Balal Arezou
Afghan footballer
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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.[1] He ranks second in the all-time top scorers table of the Afghanistan national football team with nine goals.[2]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 28 December 1988 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Kabul, Afghanistan | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Grane Arendal | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| Senja | |||||||||||||||||
| –2006 | Grane | ||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | FK Arendal | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007 | FK Arendal | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Fredrikstad | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2015 | Asker | 118 | (24) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | → Churchill Brothers (loan) | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Moss | 20 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Asker | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Arendal | 6 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2024 | IF Trauma | 44 | (28) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Grane Arendal | 18 | (12) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Afghanistan U23 | 5 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011– | Afghanistan | 28 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 10 February 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 16 November 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
Club career
Asker
Arezou grew up in Afghanistan and moved to Norway as a refugee. In Norway, he played football for Senja, IK Grane|Grane, Arendal and Fredrikstad's youth team before he joined Asker in 2009.[3]
Churchill Brothers
In February 2013 he joined Churchill Brothers S.C. on a four-month loan from Asker. His move completed with the return of Indian striker Sunil Chhetri from Sporting Clube de Portugal.[4]
Moss FK
On 7 March 2015 he joined Moss FK on a 2-year contract. He will wear shirt number 90.
IF Trauma
Arezou signed with IF Trauma on 26 January 2019, and was reunited with his former coach, Gaute Haugenes.[5]
International career
Arezou was included in Afghanistan's squad for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives. In the group stages of the tournament Afghanistan claimed their first ever win at the AFC Challenge Cup with a 3–1 victory over Turkmenistan.[6] After Afghanistan's 0–0 draw with Laos that confirmed their progression out of the group stage, an accident occurred while the Afghan players were being driven back to their hotel. Arezou sustained minor injuries in the accident along with his teammates Faisal Sakhizada, Ahmad Hatifi, Zohib Islam Amiri, and Mustafa Azadzoy. All five players were set to miss the semi-finals against Palestine. Former coach Mohammad Yousef Kargar and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injuries.[7][8][9][10]
International goals
- Scores and results list Afghanistan's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 3 July 2011 | Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Al-Ram, Palestine |  Palestine | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier |
| 2. | 3 December 2011 | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India |  India | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2011 SAFF Championship |
| 3. | 7 December 2011 | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India |  Bhutan | 3–0 | 8–1 | |
| 4. | 4–0 | |||||
| 5. | 5–1 | |||||
| 6. | 8–1 | |||||
| 7. | 9 December 2011 | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India |  Nepal | 1–0 | 1–0 | |
| 8. | 2 March 2013 | New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos |  Sri Lanka | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifier |
| 9. | 4 March 2013 | New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos |  Mongolia | 1–0 | 1–0 |
Personal life
Balal's younger brother Amid Arezou made his debut for the Afghanistan national team in 2024.[11]
Career statistics
Club
- As of 16 August 2014
| Season | Club | League | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| 2009 | Asker | 2. divisjon | 25 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | 25 | 4 | |
| 2010 | 26 | 7 | 2 | 2 | — | 28 | 9 | |||
| 2011 | Adeccoligaen | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 19 | 0 | ||
| 2012 | 2. divisjon | 24 | 10 | 2 | 0 | — | 26 | 10 | ||
| 2012–13 | Churchill Brothers (loan) | I-League | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2013 | Asker | 2. divisjon | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 | 1 | |
| 2014–15 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 18 | 2 | |||
| Asker total | 118 | 24 | 5 | 2 | — | 123 | 26 | |||
| Career total | 126 | 24 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 135 | 26 | ||
Honors
Churchill Brothers
Afghanistan
Individual