Iran professional football player Alireza Jahanbakhsh was named the top scorer of Eredivisie, the highest echelon of professional football in the Netherlands, at the end of the games on Sunday.
Jahanbakhsh, who plays for AZ Alkmaar, is the first Asian player to attain the title of top scorer in a major European league, IRNA reported.
Iranian legionnaire had scored 18 goals before the last fixture of Alkmaar against PEC Zwolle and his hat-trick in the last game rocketed him to 21 goals record atop all other players in the league.
“I’m very delighted to be top goal scorer of the Eredivisie this season,” Jahanbakhsh expressed his feelings on his Instagram account. “I wanna thank everyone, and in particular the fans, for the great support and for voting for me to achieve this award. Words can’t describe this feeling.”
Starting Sunday’s final round of the 2017/18 campaign on 18 goals, one more than PSV Eindhoven’s Hirving Lozano and Bjorn Maars Johnsen of ADO Den Haag, it took Jahanbakhsh just 13 minutes to break the deadlock against Zwolle.
The 24-year-old doubled his and his side’s tally seven minutes after the restart and, following further goals by Fredrik Midtsjo and Wout Weghorst (2), completed his hat-trick in the 88th minute to seal a 6-0 win for his side.
With Lozano failing to hit the target in a 0-0 draw with Groningen, Johnsen emerged as Jahanbaksh’s main competitor and the Norwegian did net two goals in a 3-2 triumph over Roda JC.
Nonetheless, his valiant challenge ultimately came up short as Jahanbakhsh finished two goals above him to seal the Golden Boot.
In doing so, Jahanbakhsh becomes the first Asian ever to finish as the highest-scoring player in an Eredivisie campaign.
Interestingly enough, his compatriot Reza Ghoochannejhad came close to achieving the feat last season, netting 20 goals for Heerenveen to finish one behind Nicolai Jorgensen.
Jahanbakhsh is also in the tally to grab the Eredivisie player of the year award; an award which has been given to legendary players such as Marco van Basten, Johan Cryuff, Frank Rijkaard, Romario and Edwin van der Sar among others.
Iranian winger set jaw-dropping records at this season of Eredivisie; during 33 matches he touched back of the net 21 times to set his goal ratio on 0.63 goals for each game.
Successive in scoring goals, Jahanbakhsh was also a successor in assisting. A total of 12 assists were made by him during the season so that he would have direct effect on 33 goals for his team. Making 78 key passes as well as 111 successful dribbles are also other records set by the winger.
