Walid Azaro ( ar, وليد أزارو; born 11 June 1995) is a Moroccan 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 striker for

Ajman Ajman ( ar, عجمان, '; Gulf Arabic: عيمان ʿymān) is the capital of the emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates. It is the fifth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Ain. Located along the Persian Gulf, it is ...

and the Moroccan national team. After beginning his career in his home country, he joined Al Ahly in 2017 and finished as the

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of th ...

's top goalscorer in his first season. He made his international debut for

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 ...

in 2017.

Club career

Azaro was born in Aït Melloul. He started his career with Adrar Souss in the third division of the Moroccan league. He joined

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 2015, signing for them on a three-year contract. During the 2016–17 season, he finished as the club's top goalscorer with twelve league goals. In June 2017, Azaro turned down several offers from European clubs to join

club

Al Ahly 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 ...

on a four-year deal for a fee of $1.4 million, despite Moroccan national team manager

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 ...

attempting to convince him to move to Europe. His transfer saw him become the first Moroccan to play for the club. In his first season with the club, Azaro scored 18 league goals to finish as the top goalscorer in the Egyptian Premier League and help Al-Ahly win their 40th league title. His tally saw him break the record for the most goals scored by a foreign player in the Egyptian Premier League, surpassing the previous record of 17 jointly held by

Flávio Amado Flávio da Silva Amado (born 30 December 1979), better known as Flávio, is an Angolan former professional footballer striker. He is the assistant of Angolan side Petro Atlético. Club career Flávio helped his team Al Ahly to participate in ...

and

John Utaka John Chukwudi Utaka (born 8 January 1982) is a Nigerian former footballer who played as a striker and is currently a youth coach at Montpellier HSC. He is the older brother of fellow professional footballer Peter Utaka. Utaka has played for se ...

. He also surpassed Stanley Ohawuchi's record for the most goals scored in the Egyptian Premier League by a player in their first season. He also scored the only goal of the

2017 Egyptian Super Cup The 2017 Egyptian Super Cup was the 14th edition of the Egyptian Super Cup, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Egyptian Premier League and Egypt Cup. The match is usually contested by the winners of the Premier L ...

and scored a hat-trick against Tunisian side

Étoile Sportive du Sahel Étoile may refer to: Places ;France * Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, station of the Paris Métro * Étoile-Saint-Cyrice, commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in France * Étoile-sur-Rhône, commune in the Drôme department in France * L'Éto ...

in the semi-final of the

2017 CAF Champions League The 2017 CAF Champions League (officially the 2017 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 53rd edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 21st edit ...

. His performances attracted attention from several clubs and Al Ahly rejected an offer from Saudi club

Al-Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yello ...

William Jebor William Jebor (born 10 November 1991) is a Liberian professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Liberia national team, for which he serves as captain. He is the second Liberian to be an Africa Footballer of the Year nominee, after ...

plus a cash sum. In October 2020, Azaro agreed to join Saudi club Al-Ettifaq on a permanent deal for two years, after being on loan since January. On 30 January 2022, Azaro was released by Al-Ettifaq.

International career

Azaro made his debut for Morocco on 24 March 2017 as a substitute during a 2–0 victory over

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

. He was named in Morocco's preliminary squad for 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 ...

but was later omitted from the final squad.

Honours

Club

Al Ahly *

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as Egyptian FA Cup, formerly King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. List of finals The following table provides a summary of seasons: Notes: * The Winner and Runner-up of 1960–61 Eg ...

: 2016–17 *

Egyptian Super Cup The Egyptian Super Cup is Egyptian football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Egyptian Premier League season and the holders of the Egypt Cup. If the Egyptian Premier League champions also won the Egypt Cup then the ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

African 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 ...

runner-up: 2017, 2018

Individual

* Egyptian Premier League top goalscorer: 2017–18

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azaro, Walid 1995 births Living people Moroccan footballers Morocco international footballers Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi players Al Ahly SC players Ettifaq FC players Ajman Club players Botola players Egyptian Premier League players Saudi Professional League players UAE Pro League players Moroccan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Egypt Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates People from Souss-Massa Association football forwards Shilha people