Mimoun Azaouagh (born 17 November 1982) is a German former 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 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 ...

Career

Azaouagh started his career with the youth teams of

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

and

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. In 1999, he moved to

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

. In the 2000–01 season, he played his first matches for the second team of Mainz in the Oberliga. Azaouagh was promoted from the amateur team to the professional team in September 2002, and from then on given a regular spot in the team. When he helped them reach promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

in the 2003–04 season, he had played 48 games and scored four goals in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. Azaouagh missed the first three matches of Mainz in the Bundesliga due to illness, but already in his second match at the highest German level he scored a goal. During a match against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

on 30 October 2004, he suffered a serious injury after clash with an opposing player, ruling him out for six months. Later in the season, he was recompensed financially for this injury. In late 2004, however, Azaouagh moved to

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 ...

. The move was controversial, as the club initially refused to pay the transfer fee. After months had passed, the clubs found an agreement. It took months of rehabilitation before Azaough could play again. On 14 January 2005, he made his debut for Schalke 04 in a friendly against

SC Paderborn Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

. On 4 March 2005, he played his first Bundesliga match for the club against

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

. Azaough scored his first goal in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

match against

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

on 16 March 2006. In the season 2006–07, he played on a loan for Mainz 05 again. Upon his return to Schalke, he was mostly a reserve, and as he consequence of his lack of playing time, he was loaned out again; this time to

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...

for the rest of the season. After the 2007–08 season, Azaouagh made the move permanent. His contract ran until 30 June 2012. Azaouagh joined fellow

club 1. FC Kaiserslautern on a free transfer in summer 2012. After the expiration of his contract in 2014 he left the club. Azaouagh was without a club from July 2014 and joined

SC Hessen Dreieich SC Hessen Dreieich is a German association football club from the town of Dreieich, Hesse. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the fourth tier in 2018. History SC Hessen Dreieich was formed on 20 June 2013 to consolidate the loc ...

in the fifth-tier

Hessenliga The Hessenliga (until 2008 ''Oberliga Hessen'') is the highest football league in the state of Hesse and the Hessian football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German football league system. ...

in December 2015 until the end of the season. He retired from football after the season.

International career

Azaouagh played for the Germany under-21 national team. He announced on 2 October 2009 that he would now play for the Morocco national team.

Personal life

Azaouagh is of

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

origin, hailing from

Beni Sidel Beni Sidel is a village in the Rif mountain range in northern Morocco. It is situated east of the city of Nador, the provincial capital. Notable people * Ahmed Aboutaleb, Dutch-Moroccan politician, mayor of Rotterdam * Youssef Mokhtari, Moroccan ...

, Morocco. He is fluent in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

, but not

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

. His brothers Ahmed and Aziz are also football players. On 12 February 2015, German newspaper ''

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

'', published a controversial article with the title "Former Bundesliga-Star now a

Salafist The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generati ...

?". Azaouagh denied this, saying he was a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

but not a salafist. He also claimed that the ''Bild'' article was responsible for him not being able to get a new contract.

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile at theplayersagent.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Azaouagh, Mimoun 1982 births Living people German people of Riffian descent German footballers Association football midfielders Germany under-21 international footballers German people of Moroccan descent Naturalized citizens of Germany German sportspeople of African descent FC Schalke 04 players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players 1. FSV Mainz 05 II players VfL Bochum players VfL Bochum II players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SC Hessen Dreieich players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Moroccan emigrants to Germany Hessenliga players German Muslims Moroccan Muslims