Hamza Mendyl ( ar, حمزة منديل; born 21 October 1997) is a Moroccan 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

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club OH Leuven and the Morocco national team.

Club career

Lille

Mendyl made his professional debut in a 1–0

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

win for

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

over

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

on a five-year deal.

International career

Mendyl was born in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

, Morocco to an Ivorian father and a Moroccan mother. He played for various youth Moroccan sides, before debuting for the senior

Morocco national football team The Morocco national football team,french: Équipe du Maroc de football nicknamed "the Barbary lion, Atlas Lions", represents Morocco in men's international Association football, football competitions. It is controlled by the Royal Moroccan Foo ...

in a 2–0

2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the 31st edition of the international men's football champion ...

win over

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe (; pt, São Tomé e Príncipe (); English: " Saint Thomas and Prince"), officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe ( pt, República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe), is a Portuguese-speaking i ...

. In May 2018 he was named in Morocco's 23-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia.

Personal life

Mendyl married Moroccan

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

star Maroua Ourahali in late 2018. They had their honeymoon in the Maldives and now have a son together called Cayden, who was born on 20 February 2020. Hamza is a close friend of fellow footballer

Amine Harit Amine Harit ( ar, أمين حاريث; born 18 June 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Marseille. Born in France, with Moroccan parents, he plays for the Morocco national team. Club career Nantes H ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

*
Lille Profile 2016-16
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendyl, Hamza 1997 births Living people Moroccan footballers Footballers from Casablanca Morocco international footballers Morocco youth international footballers Moroccan expatriate footballers Moroccan people of Ivorian descent Association football fullbacks Mohammed VI Football Academy players Lille OSC players FC Schalke 04 players Dijon FCO players Gaziantep F.K. footballers Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Belgian Pro League players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Germany Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in France 2018 FIFA World Cup players