Abdelkrim El Hadrioui ( ar, عبد الكريم الحضريوي; born 6 March 1972) is a retired 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 played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Born in

Taza Taza ( ber, ⵜⴰⵣⴰ, ar, تازة) is a city in northern Morocco occupying the corridor between the Rif mountains and Middle Atlas mountains, about 120 km east of Fez and 150 km west of Al hoceima. It recorded a population of 148 ...

, Hadrioui began his career at AS.FAR, helping them win one

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

title. In January 1997, after the sale of Dimas to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

Mário Wilson Mário Wilson (; 17 October 1929 – 3 October 2016) was a Portuguese football central defender and manager. He appeared in 286 Primeira Liga matches over 14 seasons, mainly in representation of Académica. He also played for Desportivo de Lou ...

, who managed AS.FAR a year before, recommend him to Benfica, who subsequently signed him. He made his league debut on 1 March 1997 in a 3–1 loss against Chaves and quickly took the starting role from

Pedro Henriques Pedro Ricardo Quintela Henriques (born 16 October 1974) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a left-back. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 222 matches and six goals over 12 seasons, representing mainly Benfica and Vitória de Set� ...

. He scored his first and only goal for Benfica on the 1997 Taça de Portugal Final lost to Boavista. After the arrival of

Scott Minto Scott Christopher Minto (born 6 August 1971) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a left back who played in the Premier League for Chelsea and West Ham United and in Portugal for Ben ...

and

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

, his influence was greatly reduced, only appearing sporadically throughout his

second year Second year (also known as S2 in Scotland) is the second year of schooling in secondary schools in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland, and is roughly equivalent to Year 9 in England and Wales and Year 10 (Third Form) in Northern Ireland. Mos ...

, but still bagged 20 matches, for a total for 28 appearances for Benfica. In 1998, he moved to

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

, becoming an undisputed starter, and even attracting attention of other clubs, such as

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in August 2000. After four seasons at Alkmaar, El Hadrioui moved to Belgian, playing for two years with

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, retiring in 2005 at the age of 33 years after a one-year spell with

Ittihad Khemisset Ittihad Khemisset ( ar, اتحاد الخميسات) is a Moroccan football club based in Khemisset. The club was founded in 1940. They play their home games at Stade du 18 novembre. Honours * Moroccan League First Division: 0 :: ::Second pl ...

. Internationally, he was a member of the

Morocco national football team The Morocco national football team,french: Équipe du Maroc de football nicknamed "the Barbary lion, Atlas Lions", represents Morocco in men's international Association football, football competitions. It is controlled by the Royal Moroccan Foo ...

that competed at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He also participated at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Career statistics

International goals

References

External links

* * * 1972 births Living people Moroccan footballers Moroccan expatriate footballers Morocco international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Morocco 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players AS FAR (football) players S.L. Benfica footballers R. Charleroi S.C. players AZ Alkmaar players Eredivisie players Primeira Liga players Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Belgium Association football defenders People from Taza Ittihad Khemisset players Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Morocco Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games {{Morocco-footy-defender-stub