Ayoub El Kaabi

Ayoub El Kaabi (Arabic: أيوب الكعبي‎; born 25 June 1993) is a Moroccan footballer who currently plays as a forward or winger for Hebei China Fortune and the Morocco national team. He was the top goalscorer of the CHAN 2018 taking place on home soil with 9 goals, thus making him the first player to reach that tally in a single competition, having surpassed the previous record set by Zambia's Given Singuluma who had scored 5 goals in 2009.

Ayoub El Kaabi
El Kaabi with Morocco during the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Date of birth (1993-06-25) 25 June 1993[1]
Place of birth Casablanca, Morocco
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Hebei China Fortune
Number 16
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2017 RAC
2017–2018 RSB 38 (22)
2018– Hebei China Fortune 28 (9)
2019 → Wydad Casablanca (loan) 15 (9)
2020 Wydad Casablanca 8 (2)
National team‡
2018– Morocco 14 (11)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 November 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14:05, 18 December 2018 (UTC)

After netting a brace in the semi final against Libya, Morocco made it to the final of the CHAN for the first time in history. [2][3]

Club career

El Kaabi joined RS Berkane as a transfer from Racing de Casablanca during summer 2017. He was the top scorer in the Botola 2 during the 2016-17 season with 25 goals.[4]

In 2018, El Kaabi was purchased by Hebei China Fortune for a transfer fee of €5 million.[5]

International career

El Kaabi made his international debut for Morocco on 13 January 2018 in an 2018 Africa Nations Championship group stage match against Mauritania, scoring 2 goals.[6]

El Kaabi scored his first international hat trick on 17 January 2018 against Guinea.[7]

In May 2018 he was named in Morocco's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[8]

Career statistics

International
Statistics accurate as of match played 9 September 2018.[9]
Morocco
YearAppsGoals
20181311
Total1311

International goals
Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first.[3]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.13 January 2018Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca, Morocco Mauritania1–04–02018 African Nations Championship
2.3–0
3.17 January 2018 Guinea1–03–1
4.2–1
5.3–1
6.27 January 2018 Namibia1–02–0
7.31 January 2018 Libya1–03–1
8.2–1
9.4 February 2018 Nigeria4–04–0
10.27 March 2018 Uzbekistan1–02–0Friendly
11.4 June 2018Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland Slovakia1–12–1

References
  1. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  2. "Ayoub El Kaabi". Player. Football Database.eu. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  3. "El Kaabi, Ayoub". National Football Teams. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  4. "Transfert. Officiel: la RSB s'offre la vedette de la D2 et enflamme le Mercato". Le 360 Sport (in French). 20 June 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  5. "Chinese Club Forced Zamalek to withdraw interest from Morocco striker Ayoub El-Kaabi". 11 July 2018.
  6. "Morocco Crushes Mauritania 4-0 in Opening Match of CHAN 2018". Morocco World News. 13 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  7. "CHAN: Morocco Beats Guinea Thanks to Kaabi's Hat-trick". Morocco World News. 17 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  8. "Boufal left out of Morocco squad".
  9. "Ayoub El Kaabi". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.