Moshtagh Yaghoubi

Moshtagh Hossain Yaghoubi (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈmoʃtɑg ˈjɑgubi]; Dari: مشتاق حسین یعقوبی) aka Mosa (born 8 November 1994) is an Afghan-born Finnish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for HIFK.

Moshtagh Yaghoubi

Yaghoubi with HJK in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Moshtagh Hossain Yaghoubi
Date of birth	(1994-11-08) 8 November 1994 (age 30)
Place of birth	Kabul, Afghanistan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	HIFK
Youth career
2007	HaPa
2008	MP
2009	HJK
2010	PK-35
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2014	Honka	52	(4)
2011–2012	→ Pallohonka (loan)	22	(2)
2014	Spartaks Jūrmala	6	(1)
2014	→ Dynamo Moscow (loan)	0	(0)
2015	RoPS	26	(4)
2016	Spartaks Jūrmala	6	(0)
2016	→ Shakhter Karagandy (loan)	11	(0)
2017–2018	HJK	38	(4)
2019	SJK	15	(1)
2020–2021	HIFK	40	(4)
2022	AC Oulu	6	(0)
2022	→ SJK (loan)	8	(0)
2023	PK-35	12	(0)
2024	Kingston City[1]	5	(0)
2025	Attack Energy
2025–	HIFK	0	(0)
International career‡
2009	Finland U15	4	(0)
2013	Finland U19	1	(0)
2013–2014	Finland U20	5	(1)
2013–2016	Finland U21	22	(6)
2017–	Finland	7	(1)
Medal record Honka Winner Suomen Cup 2012 Runner-up Veikkausliiga 2013 RoPS Runner-up Veikkausliiga 2015 Spartaks Jūrmala Winner Latvian Higher League 2016
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 1 October 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 22:57, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

Early life

Moshtagh Yaghoubi was born on 8 November 1994 to an ethnic Hazara family in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Youth career

Yaghoubi grew up in Finland and started playing football at the age of 13 with his local club HaPa. After playing in the youth teams of MP, HJK and PK-35 he joined Honka in 2011.^{[2] [3]}

Club career

Honka

Yaghoubi made his debut for Honka against KuPS on 13 October 2011.^[4] Yaghoubi scored his first goal on 27 May 2012 against FC Haka.^[5] Yaghoubi made his Europa League debut on 18 July 2013 in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round where Honka lost 1–3 in the first leg to 2012–13 Ekstraklasa runners up Lech Poznań.^[6][7]

Pallohonka

Yaghoubi played 1 season on loan for the second team of FC Honka. He played 22 games and scored 2 goals. After his loan he returned to FC Honka.

Spartaks Jūrmala

In February 2014 Yaghoubi was transferred to the Latvian Higher League club FK Spartaks Jūrmala, signing a three-year contract. He was given shirtnumber 7.^[8]

Dynamo Moscow

Soon after his move to Spartaks Jūrmala he immediately was loaned to the Russian Premier League side Dynamo Moscow. Yaghoubi was given shirt number 61 in the first team, but did not make any appearances for them, mostly remaining on the bench and being involved in the reserve team action.^[9]

Return to Spartaks Jūrmala

In August 2014 he returned to Spartaks Jūrmala. Yaghoubi scored his first Latvian Higher League goal on 26 October 2014 in a 1–0 victory over FK Daugava Rīga.^[10]

RoPS

On 5 March 2015 he signed a contract with RoPS which is a football team in the Finland Veikkausliiga.^[11] He made his debut against SJK on 17 March 2015. He scored his first goal against FC Inter Turku in the Suomen Cup. He ended the season with a second place in the Finnish league. He scored 4 goals and made 5 assists. He won at the end of the season the Best Midfielder award for his club and the Best Midfielder award for the Finland U21.

Shakhter Karagandy

In February 2016, Yaghoubi went on trial with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Shakhter Karagandy.^[12] On 17 March 2016, Yaghoubi signed a season-long loan deal with Shakhter Karagandy.^[13] Yaghoubi's loan was terminated by Shakhter Karagandy on 17 June 2016.^[14]

HJK Helsinki

On 4 November 2016, HJK Helsinki announced the signing of Yaghoubi.^[15]

SJK Seinäjoki

On 31 January 2019, SJK announced the signing of Yaghoubi.^[16]

HIFK

After a season at SJK, it was announced on 29 November 2019, that Yaghoubi would join HIFK from 2020, signing a deal until the end of 2021 with the club. He got shirt number 7.^[17]

AC Oulu

On 18 December 2021, he joined AC Oulu on a two-year contract.^[18] In the summer of 2022 Yaghoubi returned to SJK on loan. Upon the completion of the loan, his contract with AC Oulu was terminated by mutual consent on 14 November 2022.^[19]

After playing for PK-35 in Finland and Kingston City FC in Australia, Yaghoubi signed with Attack Energy SC in Afghanistan Champions League and returned to his country of birth.^[20]

International career

Finland U21

Yaghoubi with Finland U21 in 2015

Yaghoubi acquired Finnish nationality in 2013 and got called up for Finland national under-21 team for 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification match against Lithuania on 11 June 2013.^[21] Yaghoubi scored his national team debut goal when Finland beat Wales U-21 5–1 in UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification on 14 August 2013.^[22]

Finland

On 31 October 2013 Yaghoubi made his debut for Finland national football team in an unofficial 4–2 friendly match loss to Mexico.^[23] He eventually made his official debut for Finland in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Turkey. He came on the field in the 67th minute for Sakari Mattila.^[24][25]

Career statistics

Club

As of 31 December 2023^[26]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Honka	2011	Veikkausliiga	1	0	0	0	0	0	–		1	0
	2012	Veikkausliiga	27	1	4	0	6	0	–		37	1
	2013	Veikkausliiga	24	3	2	0	4	0	2[a]	0	32	3
	Total		52	4	6	0	10	0	2	0	70	4
Pallohonka (loan)	2011	Kakkonen	20	2	–		–		–		20	2
	2012	Kakkonen	2	0	–		–		–		2	0
	Total		22	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	22	2
Spartaks Jūrmala	2014	Virslīga	6	1	0	0	—		—		6	1
Dynamo Moscow (loan)	2013–14	Russian Premier League	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
RoPS	2015	Veikkausliiga	30	4	1	1	2	0	—		33	5
Spartaks Jūrmala	2016	Virslīga	6	0	0	0	—		2[a]	0	8	0
Shakhter Karagandy (loan)	2016	Kazakhstan Premier League	11	0	1	0	–		—		12	0
HJK	2017	Veikkausliiga	16	2	4	2	–		3[a]	1	23	5
	2018	Veikkausliiga	22	2	9	5	-		5[b]	2	36	9
	Total		38	4	13	7	–	–	8	3	59	14
SJK	2018	Veikkausliiga	15	1	3	0	—		—		18	1
HIFK	2020	Veikkausliiga	17	1	1	0	–		–		18	1
	2021	Veikkausliiga	23	3	4	0	–		–		27	3
	Total		40	4	5	0	–	–	–	–	45	4
AC Oulu	2022	Veikkausliiga	6	0	2	0	3	1	–		11	1
SJK (loan)	2022	Veikkausliiga	8	0	–		–		–		8	0
PK-35	2023	Kakkonen	12	0	–		–		–		12	0
Kingston City	2024	Victorian Premier League	5	0	–		–		–		5	0
Attack Energy	2025	Afghanistan Champions League			–		–		–
HIFK	2025	Kolmonen	0	0	0	0	–		–		0	0
Career total			251	20	31	8	15	1	12	3	309	33

1. Appearances and goals in the UEFA Europa League
2. One appearance in the UEFA Champions League, and four appearances and two goals in the UEFA Europa League

International

As of match played 9 June 2018^[27]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Finland	2013	1	0
	2014	0	0
	2015	0	0
	2016	0	0
	2017	3	0
	2018	3	1
Total		7	1

Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Finland goal.

List of international goals scored by Moshtagh Yaghoubi

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	9 June 2018	Tampere Stadium, Tampere, Finland	Belarus	2–0	2–0	Friendly

Honours

Individual

• Veikkausliiga Midfielder of the Year: 2015^[28]

Personal life

Yaghoubi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, to ethnic Hazara parents. Yaghoubi and his family fled Afghanistan in 1999 to settle down in Tehran, Iran. After living seven years in Iran his family applied for asylum in Finland.

Yaghoubi has a tattoo on his left arm with the name of his late father Gholam Sakhi.^[29]