Ahmad Hatifi

Ahmad Arash Hatifi (born 13 March 1986) is a professional footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Afghan Premier FC in The League for Clubs. After leaving college, Hatifi played for the Bay Area Ambassadors of the National Premier Soccer League, the fourth tier of American soccer, from 2012 to 2013.

Mumbai On 1 November 2013 it was confirmed that Hatifi had signed with Mumbai FC of the I-League in India. He made his debut for the side the next day against Bengaluru FC at the Balewadi Sports Complex, in which he started and played 87 minutes as Mumbai drew the match 2–2.

International career In 2007, Hatifi was selected to play for Afghanistan in the World Cup qualifiers against Syria and Sri Lanka. He then won his first ever championship with Afghanistan on 11 September 2013 when his country won the 2013 SAFF Championship by beating India 2–0. On 22 May Hatifi scored the second goal in Afghanistan's 3–1 victory over Turkmenistan at the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. This was also Afghanistan's first every victory at the AFC Challenge Cup in eight attempts.

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. Hatifi suffered injuries along with teammates Zohib Islam Amiri, Faisal Sakhizada, Balal Arezou, and Mustafa Azadzoy, the latter of which had to take three weeks off to recover, while Hatifi was set to miss two weeks. 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.

Career statistics

Club

National team statistics

International goals Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 20 August 2013 Ghazi Stadium, Kabul, Afghanistan 2–0 3–0 International friendly 2 22 May 2014 Addu Football Stadium, Addu City, Maldives 2–0 3–1 2014 AFC Challenge Cup 3 28 December 2015 Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, India 3–1 4–1 2015 SAFF Championship 4 31 December 2015 Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, India 4–0 5–0 2015 SAFF Championship

Honours

Afghanistan SAFF Championship: 2013