Walid Azaro

Walid Azaro (Arabic: وليد أزارو‎; born 11 June 1995) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi club Al-Ettifaq and the Moroccan national team.[2][3]

Walid Azaro
Personal information
Date of birth (1995-06-11) 11 June 1995
Place of birth Agadir, Morocco
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Al-Ettifaq
Number 21
Youth career
2008–2015 Adrar Union Athletique Souss
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 Difaâ El Jadidi 48 (18)
2017–2020 Al Ahly 60 (26)
2020 → Al-Ettifaq (loan) 7 (3)
2020– Al-Ettifaq 0 (0)
National team‡
2017– Morocco 9 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 January 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 September 2020

After beginning his career in his home country, he joined Al Ahly in 2017 and finished as the Egyptian Premier League's top goalscorer in his first season. He made his international debut for Morocco in 2017.

Club career

Azaro was born in Agadir and grew up in the suburb of Aït Melloul.[1][4] He started his career with Adrar Souss in the third division of the Moroccan league.[5] He joined Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi in 2015, signing for them on a three-year contract. During the 2016–17 season, he finished as the club's top goalscorer with twelve league goals.[2]

In June 2017, Azaro turned down several offers from European clubs to join Egyptian Premier League club Al Ahly on a four-year deal for a fee of $1.4 million, despite Moroccan national team manager Hervé Renard attempting to convince him to move to Europe.[6] His transfer saw him become the first Moroccan to play for the club.[7]

In his first season with the club, Azaro scored 18 league goals to finish as the top goalscorer in the Egyptian Premier League and help Al-Ahly win their 40th league title.[8] His tally saw him break the record for the most goals scored by a foreign player in the Egyptian Premier League, surpassing the previous record of 17 jointly held by Flávio Amado and John Utaka.[9] He also surpassed Stanley Ohawuchi's record for the most goals scored in the Egyptian Premier League by a player in their first season.[10] He also scored the only goal of the 2017 Egyptian Super Cup and scored a hat-trick against Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel in the semi-final of the 2017 CAF Champions League.[11] His performances attracted attention from several clubs and Al Ahly rejected an offer from Saudi club Al-Nassr of William Jebor plus a cash sum.[12]

In October 2020, Azaro agreed to join Saudi club Al-Ettifaq on a permanent deal for two years, after being on loan since January.[13]

International career

Azaro made his debut for Morocco on 24 March 2017 as a substitute during a 2–0 victory over Burkina Faso.[14] He was named in Morocco's preliminary squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup but was later omitted from the final squad.[15]

Honours

Club

Al Ahly[16]

Individual

References
  1. "Moroccan finishers poised for final showdown". FIFA. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  2. Seif Soliman (8 June 2017). "Walid Azarou confirms move to Al Ahly". KingFut.com. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  3. Zoubida Senoussi (20 April 2018). "Moroccan Walid Azarou Ranked Top Goal Scorer in Egyptian League". Morocco World News.
  4. Zoubida Senoussi (1 June 2018). "Morocco's Walid Azaro to Leave Egyptian Al-Ahly Club". Morocco World News. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  5. Farah Tawfeek (18 April 2018). "Azaro becomes highest scoring foreigner in a single Egyptian League season". Egypt. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  6. Tarek Talaat (23 June 2017). "Morocco international Walid Azaro snubs Europe for Al Ahly". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  7. Dahab Elkady (14 February 2018). "Sayed Abdel-Hafiz: Walid Azaro's personality is similar to Mohamed Salah's". KingFut.com. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  8. Tarek Talaat (19 March 2018). "Ahly striker Azaro eyes World Cup success with Morocco". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  9. "Moroccan Walid Azaro becomes highest-scoring foreign player in single Egypt league". Arab News. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  10. Sina Isaac (6 March 2018). "Walid Azaro beats Egyptian Premier league goals record". KingFut.com. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  11. "Azaro hat-trick sees Al Ahly into Champions League final". Reuters. 22 October 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  12. Ali Ismail (28 January 2018). "Al-Ahly refuse Azarou's departure to Saudi side Al-Nassr". Kingfut.com. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  13. "Official: Azarou joins Al-Ettifaq from Al Ahly". kingfut.com. 16 October 2020.
  14. Walid Azarou at National-Football-Teams.com
  15. "Morocco reveal World Cup squad, Ahly striker Azaro left out". Ahram Online. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  16. Walid Azarou at Soccerway. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
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