Sohel Rana (footballer, born 1995)

Sohel Rana (Bengali: সোহেল রানা; born 27 March 1995) is a Bangladeshi professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bangladesh Premier League club Bashundhara Kings and the Bangladesh national team.

Club career

Sohel made his professional league debut with Mohammedan SC in 2010. He made his mark for the team during the Federation Cup by scoring in a 1–1 draw with Feni SC, as Mohammedan failed to reach the semi-finals for the first time in the 30-year history of the tournament.

In August 2019, Sohel's goal for Abahani Limited Dhaka against North Korea's April 25 during the 2019 AFC Cup was voted as the "AFC Cup 2019 Goal of the Week".

International career

Youth team

Sohel made his youth international debut during the 2010 AFC U-16 Championship qualifiers. He represented Bangladesh U19 during the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers held in Dhaka.

Sohel made his debut for Bangladesh U-23 in a friendly with Nepal U-23, played at Bangladesh Army Stadium, Bangladesh on 25 August 2014. On his debut, he scored the match-winning goal in the 14th minute of the 2nd half by an angular ground shot from outside the danger zone in a rain soaked heavy ground (1–0).

He first wore the U23 arm band against Syria in 2016 AFC U-23 Championship Qualifier at home, but he was the makeshift captain as Raihan Hasan received red card that night. He fully captained the Olympic side in the very next match against India which end goalless.

Senior team

Sohel made his senior debut for Bangladesh in a 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification match against Palestine, played at Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, Nepal on 2 March 2013.

Career statistics

International

As of 16 November 2024.

International goals

Youth team

Personal life

On 7 March 2021, Sohel Rana married Syed Tamila Sirajee, an MBA student, after their six years long relationship. On 8 February 2015, Tamila came to Bangabandhu Stadium to watch 2015 Bangabandhu Gold Cup final match where she saw and fall in love with Sohel. After that, she reached out Sohel through social media site Facebook. At first, they became friends and then lovers.

Sohel Rana is the uncle of Pappu Hossain and Sujon Hossain, both goalkeepers in the Bangladesh Premier League. On 17 September 2019, Pappu got his call-up to the Bangladesh national team along with regular member Sohel. It made headlines as uncle and nephew both were going to play for the national team together.