Youssef Joshua Safri ( ar, يوسف سفري, born 3 January 1977) is a Moroccan retired

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 currently is coach for Qatar SC.

Club career

Safri started his youth career at

Rachad Bernoussi Club Rachad Bernoussi is a Moroccan football club currently playing in the second division. The club was founded in 1961 and is located in the town of Casablanca. They play in the Complexe Bernoussi, and their president is Hicham Chbora. Curren ...

. The following year, he was promoted to the senior squad. He was a midfielder best known for his passing and tackling ability. In 2001, he joined

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

where he played until 2004, scoring once against Sheffield Wednesday. In December 2003, he had come under fire after breaking the leg of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

player

Colin Healy Colin Healy (born 14 March 1980) is a former midfield footballer from Ireland. He has been manager of Cork City F.C. since late 2020. He started his senior career at Celtic, spending five years with the Scottish club before joining English sid ...

. The next season, he joined Norwich City for an initial fee of £500,000 in the summer of 2004, after the Canaries had been promoted to the Premier League. Safri became popular among the Norwich fans towards the end of the 2004–05 campaign and during the 2005–06 season following a series of impressive performances. He scored a 40-yard strike against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

in April 2005 during the team's fight against relegation from the Premiership. Safri was linked with a move to Feyenoord in the summer of 2005, but stayed at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. N ...

. Following the 3–1 defeat at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in September 2006, Safri and teammate

Dickson Etuhu Dickson Paul Etuhu (born 8 June 1982) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He played in the Premier League for Manchester City, Sunderland and Fulham, as well as in the Football League for Prest ...

were reported to have traded punches on the team bus during their return journey to

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, although these reports are now thought to have been discredited. After Peter Grant was appointed Norwich manager in October 2006, Safri was not a regular selection. There was speculation that he would leave the club in January 2007, fuelled by his comments in the Eastern Daily Press on 29 December 2006 in which Safri indicated that he would seek a transfer if Grant continued to use him as a substitute. Safri remained at Carrow Road until the end of the 2006–07 season, but after falling out with manager Peter Grant, Grant stated in the press on 1 August that Safri would not play for the club again. On 2 August 2007 he signed for Norwich's championship rivals Southampton on a two-year contract for a fee rumoured to be of the order of £250,000. On 24 October 2007 he was sent off in the 90th minute of Southampton's away defeat to Bristol City, for a heavy tackle on

Lee Johnson Lee Johnson may refer to: Sportspeople * Lee Johnson (wide receiver) (born 1944), American football wide receiver *Lee Johnson (punter) (born 1961), American football punter *Lee Johnson (basketball) (born 1957), American basketball player * Lee Jo ...

, whose subsequent reaction to Safri pushing him by all accounts was exaggerated, resulting in a straight Red. On 7 July 2008 he joined

Qatar Sports Club Qatar Sports Club ( ar, نادي قطر الرياضي) is a sports club based in Doha, Qatar. It is best known for its football team which competes in the Qatar Stars League. The club was founded in 1961 as a merger of two Qatari football clubs ...

in a £300,000 transfer.

International career

Safri was a key player with the Moroccan national team during the 2004 African Nations Cup, and was a member of the national squad competing at 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, 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 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Safri qualified to play for Scotland through a maternal grandparent, but decided to play for his native Morocco, stating concerns about the Scottish weather.

Coaching career

At the end of 2013 season he retired and started a role of assisting coach in his first club Raja Casablanca. In the following 2015–16 season, he was assistant manager of

Jamal Sellami Jamal Sellami ( ar, جمال السلامي) (born 6 October 1970) is a Moroccan professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the coach of the Moroccan club FUS Rabat. He played for several clubs, including ...

Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi ( ar, الدفاع الحسني الجديدي) is a Moroccan football club based in El Jadida. They are currently playing in the Botola. Home stadium DHJ play their home games at the Stade El Abdi. Crest Image:Difa ...

. In May 2018, Safri returned to Raja Casablanca, again as assistant manager, this time under manager

Juan Carlos Garrido Juan Carlos Garrido Fernández (born 29 March 1969) is a Spanish football manager. He managed Villarreal and Betis in La Liga before working for several years in the Arab world, winning the CAF Confederation Cup with Egypt's Al Ahly and Moroc ...

. Garrido was sacked on 28 January 2019, and Safri was appointed caretaker manager. It lasted for two days, before

Patrice Carteron Patrice Carteron (born 30 July 1970) is a French former professional football player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of Saudi club Al-Ettifaq. Some of his previous managerial posts include the Mali national team, TP Mazembe ...

was appointed. Safri however, left the club on 12 June 2019. In November 2019, Safri returned to Raja Casablanca. Coached Islam Under-17s to a league title in 2017-18 and won Manager of the season.

Honours

; Raja Casablanca * Moroccan League: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 *

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

: 1999 *

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup (also known as African Super Cup or for sponsorship reasons TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup) is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation ...

: 2000 ; Qatar SC * Qatar Crown Prince Cup: 2009 Morocco *

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 ...

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

Youssef Safri player profile
at saintsfc.co.uk

at canaries.co.uk *
BBC Sport – Safri signs for Southampton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safri, Youssef 1977 births Living people Moroccan footballers Footballers from Casablanca Morocco under-20 international footballers Morocco international footballers 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Qatar Moroccan Muslims Moroccan emigrants to the United Kingdom Moroccan expatriate footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in England Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Raja CA players Coventry City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Olympic footballers of Morocco Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Premier League players Qatar SC players Qatar Stars League players Association football midfielders Moroccan expatriate football managers