Houcine Anafal (15 September 1952 – 22 August 2012) was 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 played for clubs in Europe, including

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

as well as the

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Kenitra Kenitra ( ar, القُنَيْطَرَة, , , ; ber, ⵇⵏⵉⵟⵔⴰ, Qniṭra; french: Kénitra) is a city in north western Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey from 1932 to 1956. It is a port on the Sebou River, Sebou river, has a popul ...

, Anafal played senior football with

KAC Kénitra Kenitra Athletic Club (KAC) ( ar, النادي القنيطري) is a Moroccan football and basketball club based in the city of Kenitra. History The club, which was founded in 1938, is one of the most famous and popular football clubs in Moro ...

over two spells, winning the 1972–73 Botola with the club. He also had two spells in France's

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 ...

with Rennes, and one spell in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

with Stade Quimpérois.

International career

Anafal made several appearances for the full

, including qualifying matches for the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

and

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

. He also participated at the 1978 African Cup of Nations.

References

1952 births 2012 deaths Moroccan men's footballers Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Morocco men's international footballers Berber Moroccans Stade Rennais F.C. players Quimper Kerfeunteun F.C. players Botola players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Expatriate men's footballers in France Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in France 1978 African Cup of Nations players People from Kenitra Men's association football midfielders {{Morocco-footy-midfielder-stub