Ahmad Hatifi

Ahmad Hatifi

Personal information
Full name	Ahmad Arash Hatifi
Date of birth	(1986-03-13) 13 March 1986
Place of birth	Oakland, California, United States
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	IFX Ballistic
Number	18
Youth career
	Bay Oaks
2005–2008	UC Davis Aggies
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2013	Bay Area Ambassadors
2013–2014	Mumbai	15	(1)
2015–2016	IFX Ballistic
2016-	CD Aguiluchos USA	0	(0)
International career‡
2011–	Afghanistan	30	(4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of February 01, 2016 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of February 01, 2016

Ahmad Arash Hatifi (born 13 March 1986) is an American-born Afghan professional football player who is a midfielder and currently plays for IFX Ballistic.

Career

Youth

Born in Oakland, California, Hatifi grew up in Alameda, California and attended Alameda High School where he captained the varsity soccer team. He then started to attend University of California, Davis in 2004 where he started to play for the soccer team in 2005. He captained the team in his junior and senior years. 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 F.C. of the I-League in India. He then 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

In 2007, Hatifi was selected to play for Afghanistan in the World Cup qualifiers against Syria and Sri Lanka. He scored his first goal for his country on 20 August 2013 against Pakistan in which he found the net in the 32nd minute as Afghanistan went on to win the match 3–0. 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 May 22 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.

Unfortunately though 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 teamamtes Zohib Islam Amiri, Faisal Sakhizada, Balal Arezou, and Mustafa Azadzoy, the latter of which will have to take three weeks off to recover, while Hatifi is set to miss two weeks. All five players are set to miss the semi finals against Palestine. Former coach Mohammad Yousef Kargar and current coach Erich Rutemöller also suffered minor injures.

Career statistics

Club

As of 27 April 2014

Club	Season	League			Federation Cup		Durand Cup		AFC		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Mumbai	2013–14	I-League	15	1	0	0	—	—	—	—	15	1
Career total			15	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	1

National team statistics

As of 2 November 2013

Afghanistan national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2011	3	0
2013	8	1
Total	11	1

International goals

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