Jaouad Zairi ( ar, جواد الزايري; born 17 April 1982) is a Moroccan professional footballer who played as a winger. He played for the Morocco national team between 2000 and 2009, making 34 appearances and scoring six goals.

Early life

Zairi was born into a large family in

Taza Taza ( ber, ⵜⴰⵣⴰ, ar, تازة) is a city in northern Morocco occupying the corridor between the Rif mountains and Middle Atlas mountains, about 120 km east of Fez and 150 km west of Al hoceima. It recorded a population of 148 ...

, Morocco. At the age of 2, his family moved to Mâcon, a small French city. In 1997, he moved to FC Gueugnon.

Club career

Zairi joined the French

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 ...

team

FC Gueugnon Football Club Gueugnonnais (commonly called Gueugnon ) is a French association football club based in Gueugnon, Burgundy. The club was formed in 1940 and plays its home matches at the Stade Jean Laville located within the city. The club has ...

at the age of 15. In the summer of 2001, he joined FC Sochaux and played for them until 2008. In January 2006 he was loaned to the Saudi club Al-Ittihad. He moved to Portugal and played for one year with Boavista F.C. (2006–2007). He returned in France and played another year with FC Nantes (2007–2008). He moved to Greece and played for Super League Greece side Asteras Tripolis for the 2008–09 season. On 25 April 2009, Olympiacos announced Zairi would join for the 2009–10 season. He won the 2010–11 Super League Greece with the club. After two seasons with Olympiacos he was informed by Olympiacos' manager Ernesto Valverde that he was not to renew his contract with the club and that he was free to leave. In July 2017, he made an appearance for Indonesian club Persija Jakarta in a friendly match against Espanyol.

International career

Zairi made a debut for Morocco national team in 2000. He played in the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

in 2004 when Morocco made it to the finals but lost to their North African rivals Tunisia. Zairi also played for Morocco at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zairi goal.''

Honours

Olympiacos *

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Morocco *

runner-up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zairi, Jaouad Living people 1982 births People from Taza Men's association football wingers Men's association football midfielders Moroccan men's footballers Morocco men's international footballers Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Primeira Liga players Super League Greece players Cypriot First Division players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Saudi Pro League players FC Gueugnon players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Boavista F.C. players FC Nantes players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players PAS Giannina F.C. players Anorthosis Famagusta FC players Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) players Al-Nasr SC (Salalah) players GOAL FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Oman Olympic footballers for Morocco Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Oman Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Greece Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in France