Ali Ashfaq is a Maldivian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
66 Facts About Ali Ashfaq
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Ali Ashfaq is considered as the best Maldivian footballer ever, most notably when he was named as the "World's 2nd best top goal scorer" in 2013 by IFFHS, and the "AFC best goal-scorer of XXI century" after 2023, with 476 top-level goals.
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Ali Ashfaq was named as South Asia's Best Player in 2014 by a sports website called eultimate goal.
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Ali Ashfaq is the first Maldivian footballer to play abroad, and the only player to win a title with a foreign club.
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Ali Ashfaq began his career with Club Valencia, where he played for five years.
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Ali Ashfaq was crowned as the top scorer of Maldivian football season between 2003 and 2005 consecutively.
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Ali Ashfaq moved to Brunei's DPMM FC in October 2007, and he joined VB Sports Club after two months and stayed with them until 2011.
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Ali Ashfaq re-joined New Radiant in 2012, where he won all the domestic cups with in 2013 before moving to PDRM FA in 2014.
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In November 2014, Ali Ashfaq won the Best Import Player Award in the Malaysia National Football Awards, for his outstanding performances during the season.
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Ali Ashfaq made his successes international debut for Maldives in December 2003 at the age of 18.
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Ali Ashfaq has since been capped 98 times, and is Maldives' all-time top scorer with 58 goals.
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Ali Ashfaq scored his first international goal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
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Ali Ashfaq was among the Top 10 Players of Asia in 2008 and 2009.
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Ali Ashfaq was shortlisted among the Top 10 Players to watch by ESPN in 2012.
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Ali Ashfaq became captain in 2009, and he led Maldives to the semi-finals at the 2009 SAFF Championship.
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In May 2014, Ali Ashfaq won his first medal as the captain of Maldives as they finished third in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.
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On 31 December 2015, Ali Ashfaq concluded his last SAFF tournament from the semi-finals, remaining as the all-time top scorer of the SAFF Suzuki Cup with 20 goals.
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In March 2016, Ali Ashfaq scored his 50th goal for Maldives.
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Ali Ashfaq was born in Male, the capital of Maldives, where he grew up with his mother and older brother Ahmed Ashfan.
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Ali Ashfaq reputedly showed a keen interest in football since a very young age, and preferred playing football to attending school.
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Ali Ashfaq was the captain Majeediyya School football team when they played in the Inter school Football Tournament those years.
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On 26 October 2001, Ali Ashfaq played his very first match in 2001 POMIS Cup tournament against Thailand's BEC Tero Sasana FC, wearing the Club Valencia jersey for the very first time.
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Ali Ashfaq managed to score 12 goals in his first full season for Valencia.
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Ali Ashfaq was the top scorer for three consecutive seasons, scoring 37 goals in 2004 and 34 in 2005.
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Ali Ashfaq played remarkably well and helped the Blues win many titles.
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In October 2007, Ali Ashfaq moved to Brunei DPMM FC on a two-month contract, which competed in the Malaysia Super League.
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Ali Ashfaq joined VB Sports Club, and became the captain.
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Ali Ashfaq kicked off 2011 season with two goals in the Milo Charity Shield game against Victory on 13 February.
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On 11 May, Ali Ashfaq scored his only goal of 2011 AFC Cup against Song Lam Nghe An in Vietnam.
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From mid-2010 there were rumors that Ali Ashfaq was having problems with VB Sports Club, and had started to miss practice sessions.
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The rumors were not believed until 25 February 2011, when VB announced that Ali Ashfaq had been stripped of the captaincy only a few days after the club had won the Milo Charity Shield.
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Ali Ashfaq then went missing shortly before the team went to Indonesia for the 2011 AFC Cup opener against Sriwijaya FC, and the club failed to locate him before their departure.
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Ali Ashfaq rejoined New Radiant on 19 December 2011, after being released by VB Sports Club.
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In season 2012, New Radiant faced VB in the first game of the league and Ali Ashfaq managed to score a hat-trick against his former club.
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Ali Ashfaq netted just one goal in President's Cup, and he totally scored 22 goals for New Radiant in 2012.
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Ali Ashfaq had a challenging, impressive but one of the successful season with New Radiant in 2013.
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Ali Ashfaq scored his 300th career goal in the 80th minute from the spot in the same match.
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Ali Ashfaq has managed to score in every AFC Cup that he participated, since 2004, becoming the top scorer of Maldives in the competition, becoming the first Maldivian player to score five goals in two consecutive AFC Cup tournament.
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Ali Ashfaq scored 1 out of 2 goals against Kuwait SC after penetrating the defense line in the first leg in home.
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Ali Ashfaq scored one last goal for New Radiant in the final minutes of the game.
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On 20 June 2014, Ali Ashfaq won the 2014 Malaysia Premier League with PDRM and became the first ever Maldivian player to win a title abroad.
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Ali Ashfaq scored 17 goals for PDRM in 20 matches in the league.
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Ali Ashfaq netted thrice in the last two games against T-Team in the group stage of Malaysia Cup and helped PDRM to finish the group at the top.
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On 13 November, Ali Ashfaq won the "Best Import Player Award" in 2014 FA Malaysia Football Awards.
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Ali Ashfaq scored 27 goals from 30 matches in his first year in Malaysia.
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Ali Ashfaq got injured after Selangor game and missed the matches against Sarawak and Terengganu due to injury.
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Ali Ashfaq scored 10 goals in 17 matches in the league.
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On 14 December 2015, Ali Ashfaq was nominated for the Best Foreign Player Award in Malaysia Football Awards 2015.
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Ali Ashfaq signed the contract with Maziya on a 4-month deal on 12 July 2016 and made his debut against BG Sports in Dhivehi Premier League on 20 July.
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Ali Ashfaq started his international career in 2004 being part of the Maldives senior national team.
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Ali Ashfaq lost his place for the 2003 SAFF Championship National Squad to his fellow national team striker Ahmed Thariq.
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Ali Ashfaq managed to score two goals against Afghanistan and one against Sri Lanka in the group stage.
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Ali Ashfaq became the captain of Maldives national football team at the age of 23, in 2009.
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Ali Ashfaq was the runner-up to Most Valuable Player of the tournament and but was voted the best player of the tournament by the Bangladeshi media.
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Ali Ashfaq was sidelined as he was recovering from a hamstring injury he sustained in Malaysia Super League.
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On 26 November 2015, Ali Ashfaq announced that the 2015 SAFF Championship would be his last edition of the tournament before his retirement from international football.
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From a tactical standpoint, Ali Ashfaq usually plays in a free attacking role, most often as a striker, and is capable of attacking on either wing or through the centre of the pitch.
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Ali Ashfaq is frequently cited as "South Asia's best attacking player", as well as the best Maldivian footballer ever, and is known for his dribbling ability, agility, speed, skills on the ball, and his powerful, accurate, and clinical shooting, as well as his passing accuracy.
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Ali Ashfaq is predominantly a left footed player, although he is able to control the ball and finish well with his right foot.
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Ali Ashfaq is famous for rounding goalkeepers and scoring, and is known for his flair in beating players during one-on-one situations and his ability to penetrate defensive lines.
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Ali Ashfaq is an extremely fast player, with great acceleration and good technical ability, which makes him a threat for opposing defenses during counter-attacks whenever he undertakes individual dribbling runs towards goal, usually starting from the halfway line on either side of the pitch, or even through the centrel his pace allows him to get on the end of through balls with his runs.
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Ali Ashfaq is a strong and physically powerful player, who is capable of shielding the ball from opponents.
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On 15 August 2014, Ali Ashfaq donated one of his football boots to support the Palestine Relief Fund set by Maldivian Red Crescent.
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Ali Ashfaq's boot was auctioned to raise funds to help the people in Palestine.
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Ali Ashfaq received Maldives government's green passport as he became the ambassador of Maldives Olympic Committee.
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Ali Ashfaq became the brand ambassador for State Trading Organization's local brand "Noo-Fahi" for two years in August 2014.