Maziar Kouhyar
Kouhyar with York City in 2022
Personal information
Full name Qamaruddin Maziar Kouhyar[1]
Date of birth (1997-09-30) 30 September 1997[2]
Place of birth Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 York City
Number 11
Youth career
0000–2013 Coventry City
2013–2016 Walsall
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2019 Walsall 21 (1)
2021–2022 Hereford 25 (4)
2022– York City 53 (5)
International career‡
2017– Afghanistan 10 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13:32, 26 November 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10:35, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

Qamaruddin Maziar Kouhyar (Dari: مازیار كوهيار; born 30 September 1997) is an Afghan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for National League club York City and the Afghanistan national team. He is the first Afghan to play professionally in Great Britain.[3]

Club career

Born in Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan,[3] Kouhyar moved to England as a two-year-old due to conflict in his home country.[4] His parents settled in Handsworth suburb of Birmingham and his father worked as a pizza delivery driver, before returning to Afghanistan to work as an interpreter, leaving his mother to bring up the four children.[3] At the age of eleven he was spotted by a Coventry City scout after attending a Saturday football session with his cousin, and joined the club's youth system.[3]

Walsall

After being released from Coventry at the age of sixteen, he played in Sunday league football, before being spotted by a Walsall scout whilst playing in a local Powerleague.[3] After a trial, he subsequently joined the club.[5] He went on to sign a two-year scholarship with the club, progressing to sign his first professional deal in February 2016, on a one-year contract with the option of a further year.[5] He made his professional debut in August 2016, in a 2–0 defeat to Chesterfield, replacing Kieron Morris as a substitute.[6] He scored his first goal for Walsall in an EFL Trophy tie against Grimsby Town on 30 August 2016.[7] On 9 December 2016 he signed a new contract with Walsall until the summer of 2019.[8]

He left Walsall due to a knee injury, and began working in a fried chicken shop.[9]

In a November 2020 interview following his departure from the club, Kouhyar spoke out against abuse he had received during his time with the club in which he had been labelled a "terrorist" by a teammate.[10]

Hereford

In March 2021, Kouhyar signed for National League North club Hereford having been away from football for eighteen months with an ACL injury.[11] Despite the early cancellation of the season, Kouhyar was part of the Hereford team that made it to the 2021 FA Trophy final, defeated 3–1 by league below Hornchurch.[12]

After scoring three goals and registering an assist as his team pushed for the play-offs, Kouhyar was awarded the National League North Player of the Month award for February 2022.[13] This award came after reported interest from Football League scouts.[14]

York City

Kouhyar playing for York City in 2022

On 22 March 2022, Kouhyar signed for National League North club York City on a free transfer.[15] On 15 April, Kouhyar scored his first goal for York in a 1–0 National League North victory over Spennymoor Town.[16] The season ended in success for Kouhyar and York as they secured promotion to the National League through the play-offs, Kouhyar scoring the second goal in a 2–0 final victory over Boston United.[17]

International career

In October 2016, he received his first call-up to the Afghanistan national team for the friendly against Malaysia.[4] While he was on international duty with the national team, he picked up an injury which cost him a minimum of three months without playtime and required knee surgery.[18] Kouhyar made his formal debut for Afghanistan in a friendly 2–0 loss to Oman on 30 August 2017.[19] In 2018 he rejected a call-up for a home match against Palestine as his family did not want him to travel to Kabul.[3]

Kouhyar scored for Afghanistan U23 in March 2022, scoring the first goal in an eventual 3–0 friendly victory over Kuwait Under-23.[20]

Personal life

Outside of football, Kouhyar attends an accountancy evening course.[3]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 9 December 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Walsall 2015–16[21] League One 0000000000
2016–17[21] League One 6000001[lower-alpha 1]171
2017–18[22] League One 15110104[lower-alpha 1]0211
2018–19[23] League One 0010103[lower-alpha 1]151
Total 211202082333
Hereford 2020–21[24] National League North 0000—2[lower-alpha 2]020
2021–22[24] National League North 25441—1[lower-alpha 2]0305
Total 25441—30325
York City 2021–22[24] National League North 101——3[lower-alpha 3]1132
2022–23[24] National League 28110—00291
2023–24[24] National League 15 3 1 0 — 1[lower-alpha 2] 0 17 3
Total 53520—41596
Career total 958812015312012
  1. 1 2 3 Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
  2. 1 2 3 Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
  3. ↑ Appearance(s) in National League North play-offs

International

As of match played 14 June 2022[25]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Afghanistan 201710
201820
201920
202000
202110
2022 4 0
Total100

Honours

Hereford

York City

  • National League North play-offs: 2022[17]

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Retained List 2015-16" (PDF). English Football League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "Maz Kouhyar". 11v11. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Setting an example", When Saturday Comes, April 2019, pp16–17
  4. 1 2 "Walsall's Maz Kouhyar delight over international call-up". Express and Star. 29 September 2016. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Walsall sign starlets Jordan Sangha and Qamaruddin Maziar Kouhyar". Express and Star. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Maziar Kouhyar - Soccerway". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "Walsall 5 Grimsby 2". expressandstar.com. 30 August 2016. Archived from the original on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "Maziar Kouhyar: Walsall midfielder signs new contract with League One club". BBC. 9 December 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "From serving fried chicken to fans' favourite" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  10. ↑ Hatfield, Luke (12 November 2020). "Maz Kouhyar: Walsall team-mate branded me a 'terrorist'". Express and Star. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  11. ↑ "Hereford FC sign Afghanistan international Maziar Kouhyar". Hereford Times. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  12. 1 2 "FA Trophy final 2020–21: Hereford 1–3 Hornchurch". BBC Sport. 22 May 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  13. 1 2 "Trio Celebrate February National League North Accolades". www.thenationalleague.org.uk. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  14. ↑ Goddard, Ben (28 February 2022). "Maziar Kouhyar attracts attention from league scouts". Hereford Times. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  15. ↑ "Maziar Kouhyar signs for York City". York City FC. 22 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  16. ↑ "Kouhyar goal secures Spennymoor win". York City FC. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  17. 1 2 "York secure promotion back to the National League". www.yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk. 21 May 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  18. ↑ "Walsall Midfielder Maziar Kouhyar Undergoes Surgery". bescotbanter. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "Oman vs Afghanistan 2 - 0 - FIFA Friendlies - 2017 - August - World Football". www.worldfootball.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  20. ↑ @YorkCityFC (27 March 2022). "Maziar Kouhyar scored in a 3-0 victory yesterday whilst on International duty with Afghanistan against Kuwait! Our new man flying 👊" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 March 2022 – via Twitter.
  21. 1 2 "Games played by Maziar Kouhyar in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  22. ↑ "Games played by Maziar Kouhyar in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  23. ↑ "Games played by Maziar Kouhyar in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Maziar Kouhyar at Soccerway. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  25. ↑ "Maziar Kouhyar". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
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