Hassan Bashir

Hassan Naweed Bashir (born 7 January 1987) is a professional footballer who plays for VB 1968. Bashir has played much of his career as a forward, but has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – as an offensive midfielder, second striker and centre forward. Born in Denmark, he played internationally for the Pakistan national team. Nicknamed as Hitman, he had been praised for his positioning, teamwork and link-up play, and had shown consistency in scoring and creating goals. A former captain and key player of the national team in the 2010s, he is seen as one of the best strikers to play for Pakistan.

Bashir debuted in senior football with B.93 Copenhagen in the Danish 2nd Division during the 2006–07 season, transitioning from the youth academy. After a season, he moved to Køge BK in 2007 and subsequently played for various Danish clubs, including Brønshøj, Svendborg, Fyn, Hellerup IK and Svebølle. In 2012, Bashir briefly joined Thailand's BBCU before returning to Denmark with Hellerup, Nordvest and Fremad Amager. His international journey continued with Dordoi Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Premier League in 2015. In 2016, he returned to Denmark joining BSV. After a hiatus, he joined Greve Fodbold in 2018 prior joining AB Tårnby. He later moved to Ishøj IF in March 2021 and then to Tårnby FF in 2023. Despite a brief return to Ishøj IF in the second half of 2023, he left the club by year-end.

Bashir made his international debut with Pakistan in November 2012 against Singapore, scoring his first goal in February 2013 against Nepal. His performance in 2013 earned him recognition as Pakistan's best performer. Appointed captain in 2015, Bashir led Pakistan to victory against Afghanistan, contributing two assists and scored in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers. Despite Pakistan's subsequent three-year suspension from international football, Bashir returned in 2018, scoring Pakistan's first international goal after the suspension against Nepal in the 2018 SAFF Championship, where he finished as the joint top scorer. After another suspension on Pakistan in 2021, Bashir had already scored 9 goals in only 21 appearances in his whole international career due to persistent bans and unrest in Pakistani football. He returned in 2022, leading Pakistan in friendlies and tournaments.

B.93
Bashir made his senior football debut for B.93 Copenhaguen in the Danish 2nd Division in the 2006–07 season, having previously played for the team's youth academy.

Køge
He spent one season in B.93, before moving to Køge BK in the 2007 summer transfer window. Bashir was the top scorer and top assist maker the first half of the season, until eventually running into a groin injury for almost one year.

Brønshøj & Svendborg
After a brief stint at Brønshøj Boldklub, Bashir joined Svendborg in 2009. Bashir along with partner striker Rasmussen accounted for 14 of FC Svendborg's 24 goals in the autumn's 2nd division.

Fyn
In 2010 winter window, Bashir moved to FC Fyn in Danish 1st Division, after starting his studies in nearby city Odense far away from his hometown Copenhagen. In June 2010, Bashir decided to terminate the contract voluntarily with the club briefly after.

HIK
After getting his studies transferred to Copenhagen again, Bashir signed for Hellerup IK in Danish 2nd Division. He was the topscorer for the club in 2010–11 season, where he netted 12 goals in 25 games throughout his stay.

Svebølle
In 2011, Bashir joined Svebølle B&I in the Danish 2nd Division.

BBCU
In March 2012, Bashir joined Thai Premier League club BBCU for the 2012 season, becoming the second Pakistani footballer to join a Thai football club after Zesh Rehman.He had previously been approached by the club in 2011 before rejecting the offer due to family commitments.

HIK & Nordvest
Bashir returned to Hellerup in 2012, and had a brief stint at Nordvest in 2013.

Fremad Amager
In August 2013, Bashir joined Fremad Amager. In November 2013, Bashir secured a hat-trick for Fremad Amager, leading them to a 7–2 away victory against Skjold Birkerød in the Danish 2nd division East. Despite being 2–1 down in the 58th minute, Fremad staged a comeback, scoring all goals in the second half. Bashir, coming on as a substitute with 24 minutes left, made a significant impact, scoring in the 64th and 83rd minutes, and completing his hat-trick in injury time. The win elevated Fremad to second place in the division table.

In 2015, Bashir stated his willing to rescind his contract with the club to represent the national team, after the difficulty to attend the mandatory 10-day camps, stating “ I would break my contract to play for the country.”

Svebølle return
In 2015, Bashir returned to Svebølle B&I, where he joined fellow national team players, Yousuf Butt and Nabil Aslam.

Dordoi Bishkek
In 2015, he moved to Dordoi Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Premier League, following the departure from the club of fellow national team player Kaleemullah and joining Muhammad Adil.

BSV
In 2016, he had a brief stint at BSV. In February 2016, Bashir scored a hat-trick on his debut with the club in a 7–0 victory against fellow Danish 2nd division side Glostrup.

Later career
In July 2018, Hassan Bashir joined AB Tårnby. In August 2018, he made his debut against Karlslunde where he scored a goal. Later on he was joined by Pakistan national team fellow Yousuf Butt. In June 2020, when AB Tårnby defeated Karlslunde in the second promotion match, AB Tårnby promoted to Danish 2nd Division.

Bashir moved to the Denmark Series club Ishøj IF on 18 March 2021. He moved to Tårnby FF in 2023. He played in the second half of 2023 for his former club, Ishøj IF, but left the club again at the end of the year.

In March 2024, Bashir moved to VB 1968 along with club and national team compatriot Yousuf Butt.

2011–2013: Rise to prominence
In early 2011, Bashir declared his intention to play for Pakistan. In August 2011, he was called to the training camp with Pakistan for a two-match friendly series against India played in England, where he impressed the national team manager Tariq Lutfi. However, the tournament was cancelled just a day before the team's departure for London.

He was again called a year later in 2012 by Zaviša Milosavljević. On 19 November 2012, Bashir made his international debut for Pakistan in a friendly match against Singapore in the eventual 0–4 defeat. On 6 February 2013, he scored his first goal in his second match for Pakistan, in the 90th minute in a 1–0 victory over Nepal, and later provided the assist for Muhammad Mujahid's winning goal in the second friendly game against Nepal. At the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification after missing the second game being sidelined with injury against hosts Kyrgyzstan, he scored his first penalty goal against Macau at the 44th minute, as Pakistan won the match by 2–0. He scored again against Nepal in the 2013 SAFF Championship in the eventual 1–1 draw. At the end of the year despite facing criticism from local coaches against overseas national team players, Bashir was arguably declared Pakistan's best performer in the 2013 calendar year.

2015–2019: Captaincy and suspensions
In 2015, Bashir was appointed captain of the national team for the one-off friendly against Afghanistan. On February 6, 2015, Bashir provided two assists against Afghanistan as Pakistan won the match 2–1. On March 12, 2015, Bashir scored his first goal in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Yemen in the first leg from the penalty spot in the 66th minute as Pakistan lost the match by 1–3.

Bashir missed international exposure for the next 3 years, as Pakistan was suspended from all football activities by FIFA on 10 October 2017. For three years since March 2015, Pakistan remained suspended from any international competition because of the crisis created inside the Pakistan Football Federation. Bashir along with other national team players meanwhile participated with Pakistan during local Leisure Leagues exhibitions matches involving Brazilian star Ronaldinho and Ryan Giggs in 2017.

On September 4, 2018, Bashir scored Pakistan's first international goal from the penalty spot when his national side returned to international circuit after 3 years against Nepal in a 2–1 win in the 2018 SAFF Championship. He also had scored country's last goal 3 years back against Yemen which was also from the penalty spot. On September 8, 2018, Bashir scored the opener against Bhutan in a 3–0 win which was Pakistan's last game of the group stage and Pakistan sealed its place in the semi-finals. He terminated the campaign finishing as joint top scorer of the tournament along with Manvir Singh with 3 goals.

On November 16, 2018, Bashir scored another goal for Pakistan at the 16th minute in a friendly against Palestine in a 1–2 loss. The goal would make him end the year with 4 goals in 5 matches. In June 2019, he scored the opener against Cambodia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, in the eventual loss by 1–2.

2022–2023: Decline and last years
Pakistan were once again suspended from all football activities by FIFA on 7 April 2021. During that time, Bashir had already scored 9 goals for Pakistan in only 21 appearances in his whole international career due to persistent bans and unrest in Pakistani football.

The suspension was lifted on 29 June 2022. In November the same year at the age of 35, he was included in Pakistan's squad as captain for a friendly against Nepal, Pakistan's first fixture in nearly three-and-a-half years because of the Pakistan Football Federation's suspension by FIFA. He made an appearance in the match as starter in the eventual 0–1 loss. He played a second friendly match against Maldives in March 2023 again losing 0–1. He subsequently took part in the 2023 Mauritius Four Nations Cup featuring Mauritius, Kenya, Djibouti and the 2023 SAFF Championship alongside India, Kuwait and Nepal in the group stages, losing all six matches and finishing last in the group in each competition. He was dropped from the preliminary squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Personal life
Born into a Pakistani family in Copenhagen, Bashir has seven brothers and one sister. His family originates from the city of Gujrat in Pakistan. His father immigrated to Denmark at the age of 25, due to rising tensions in Pakistan during the Cold War.

Bashir also went to school with Yousuf Butt and Yaqoob Butt in Denmark, who eventually played alongside him in the national team. Bashir has cited Juventus as his favourite club, and has described Alessandro Del Piero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as his inspiration. He is a practising Muslim, and can fluently speak Danish, English, Punjabi, Urdu and some German.

After receiving an injury during his football stint in Thailand in 2012 with BBCU, and subsequently having to drop down to the lower divisions of Denmark, Bashir started working as banker while training three of four times a week.

International

 * Scores and results table list Pakistan's goal tally first.