Soufyan Ahannach (born 9 September 1995) is a Dutch 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 plays as a winger for Al-Arabi in the

Saudi First Division The First Division League (FDL for short), also called the Yelo league for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of professional football in Saudi Arabia. The First Division League is ranked below the Saudi Professional League and above the Sa ...

Club career

Ahannach started his professional career with

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

side Almere City scoring 32 goals in 97 appearances, before moving on to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. On 10 August 2017, Ahannach signed for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

on a five-year contract. He was loaned out to Sparta Rotterdam of the

Eredivise The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

for the 2017–18 season where he scored once in twelve appearances. Ahannach signed for Belgian second tier side,

Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise , abbreviated to Union SG or USG, unofficially simply called Union, is a Belgian football club originally located in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, in Brussels, although since the 1920s it has been based at the Jo ...

on the 2 September 2019 on a season long loan. Ahannach returned to Brighton in January 2020 where he was released. He then signed with Go Ahead Eagles for the remainder of the season. On 2 February 2021, it was announced that Ahannach had signed with FC Den Bosch. The move reunited him with

Jack de Gier } Jack de Gier (; born 6 August 1968) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of FC Den Bosch. He was nicknamed ''Il Butre'' (The Vulture), after legendary Spain striker E ...

, his manager at Almere City. On 9 June 2022, Ahannach joined Saudi Arabian side Al-Arabi.

International career

On 26 March 2013, Ahannach gained a cap for the Netherlands U18 team in a friendly against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He came on as a substitute in the 74th minute for

Jorrit Hendrix Jorrit Petrus Carolina Hendrix (born 6 February 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for German club Fortuna Düsseldorf. Club career PSV Hendrix started playing youth football at hometown club SV Pann ...

Career statistics

Personal life

His older brother

Alami Ahannach Alami Ahannach (born 20 September 1969) is a Moroccan football manager and former international player. Playing career Ahannach spent his whole playing career in the Netherlands, playing over 200 professional games throughout his career. He als ...

is a football coach and a former Moroccan international footballer. His cousin Anass Ahannach is also a footballer. Ahannach is a Muslim, and follows the purist salafist branch of the religion. He wears a beard with a trimmed moustache and observes the '' salah'' five times daily.

References

External links

* 1995 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Association football wingers AFC DWS players Almere City FC players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Sparta Rotterdam players Go Ahead Eagles players FC Den Bosch players Al-Arabi (Saudi Arabia) players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Saudi First Division League players Expatriate footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch sportspeople of Moroccan descent Netherlands youth international footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Dutch Muslims Salafis {{Netherlands-footy-midfielder-stub