Abdelhamid El Kaoutari ( ar, عبد الحميد الكوثري; born 17 March 1990) 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 ...

who plays as a centre-back and currently plays for Super League Greece 2 club P.A.E. G.S. Diagoras. Born in France, he represents

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 ...

at international level.

Football career

El Kaoutari was born in Montpellier and played for his hometown club since childhood, having joined as a youth player. While in the club's youth academy, known as ''Centre de Formation de La Paillade'', he helped the Montpellier under-19 team win the 2008–09 edition of the

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their s ...

. After successfully passing through ''La Paillade'', El Kaoutari was allowed to train with the senior team alongside fellow youth teammate Mickaël Nelson. He made his professional debut on 12 May 2008 in a Ligue 2 match against

Gueugnon Gueugnon () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population Economy The primary industry in the town is a stainless-steel factory run by Aperam. A huge part of Gueugnon ...

. El Kaoutari appeared as a substitute in the 65th minute. Montpellier won the match 2–1. For the 2008–09 season, El Kaoutari featured regularly in the

and the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

. He started both Montpellier's Coupe de France victories over amateur club

Saint-Flour Saint-Flour (; Auvergnat: ''Sant Flor'') is a commune in the Cantal department in the Auvergne region in south-central France, around 100 km south of Clermont-Ferrand. Its inhabitants are called ''Sanflorains''. Geography The upper cit ...

and third-tier club

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

. Both matches went into extra time. El Kaoutari also appeared in four league matches, which included three straight matches late in the season, while Montpellier were in the midst of a promotion battle. Montpellier did, indeed, achieve promotion to Ligue 1. El Kaoutari was given a more prominent role in the squad for the

2009–10 Ligue 1 The 2009–10 Ligue 1 season was the 72nd since its establishment. Bordeaux were the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 5 June 2009, and play commenced on 8 August and ended on 15 May 2010. There were three promoted teams from L ...

season. After appearing early on as a substitute, by November, El Kaoutari became a staple in the starting eleven, usually starting in the left-back position. In July 2015, he moved to Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club Palermo, when he signed a four-year contract. On 1 February 2016, El Kaoutari signed a six-month loan deal with Ligue 1 club Reims. In January 2019, he left

Wydad AC Wydad Athletic Club ( ar, نادي الوداد الرياضي, ) commonly referred to as Wydad AC and known as Wydad, or simply as WAC, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional football team that ...

for

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

International career

El Kaoutari played for the France under-19 team. He was a late addition to the team making his debut during the

Elite Round In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

portion of qualification for the 2009 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. He was later selected to play in the tournament and featured in all four matches with France suffering elimination in the semi-finals losing 3–1 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 ...

. El Kaoutari played his first match for

on 4 June 2011 against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

(4–0). He was named in

Pim Verbeek Peter Tim Dirk "Pim" Verbeek (12 March 1956 – 28 November 2019) was a Dutch football manager who last coached the Oman national football team. Playing career As a player, Verbeek was a defender or a midfielder and spent his entire career at S ...

's 18-man squad for the Morocco U-23 football team to compete at the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Honours

Montpellier * Ligue 1: 2011–12

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaoutari, Abdelhamid 1990 births Living people Men's association football defenders Citizens of Morocco through descent French men's footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 3 players Serie A players Montpellier HSC players Palermo FC players Stade de Reims players SC Bastia players Wydad AC players AS Nancy Lorraine players P.A.E. G.S. Diagoras players French sportspeople of Moroccan descent Berber Moroccans Moroccan men's footballers Morocco men's international footballers France men's youth international footballers 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Olympic footballers for Morocco Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Montpellier