Ali Elkhattabi ( ar, علي الخطّابي; born 17 January 1977) is a former 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 ...

. Born in the Netherlands, Elkhattabi gained 10 caps 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 t ...

, making his debut in 1997.

Club career

Elkhattabi began his professional career in the 1995–96 season with Sparta Rotterdam. After one season, he moved to

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

. He proved to be an efficient goalscorer in his first matches at the club, spawning interest from several top clubs in the Netherlands. Three years later, Elkhattabi would, however, return to Sparta, where he scored 36 goals in 75 matches, striking up a partnership in attack with Bram Marbus. His final season – 2000–01 – proved his most successful, finishing second in the

Eredivisie 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 ...

Golden Boot with 21 goals in 33 appearances, only behind

Mateja Kežman Mateja Kežman ( sr-Cyrl, Матеја Кежман, ; born 12 April 1979) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Upon playing in his homeland, Kežman went on to play top-flight football in the Netherlands, Engla ...

. He was then signed by AZ. He stayed there for four years, before joining

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

on loan in 2005 after being rumored to

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, Stoke City and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. Elkhattabi retired in September 2006, as he was not able to find a new club after his loan with RBC had expired. Elkhattabi has a

fear of flying Fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane, or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromechanophobia (although a ...

, a condition which severely limited his ability to play in away matches in European competitions and to travel with the national team.

International career

His

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

debut came against

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

in November 1997, and he was included in Morocco's 1998 World Cup squad.

Retirement

Elkhattabi has worked as a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

agent since his retirement from football. He has since also worked as a players' agent.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elkhattabi, Ali Living people 1977 births Moroccan footballers Morocco international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1998 African Cup of Nations players Eredivisie players SV SVV players Sparta Rotterdam players SC Heerenveen players AZ Alkmaar players RBC Roosendaal players Dutch people of Moroccan-Berber descent Dutch people of Riffian descent Berber Moroccans Footballers from Schiedam Association football forwards