Mehdi Ballouchy ( ar, مهدي بلوشي; born April 6, 1983) is a retired 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is currently one of the coaching staff for New York City FC.

Career

Early life

At the age of 13, he joined

SCC Mohammédia Sporting Club Chabab Mohammédia ( ar, النادي الرياضي شباب المحمدية), known as Chabab Mohammédia, is a Moroccan professional football club based in the city of Mohammedia, currently playing in Botola Pro Inwi. It is ...

and played there to the age of 16. He then moved to the United States in 2000, initially living with his brother in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

before attending

Gunn High School Henry M. Gunn Senior High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California, the other being Palo Alto High School. Established in , Gunn High School was named after Henry Martin Gunn, who served as the Palo Alto superintendent fr ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

with a host family. He attended college and played one year of

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

at Creighton and two at Santa Clara, where he was named first team all-American in 2005. He also briefly played with

Boulder Rapids Reserve Colorado Rapids U–23 were an American soccer team based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado, United States. Originally founded in 2000 as part of the development system for the Colorado Rapids, the team played in the Premier Develo ...

in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

Professional

Real Salt Lake

Ballouchy signed a

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S. ...

contract with MLS and was taken second overall by

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

at the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. During his time with RSL Ballouchy appeared in 46 league matches scoring 2 goals and recording 2 assists.

Colorado Rapids

After spending two years in Utah he was traded to

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

for

Kyle Beckerman Kyle Robert Beckerman (born April 23, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He spent 21 seasons in Major League Soccer (MLS) with the Miami Fusion (2000–2001), Colorado Rapids (2002–2007) ...

in July 2007. During his stay with Colorado Ballouchy played primarily as an attacking central midfielder, but also saw time at right midfield. With Colorado he appeared in 77 league matches, scoring 7 goals and recording 18 assists. His most productive season for Colorado was in 2009 when he appeared in 28 league matches scoring two goals and providing seven assists.

New York Red Bulls

On September 14, 2010 Ballouchy joined

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

in a trade for

Macoumba Kandji Macoumba Kandji (born 2 August 1985 in Dakar) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays for FC Lahti in the Veikkausliiga. Career Early life and college Kandji was born in Senegal, raised in The Gambia, and came to the United States i ...

. New York coach

Hans Backe Hans Roland "Hasse" Backe (; born 14 February 1952) is a Swedish football manager and former player who most recently led Finland's national team. Prior to this he managed the New York Red Bulls. He has coached clubs in Sweden, Norway, Greece, ...

had been looking for an attacking midfielder throughout the season and the acquisition of Ballouchy ended the club's search. On September 16, 2010 Ballouchy debuted for New York wearing the number 10 shirt and scoring a goal in a 2–2 draw against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

. On October 21, 2010 Ballouchy started for Red Bulls in a 2–0 victory over

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

which helped New York clinch its second regular season Eastern Conference title. On October 26, 2011 Ballouchy helped New York to a 2–0 victory over

Pizza Hut Park Toyota Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium located in Frisco, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, United States. Built and owned by the city of Frisco, the 20,500-seat stadium opened in 2005. Its primary tenants are Major League Soccer club FC Dallas ...

in a 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs match by assisting

Joel Lindpere Joel Lindpere (born 5 October 1981) is an Estonian football coach and former professional player. Lindpere played as a midfielder for Nõmme Kalju, Lelle, Flora, Valga, CSKA Sofia, Tromsø, New York Red Bulls, Chicago Fire, and Baník Ostra ...

in scoring the club's first goal of the night.

San Jose Earthquakes

Ballouchy moved back to California as he was traded to

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

on July 30, 2012 for a 2013 international spot and a conditional 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft pick. He made 6 appearances as a regular before he suffered from tearing of his anterior cruciate ligaments which kept him sideline for the rest of the season and the start of the following season.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Ballouchy was selected in the second stage of the

2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 12, 2013 (Stage 1) and December 18, 2013 (Stage 2). All 19 Major League Soccer clubs were eligible to participate. The Stage 1 and Stage 2 Drafts were conducted in the same order as the ...

by the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

on December 18, 2013 and agreed to terms in January 2014.

New York City FC

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

selected Medhi Ballouchy as their sixth selection in the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft on December 10, 2014. He was Given number 20 shirt. Ballouchy announced his retirement on November 18, 2016. After working as a coach at the New York City academy he was promoted to first team assistant coach under

Ronny Deila Ronny Deila (born 21 September 1975) is a Norwegian football manager and former player, who is the manager of Standard Liège. He spent most of his playing career at Odd before becoming head coach at Strømsgodset, winning the Norwegian Cup in ...

in January 2020.

International career

Ballouchy has played for various youth Moroccan national teams, including the Moroccan U-17 and U-16 national teams prior to moving to the United States at the age of 16. He wasn't called to play for 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 ...

at senior level.

Personal life

The son of Driss and Malika Ballouchy, his father is a former French second division football player. Ballouchy received a U.S. green card in January 2013, which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS purposes.

Career statistics

Honors

New York Red Bulls * MLS Eastern Conference 2010

Individual

* NYCFC Etihad Player of the month — May 2015

References

External links

*
MLS Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballouchy, Mehdi 1983 births Living people Footballers from Casablanca Moroccan footballers Moroccan expatriate footballers Association football midfielders Creighton Bluejays men's soccer players Santa Clara Broncos men's soccer players Colorado Rapids U-23 players Real Salt Lake players Colorado Rapids players New York Red Bulls players San Jose Earthquakes players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 players New York City FC players American people of Moroccan descent Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Canada Real Salt Lake draft picks USL League Two players Major League Soccer players All-American men's college soccer players SCC Mohammédia players New York City FC non-playing staff Gunn High School alumni