PICTURE from Sports.inquirer.net
NOT MANY Anglesey League players will ever know what it’s like to represent their country on the international footballing scene (even if they do bag 60+ goals a season). However, there is one former star who could boast that he did – 72 times to be precise.
When Maldives international Ibrahim Fazeel signed for Bodorgan in 2016, it grabbed the attention of all local sports enthusiasts as it was a very bizarre tale indeed.
Bodorgan, who play in Malltraeth and at that time were bottom of the Anglesey League, had seemingly pulled off a miracle by signing the then 35-year-old central midfielder.
However, there was a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why he had signed on the dotted line for the club – he was staying on the island for around two months whilst visiting a relative at Bangor University.
The FA Wales received international clearance from their Maldives equivalent and Fazeel went on to play seven times for Bodorgan, scoring once.
Fazeel, or “Oppo” as he’s known in Maldives, made his international debut against Syria back in 2000 and went on to score 22 goals in 72 caps before retiring from international duty in 2014.
Following his stint with Bodorgan, he made a couple of appearances for for fellow island side Llangefni Town before returning to his home nation to play for New Radiant SC, who had previously paid a fee of £57,000 for his services.
A bizarre but true story. When will be the next time we see an international star land on the fields of the Anglesey League?
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AFEFootballNews 
What a breath of fresh air Oppo was! At 36 he could outrun our fastest players, he was skilfull precise and clinical. He was mellow tempered and never complained. He was always on time and always gave 100%. He was very modest and calm and basically transformed our team and massively inproved the players confidence. He never boasted about his previous playing career. After a short time our expectations changed in our games and we could challenge the best in the league plus our scorelines significantly improved. He came to us to get himself into shape and improve his own match fitness, following a break from football. At the same time he remained loyal and stayed with us until the end of the season dispite interest from other teams. Bodorgan FC is proud and honoured he chose us and we remember him with fondness.
Thanks Oppo…
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Thanks for commenting, that was a great little read! 👍🏻⚽️
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