Srinagar: Only a die-hard football fan will understand what it means to receive a jersey directly from a club that competes in the English Premier League.
And Kashmir valley’s popular trickshot footballer Huzaif Ajaz Shah’s joy knew no bounds after he received a personalised jersey from the West London based Chelsea Football Club.
After becoming the first Kashmiri to be featured on the official Facebook page of Chelsea earlier this year in January, Huzaif received a jersey as a token of love and appreciation for the trick-shot videos made by him.
“Nothing beats this feeling. Who could have thought that I could have received such a priceless gift from my beloved club that I have supported throughout my life. It is something I always dreamt of. I was featured thrice on their Facebook page and once on Instagram as I have been making videos for them. Now, as a token of love they sent me this personalised (21/22) jersey directly from London. They have recognised my contribution and it is a dream come true,” Huzaif told The Kashmir Monitor.
Huzaif has so far made around 350 odd videos and few have made it to the official Chelsea page.
“I made several videos for Chelsea and they featured a combination of those in the three videos that were shared on its Facebook page. Otherwise, I have made around 350 videos and several of those went viral on social media,” he said.
“I featured on `433 page’ twice. Noted footballers are part of this page. I also featured in `sports bible’. Two years back, I also featured on a History TV show. In the `CR7′ (Cristiano Ronaldo) challenge, I was the fourth runner up. It is an online competition. People have to send their entries and those with the highest votes are declared winners,” he added.
Huzaif, who is pursuing MBBS from Bangladesh, now wants to cheer for Chelsea at its home ground Stamford Bridge.
“It is my dream to visit Stamford Bridge one day and cheer for Chelsea that I have been supporting right from my childhood,” he said. (KM)