Issam El Maach (; born 1 February 2001) is a 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 lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

Twente Twente ( , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic people ...

. Born in the Netherlands, he represents

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

at under-23 international level.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Heerlen Heerlen (; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the f ...

and raised in

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Hèllemond'' in the local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of ...

to Moroccan parents, El Maach began his football career with local club RKSV MULO before being recruited to the youth ranks of

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

. In 2016 he moved to the youth academy of

SBV Vitesse SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem, Eng: Professional Football Foundation Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally known as Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, footba ...

, from where he was scouted and joined the

Ajax Youth Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

a year later.

Ajax

El Maach signed a two-year contract with Ajax in 2017 with an option for an additional year. He made his professional debut with the reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax (; ), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2, is a Dutch association football team. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. Jong Ajax is the only reserve team to have won a title in Dutch professional foot ...

in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

on 18 January 2018 in a 4–1 loss to

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

. Jong Ajax ended the season as champions of the second division, becoming the first reserves team to win a championship since the introduction of reserves teams in professional football in the Netherlands. He made his first team debut on 11 January 2019 in a friendly game against Brazilian club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

in the Florida Cup. On 26 June 2020, it was announced that El Maach contract was not going to be extended leaving him eligible to find a new club.

RKC Waalwijk

On 14 July 2021 it was announced that El Maach had signed with Eredivisie club

as a free transfer on a 1-year contract.

Twente

On 25 July 2022, El Maach signed with

on a two-year deal, with an optional year. On 7 January 2025, El Maach joined

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

on loan-deal for the rest of 2024-25 season. He left the club upon the expiry of his loan at the end of the season.

International career

El Maach is a youth international for

Honours

Jong Ajax *

: 2017–18 Ajax *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2018–19 * Florida Cup runners-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maach, Issam 2001 births Living people Footballers from Alphen aan den Rijn Moroccan men's footballers Morocco men's youth international footballers Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Dutch sportspeople of Moroccan descent Men's association football goalkeepers AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players RKC Waalwijk players FC Twente players Roda JC Kerkrade players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen