistan failed to advance to the next round.

Personal life

His brother,

Yousuf Butt Yousuf Ijaz Butt (; born 18 October 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Denmark Series club Karlslunde IF. Born in Denmark, he plays for the Pakistan national team. Butt has played over 400 games in the Danish footb ...

, is also a footballer and has played alongside him for

. Butt also went to school with

Hassan Bashir Hassan Naweed Bashir (; born 7 January 1987) is a professional footballer who plays for Brøndby Strand IK. Bashir has played much of his career as a forward, but has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – as an offensive midfielde ...

in Denmark, who eventually played alongside him in the national team.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Butt, Yaqoob Living people 1988 births Danish people of Pakistani descent Pakistani men's footballers Pakistani expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Herlev Municipality Men's association football defenders Skovshoved IF players Vanløse IF players KFUM Roskilde players Danish 2nd Division players Pakistan men's international footballers Avedøre IF players Køge Nord FC players Tårnby FF players Ballerup-Skovlunde Fodbold players Boldklubben Avarta players 21st-century Pakistani sportsmen