Haitam Aleesami ( ar, هيثم العصامي; born 31 July 1991) is a Norwegian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

club

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

and the Norway national team.

Club career

Aleesami was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and started playing football for

Holmlia SK Holmlia Sportsklubb is a Norwegian sportsclub from the multi-cultural borough of Holmlia in Oslo, with sections for football, handball, floorball and futsal. The men's football team plays in the 4. divisjon from 2013, having last played in ...

and later

Skeid Skeid is a Norwegian alliance sports club from Nordre Åsen, Oslo. It has sections for association football (one for elite and one for grassroots football), Nordic skiing and bandy. General history The club was founded as ''IK Skeid'' on 5 De ...

. He joined Skeid's first-team squad in 2010, playing in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, and was named "Skeid's best young player of the year" in 2011. In August 2012, he joined

Fredrikstad FK Fredrikstad Fotballklubb (also known as Fredrikstad or FFK) is a Norwegian association football, football club from the town of Fredrikstad. With nine league championships and eleven Norwegian Football Cup, Norwegian Cup wins, FFK is one of the ...

to replace Benjamin Dahl Hagen who had returned to

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

after a loan-spell. Aleesami made his debut in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

and assisted

Tarik Elyounoussi Tarik Elyounoussi ( ar, طارق اليونسي, ', ; born 23 February 1988) is a professional footballer who plays for Japanese club Shonan Bellmare. His preferred position is a forward, but he can also play as a winger. Club career Born in ...

's goal when Fredrikstad won 2–0 in the match against

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

on 5 August 2012. On 18 August 2014, he signed a four-year contract with Swedish club

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

. He joined the club in the pre-season before the 2015 season. On 8 August 2016, he signed with

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. On 17 October 2020, he joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Rostov FC Rostov (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб Ростов) is a Russian professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast. The club are members of the Russian Premier League, and play at the Rostov Arena. After the 20 ...

. He left Rostov on 19 May 2021. On 16 August 2021, he signed a two-year contract with

in Cyprus.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

IFK Göteborg *

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

: 2014–15

References

1991 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Association football fullbacks Association football wingers Norwegian footballers Norway international footballers Association football defenders Holmlia SK players Skeid Fotball players Fredrikstad FK players IFK Göteborg players Palermo F.C. players Amiens SC players FC Rostov players Apollon Limassol FC players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Allsvenskan players Serie A players Serie B players Ligue 1 players Russian Premier League players Norwegian people of Moroccan descent Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus {{Norway-footy-defender-stub