Danish Farooq Bhat (born 9 May 1996) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Danish Farooq Bhat | ||
| Date of birth | (1996-05-09) 9 May 1996 (age 26) | ||
| Place of birth | Downtown Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Bengaluru | ||
| Number | 12 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2009–2015 | J&K Bank Football Club | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2016 | Lonestar Kashmir | 18 | (0) |
| 2016–2021 | Real Kashmir | 62 | (10) |
| 2021– | Bengaluru | 17 | (3) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2022– | India | 2 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:44, 5 March 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:30, 23 March 2022 (UTC) | |||
Danish started his early football career with a local team Chinar Valley FC.[1] Later, Danish joined the J&K Bank Football Academy at the age of 13, where he would become the team captain eventually at his age group level teams. He would go on to win 12 local leagues and tournaments with his team prior to joining Lonestar Kashmir in 2015. He would play for Lonestar Kashmir in the 2015–16 I-League 2nd Division season, where he would help his team reach the final round of the league as his team fell short of promotion to the I-League.
In the later half of 2016, he joined Real Kashmir where he was given the number 10 shirt. With 4 strikes, Danish was the joint highest goal-scorer for Real Kashmir in the 2017–18 season. He had the most number of assists to his name during this season as his team became the champions of 2017–18 I-League 2nd Division and won promotion to the I-League.[2] He is one among two Kashmir-born players for Real Kashmir in the first-team squad who have played regularly in this season of I-League.[3]
On 25 July 2021, it was announced that Danish had joined Indian Super League club Bengaluru on a two-year deal.[4] On August 15, he made his debut in a 1–0 2021 AFC Cup play-off round win against Maldivian club Eagles.[5] On 24 November, he made his ISL debut as a substitute for Jayesh Rane in a 3–1 loss against Odisha. Danish scored his first ever ISL goal in a 3–3 draw against ATK Mohun Bagan on 16 December.[6]
In March 2022, Danish was called up for the national squad by coach Igor Štimac ahead of India's two friendly matches against Bahrain and Belarus.[7][8] He made his debut on 23 March against Bahrain in their 2–1 defeat.
Danish earned the moniker of ‘Kashmiri Ronaldo' by fellow footballers and aficionados of the state, demonstrated by his dribbling skills and goal-scoring.[9]
Danish was inspired by his father, Farooq Ahmad, who was a professional footballer two decades before him. Ahmad represented the Jammu and Kashmir state team in Santosh Trophy and also played for Kolkata giant Mohammedan Sporting.[10]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Lonestar Kashmir | 2015–16 | I-League 2nd Division | 18 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 0 |
| Total | 18 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 0 | ||
| Real Kashmir | 2016–17 | I-League 2nd Division | 5 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 0 |
| 2017–18 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 3[lower-alpha 1] | 1 | 12 | 4 | ||
| 2018–19 | I-League | 19 | 2 | 1[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | |
| 2019–20 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 4[lower-alpha 3] | 1 | 19 | 3 | ||
| 2020–21 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 3 | 19 | 6 | ||
| Total | 62 | 10 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 12 | 5 | 75 | 15 | ||
| Bengaluru | 2021–22 | Indian Super League | 17 | 3 | – | – | 4 | 0 | – | – | 21 | 3 |
| 2022–23 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 4[lower-alpha 4] | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Total | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 3 | ||
| Career total | 97 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 118 | 18 | ||
Real Kashmir
Bengaluru
Bengaluru FC – current squad | |
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