The 19-year-old joined Edinburgh City earlier this month, and made his debut for the capital club at the weekend - playing 76 minutes in a 3-1 defeat to Alloa Athletic.
In an earlier edition of HQ magazine, we sat down with Malik to find out more about his intriguing football journey so far...
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Malik Zaid’s journey to Easter Road is a fascinating one.
Having fled war-torn Libya with his family as a child before stumbling across his love for football at Saughton Park, Malik is now scoring goals at Easter Road and paving his way as a professional footballer.
At just 19 years of age, Malik Zaid already has a lot of life experience under his belt. In comparison to his teammates, Malik’s start in life was significantly different to most of those he now shares a pitch with.
Born in Libya in 2004, Zaid spent six years in his place of birth before packing up and moving to the UK – along with his mum, dad, brother and two sisters – due to the ongoing conflict in Libya. Having moved to the UK without knowing a word of English, Malik admitted it was difficult to settle in a completely new environment.
“I was in Libya until I was about six or seven years old. It was quite hectic with the Civil War going on, so we had to leave and thankfully we managed to move to the UK and to settle here.
“When we came over, we didn’t know any English so that made it quite difficult to make friends or settle in school. Most of the time I would just stay at home, so it was quite difficult to integrate and get settled. I didn’t even play for the football team.
“We moved to Manchester at first for a couple of years, then we moved up to Edinburgh and we’ve settled here. We have been here for eight years now.”
Despite not playing football initially, Malik always had a passion for the game – having grown up fixated on the sport. But it was until he came to Edinburgh that Mailk started playing the sport competitively – an opportunity which he stumbled across by chance.
“I remember, when I was back in Libya I watched a game with my Dad – I think it was South Korea v Argentina at the World Cup. I remember watching Messi and I was mesmerised with him and how he moved with the ball. Since then, I’ve always had the ball at my feet.
“It wasn’t until I was 11 or 12 that I started playing football for a team, that was when I moved up to Edinburgh.
“I remember seeing my next-door neighbour all kitted up and leaving the house to go to training. He did this every Monday and Thursday and one day, I decided to follow him to Saughton Park and started to watch their training – he played for Hutchinson Vale.
“I did this for a few weeks, I think it was four or five sessions and then their coach at the time, Tam Smith, saw me at the side and invited me to join in.
“Tam was very accepting of me and I was extremely lucky to have him as a coach. He is one of the best coaches I have ever had, if not the best. Hutchie felt like home to me and I had a very successful time there.”
Malik excelled at Hutchie, winning the League Title three times with the Club and helping the team reach the Scottish Cup final in 2020 before the season was cut short due to COVID.
The midfielder caught the eye of several top-flight Club’s who looked to tie down the youngster on a professional contract, but it was thanks to the help from the Hanlon Stevenson Foundation Scholarship Programme that Malik chose Hibs.
“I had interest from other Clubs, I went to St Johnstone and Dundee United on trial – but they were too far away for me. Tam suggested going along to Hibs, he contacted the Hanlon Stevenson Foundation and they got me a trial.
“I had a two-week trial with the Club and I think Gareth Evans liked me as a player and was happy to keep me on board.
“The HSF has helped me find an agent and would provide me with any equipment or travel expenses or anything like that that I need. They have a good relationship with the Club, so they have played an important point in me joining here.
In his first full season with the Club, Zaid played a key role – particularly in the second half of the season – in the U18 team that won the CAS Elite Youth League and thus gained qualification for the UEFA Youth League competition.
“I struggled a bit at the start, because I was new to the team and adjusting to everything. Everyone in the squad had been at Hibs since they were 8 or 10 years old maybe so they all knew each other well. I am quite a quiet guy to be honest so it was difficult at the start, but the more we played together on the pitch the closer we became.
“In the second half of the season, there were a few injuries in the team so I started playing more games. That really helped my confidence, I started feeling more comfortable and then the goals began to flow.”
Malik continued that form into the 2022/23 campaign – relishing the experience of playing in the UEFA Youth League, where he scored a crucial goal against Molde in the First Round at Easter Road, before featuring against Nantes and then against Borussia Dortmund in front of 8,000 supporters – an experience the youngster will never forget.
“The whole concept of growing abroad to play was completely new to me. I had only ever played local games in the same country, so it was so exciting to go to France to play. I missed the first leg of the Molde game due to injury, so the Nantes game was amazing.
"It was the first time I had ever left the UK after arriving from Libya, I didn’t have a passport so I had to get an emergency passport to go – overall, it was a really cool experience.
“The Dortmund game – wow that was special. When we were standing in the tunnel looking out, you could see the whole stand in front of us was absolutely packed.
“You could hear the drum from block seven and it was so loud. It was an unbelievable feeling, I couldn’t believe I was part of it. I am used to watching those kinds of games on TV, with big crowds so to be on the pitch was really special.”
