Abdellah Zoubir ( ar, عبدالله زوبير; born 5 December 1991) is a French 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or a winger for Azerbaijan Premier League club Qarabağ. He started out his senior career at

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, after which he went on to compete professionally in Scotland, Romania and Azerbaijan, respectively. In the latter country, Zoubir aided Qarabağ in winning three national titles and one

national cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League. For most of the competition's history, the draw has ...

Career

Early career and Istres

Born in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

of Moroccan descent, Zoubir started playing

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

in his native city at the age of 6. He represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at youth level in that sport, sharing teams at one point with

Wissam Ben Yedder Wissam Ben Yedder (born 12 August 1990) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Monaco and the France national team. Having begun his career at amateurs UJA Alfortville, Ben Yedder joined Toulouse in 2010. ...

. In 2012, Zoubir signed for

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location ...

in Ligue 2. He was loaned in January 2013 to lower league club

. In August 2013, Zoubir joined Scottish side Hibernian on loan after being recommended by former footballer Frédéric Arpinon. He made his first start for his new team in a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

match against Stranraer on 24 September, also scoring the second goal in a 5–3 win. However, after the departure of manager

Pat Fenlon Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player. Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. As a manager he won five League of Ireland tit ...

, he did not seem to enter the plans of new coach

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. He works as an academy coach for Ipswich Town. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps ...

, coming on mostly as a substitute. An ankle injury kept Zoubir out for five months, and he ended the season (which ended in relegation after 15 years) with 16 matches and one goal all competitions comprised. He subsequently returned to Istres, now in the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

Petrolul Ploiești

On 24 June 2015, Zoubir joined Romanian side Petrolul Ploiești on a three-year contract. He made his

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

debut on 11 July, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw at defending champions

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministr ...

; he adapted quickly, being voted Footballer of the Month for July by fans on the DoarPetrolul.ro forum. He netted his first goal for the club on 9 November in a 1–1 home draw against

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional football club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best period was between 2011 and 2019, wh ...

, and his second came against

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...

late in the same month (1–0, also at the

Ilie Oană Stadium Ilie Oană Stadium ( Romanian: ''Stadionul Ilie Oană'') is a football stadium in Ploiești, Romania. It has been the home ground of Petrolul Ploiești since its inauguration in September 2011, and has a capacity of 15,073 spectators. The stadi ...

). During early December 2015, it was reported that Bucharest rivals Steaua and Dinamo were interested in acquiring Zoubir in the winter transfer window.

Qarabağ

On 26 June 2018, Zoubir signed a two-year contract with Qarabağ.

Career statistics

Honours

Qarabağ * Azerbaijan Premier League: 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22 * Azerbaijan Cup: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zoubir, Abdellah 1991 births Living people French sportspeople of Moroccan descent Footballers from Lille French footballers Moroccan footballers Association football midfielders Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players FC Istres players Grenoble Foot 38 players RC Lens players Scottish Professional Football League players Hibernian F.C. players Liga I players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Azerbaijan Premier League players Qarabağ FK players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan French expatriate sportspeople in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in Romania French expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan