Faysal Shayesteh


Faysal Shayesteh is an Afghan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for I-League club Sreenidi Deccan and the Afghanistan national team.

Youth career

Born in Kabul, Shayesteh moved to the Netherlands and played in the youth academy of FC Twente, until he signed with Heerenveen in 2010.

Club career

Heerenveen

Shayesteh, 18-years old then, joined Heerenveen in the summer of 2010. He signed a contract until the summer of 2012.

Etar

In February 2013, Shayesteh joined Bulgarian A PFG club Etar 1924. On 2 March, he made his league debut in a 2–1 home win over Montana, coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute.

Songkhla United

In October 2013, Shayesteh made a transfer move to Thailand football club Songkhla United after his contract expired with Etar. He was given shirt number 10. He left Songkhla after they relegated in 2015.

Pahang

In July 2016, Shayesteh announced on Facebook that he joined Pahang. It was also announced that he will play with shirt number 10. After just 6 months he resigned with Pahang.

Paykan

In January 2017, Shayesteh signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Paykan F.C. to becoming the first ever Afghan professional footballer in the Persian Gulf Pro League.

Gokulam Kerala

On 19 November 2017, Shayesteh moved to I-League and signed with Gokulam Kerala for a season, but appeared in a single match for the side.

Lampang

In June 2018, he moved to Thailand and signed with Thai League 2 side Lampang.

VV DUNO

In 2020, Shayesteh moved back to the Nederlands and joined VV DUNO in the Hoofdklasse.

Sreenidi Deccan

In August 2022, I-League side Sreenidi Deccan announced the signing of Shayesteh for the 2022–23 season. He was part of team that earned qualification for 2023 Indian Super Cup. In the group stage opener, he scored a goal in their 1–1 draw with Bengaluru. They maintained their good form in second match when Sreenidi defeated Kerala Blasters by 2–0 on 12 April, but failed to progress to the semi-finals after 1–0 defeat to RoundGlass Punjab in last match.

International career

On 13 April 2014, Shayesteh made his debut for the Afghan national team in a friendly match against Kyrgyzstan. He played as left fullback. In the 17th minute of the match he missed a penalty. On 14 May 2014, Afghanistan played a friendly match against Kuwait, where Shayesteh scored off a free-kick.
On 22 May 2014, Shayesteh scored his first goal with a free-kick from nearly 50 meters against Turkmenistan in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. After Djelaludin Sharityar retired, Shayesteh became the new captain of the national team. He led the team to the final of the 2015 SAFF Championship in Tiruvanantapuram, which was the country's last participation. He scored three goals in that competition but finished as runners-up, as Afghanistan lost 1–2 to India. In April 2016, he was named as Afghanistan's Athlete of the Year for 2015.

Personal life

He is the younger brother of Qays Shayesteh, who also plays football and represented Afghanistan national team from 2011 to 2017.

Career statistics

International

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
114 May 2014Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kaifan, Kuwait2–32–3Friendly
222 May 2014Addu Football Stadium, Addu City, Maldives3–13–12014 AFC Challenge Cup
329 May 2015New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos1–02–0Friendly
413 October 2015Al-Seeb Stadium, Seeb, Oman2–32–52018 FIFA World Cup qualification
524 December 2015Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, India2–04–02015 SAFF Championship
628 December 2015Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, India1–04–12015 SAFF Championship
731 December 2015Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, India5–05–02015 SAFF Championship
828 December 2018Miracle Hotel Resort, Antalya, Turkey1–02–0Friendly
923 March 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1–01–22019 Airmarine Cup
1014 June 2022Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, India1–02–22023 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Honours

Afghanistan
Individual
  • Afghanistan's Athlete of the Year: 2015