Sport
Islam Feruz
Islam Feruz (born 10 September 1995) is a Somali-born footballer who played as a centre forward and represented Scotland at youth level. He grew up in Glasgow, came through Celtic's academy, joined Chelsea in 2011 and won the FA Youth Cup in 2012. He was the first player to switch to Scotland under FIFA's school-education rule.
Who is he?
Islam Salieh Feruz is a footballer who played as a centre forward (Wikipedia, Islam Feruz). He was born in Somalia and represented Scotland at youth level (same source). See sport in Somalia.
Early life
He was born in Somalia on 10 September 1995 (Wikipedia). His family lived in Tanzania and then moved to London when he was five (same source). They later moved to Glasgow, where he went to Hillhead High School (same source). Wikipedia notes that Wales Online and The Scottish Sun report some uncertainty about his childhood and background (same source). See Somalis in the United Kingdom.
Celtic
At age 10 he was spotted by a Celtic youth coach during a kickabout at Castlemilk Sports Centre and joined the academy (Wikipedia). When he was 12, his family faced deportation (same source). Celtic youth coach Tommy Burns campaigned for them to stay, and the family were granted British passports (same source). He first played for Celtic at 14, in Tommy Burns' memorial match in 2009 (same source).
Chelsea and loans
He turned down a professional contract at Celtic and moved to Chelsea in September 2011 (Wikipedia). Celtic manager Neil Lennon blamed his agents, saying they were "badly advising" him (same source). Chelsea paid £300,000 in compensation (same source).
He scored twice in the first leg of the 2012 FA Youth Cup final, which Chelsea won (same source). He also won the Barclays U21 Premier League in 2013–14 (same source). He never played a competitive first-team match for Chelsea, and the club released him in January 2019 (same source).
He went on loan to OFI in Greece, Blackpool, Hibernian, Royal Excel Mouscron in Belgium and Swindon Town (Wikipedia). Wikipedia gives his total senior career as 23 appearances and no goals (same source). In February 2017 he was fined £3,000 for driving while disqualified (same source).
Scotland
In 2009 he declared for Scotland. He was the first player to switch under a new FIFA rule for players with five years of schooling in a country before age 18 (Wikipedia). He scored on his under-17 debut against Cyprus at age 14 (same source). In October 2012 he scored a hat-trick for the under-19 team in a 4–3 win over Switzerland (same source). His last Scotland match was for the under-21 team against England on 13 August 2013 (same source).
In May 2012 he posted that he "would love to play in the African Nation Cup" (same source). In 2015 he said, "I want to play for Scotland and I'll be honoured if I'm selected" (same source).
After football
In April 2020 it was reported that he had left football to start a company selling baseball caps (Wikipedia). In August 2023 he signed with Radnički Niš in Serbia and was released two months later without playing (same source). In 2010 he received the Young Scot Sport Award (same source).
In short
A Somali-born forward raised in Glasgow who played for Scotland's youth teams and won the FA Youth Cup with Chelsea in 2012.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Islam Feruz · en.wikipedia.org
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