Mohammed Fellah ( ar, محمد فلاح; born 24 May 1989) is a Norwegian 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 ...

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 ...

Club career

Vålerenga

Fellah was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

to Moroccan parents from

Al Hoceima Al Hoceima ( ber, translit=Lḥusima, label= Riffian-Berber, ⵍⵃⵓⵙⵉⵎⴰ; ar, الحسيمة; '' es, Alhucemas'') is a Riffian city in the north of Morocco, on the northern edge of the Rif Mountains and on the Mediterranean coast. It i ...

and was raised in Holmlia, a multicultural satellite town in southern part of Oslo. He started his football career with local side Holmlia SK before being discovered by Vålerenga. Fellah scored in his debut for Vålerenga in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

. on 10 September 2006 in a match against

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the ...

. When the Norway U18 team met Turkey twice in three days in August 2007, Fellah was badly injured in a challenge with Serdar Aziz in the second game and broke his calf bone. He required surgery, and lost the rest of the 2007 season. The injury would not heal properly, and during the fall of 2008 he had to operate again. Fellah came back fully in the 2009 season playing a total of 23 games in Tippeligaen. Fellah started Vålerenga's first 14 matches in Tippeligaen in the 2010 season and was voted "man of the match" in three of the games by Norwegian newspaper

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

Esbjerg

In August 2013 Fellah moved to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

side

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Found ...

on a three-year contract.

Nordsjælland

In May 2016, Fellah moved to

side

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

on a three-year contract.

Sandefjord

On 31 August 2018 Fellah signed a one-year deal with

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

Return to Vålerenga

In September 2019, Fellah returned to Vålerenga.

International career

Youth

Fellah is of Moroccan descent, but has represented Norway at youth international level. He played for the Norway U-17 national team in qualifiers for the 2006 UEFA European U-17 Championship, scoring the first goal for Norway in their 3–1 win over Liechtenstein.

Senior

When Fellah was left out of the Norwegian national team squad for the 2012 King's Cup, which only consisted of players playing in Scandinavia, he stated that he wanted to play

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

instead of Norway. One year later he was called up for the Norwegian squad for the friendly matches against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

in January 2013, and said that he now wanted to play for Norway. He made his debut for Norway against South Africa on 8 January 2013, and started the match against Zambia four days later.

Personal life

In August 2020, Fellah faced allegations of racist harassment related to the sharing of private messages on Instagram. These messages contained sexist and racially offensive content, originating from a user account associated with Fellah. He denied any involvement. After his retirement, Fellah pursued a career as a sports agent. His nephew,

Osame Sahraoui Osame Sahraoui (born 11 June 2001) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Vålerenga. Club career Growing up in Hauketo IF, he joined Vålerenga's youth system in 2014. Steadily advancing in the junior ranks, he ...

, is also a professional

Career statistics

References

External links

Fellah: "I play to entertain"

Players profile on altomfotball.no
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fellah, Mohammed 1989 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Norwegian people of Moroccan descent Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Eliteserien players Danish Superliga players Holmlia SK players Vålerenga Fotball players Esbjerg fB players FC Nordsjælland players Odense Boldklub players Sandefjord Fotball players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Association football agents