Munir Mohand Mohamedi El Kajoui ( ar, منير مهند محمدي الكجوي; born 10 May 1989), known simply as Munir, 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 le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

for Saudi Professional League club

Al Wehda FC Al-Wehda FC ( ar, نادي الوحدة, nādī al-waḥda, Union Club) is a multi-sports club from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, founded in 1916, making it the third oldest club in Saudi Arabia. The football section plays in the Saudi Professional League ...

and the Morocco national team. He played for Ceuta B, Almería B,

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

, Numancia,

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, Hatayspor and

Al Wehda AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

. Born in Spain, Munir represented

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 to ...

at international level, making his debut in 2015 and being part of the squads at two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and three

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 ...

tournaments.

Club career

Born in

, Munir graduated from lowly CG Goyu Ryu's youth setup, and made his debut as a senior with AD Ceuta's reserves in 2008, in the regional leagues. On 29 January of the following year he moved to another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

UD Almería B Unión Deportiva Almería "B" is a Spanish football team based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 2001, it is the reserve team of UD Almería and currently plays in Tercera Federación – Group 9, holding home game ...

from

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

, but appeared sparingly and was subsequently released. Munir joined

UD Melilla Unión Deportiva Melilla is a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 5, holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with a 8,000 c ...

in summer 2009, initially being assigned to the reserves and being definitely promoted to the main squad in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

the following year. He acted mainly as a backup to Pedro Dorronsoro in his first two seasons at the club, becoming a starter afterwards. On 17 June 2014, Munir signed a two-year contract with

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

. On 10 September he made his professional debut, starting in a 1–1 away draw against

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

in the second round of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

and also saving two

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

during the shootout. Munir made his debut in the second tier on 19 October 2014, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 loss at

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

. He was first choice for the remainder of the campaign, overtaking

Biel Ribas Gabriel 'Biel' Ribas Ródenas (born 2 December 1985 in Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands) is a Spanish footballer who plays for UCAM Murcia CF as a goalkeeper. Career statistics Club Honours UCAM Murcia *Segunda División B: 2015–16 ...

. Munir left the Soria team at the end of 2017–18, after losing his starting spot to Aitor Fernández. On 19 July 2018, he joined

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

also in the second division. From

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, Munir competed in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

with Hatayspor. On 10 June 2022, he agreed to a two-year deal at Saudi Arabian club

International career

Having Moroccan heritage, Munir switched his allegiance to its national team in 2014. On 9 March 2015, he was called up by manager Ezzaki Badou for a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

to be held late in the month, and made his debut by starting in the 0–1 loss. On 29 December 2016, Munir was included in

Hervé Renard Hervé Jean-Marie Roger Renard (born 30 September 1968) is a French professional football coach and former player who is the manager of the Saudi Arabia national team. Renard has previously been the manager of Zambia national team, with whom ...

's 23-man squad for the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

, and started the whole tournament ahead of

Yassine Bounou Yassine Bounou ( ar, ياسين بونو; ber, ⵢⴰⵙⵉⵏ ⴱⵓⵏⵓ; born 5 April 1991), also known as Bono, is a Moroccan footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Sevilla and the Morocco national team. Bono began his yo ...

. He was also selected to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, making his first appearance in the World Cup on 15 June in the 1–0 group stage defeat to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Munir was also selected for the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

and the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

. After starter Bounou fell ill shortly before the start of the group-stage fixture against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in the latter tournament, he replaced him and eventually contributed to a 2–0 win in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

; he and his teammates were part of the first African nation ever to reach the semi-finals of the competition.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Individual * Ricardo Zamora Trophy:

2019–20 Segunda División The 2019–20 Segunda División season, also known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, was the 89th since its establishment. On 12 March 2020 after most of teams had played 31 games, the league was suspended for at least two weeks due t ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohamedi, Munir 1989 births Living people Citizens of Morocco through descent Spanish sportspeople of Moroccan descent Spanish footballers Moroccan footballers Footballers from Melilla Association football goalkeepers Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players UD Almería B players UD Melilla footballers CD Numancia players Málaga CF players Süper Lig players Hatayspor footballers Saudi Professional League players Al-Wehda Club (Mecca) players Morocco international footballers 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Spanish expatriate footballers Moroccan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia