Abdelaziz El Idrissi Bouderbala ( ar, عبد العزيز الإدريسي بودربالة; born December 26, 1960) is a Moroccan former professional footballer who played as a

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 ...

. In 2006, he was selected by CAF as one of the best 200 African football players of the last 50 years.

Career

Bouderbala started his professional career at

Wydad Casablanca 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 ...

, before moving to

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

Matra Racing Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

and French

Olympique Lyon Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, ...

. He also played for Estoril-Praia from Portugal. In 1986, Bouderbala was runner-up for the

African Footballer of the Year African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

award. He made 57 appearances for the Morocco national team and played at the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals. Bouderbala later worked as a technical director at his first club

. In 2015, he became an ambassador of The SATUC Cup, a new charitable global football competition for U16 orphans, refugees and disadvantaged children.

Personal life

He lives in Canton, Michigan, with his wife and four kids.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Morocco goal''.

Honours

Wydad *

Moroccan Throne Cup The Moroccan Throne Cup or the Throne Cup is a football tournament sponsored by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and brings together Moroccan clubs who play on the knockout system until two teams reach the final match. Unlike the league ch ...

: 1978, 1979, 1981, 1997 * Botola: 1978 * Mohammed V Cup:1979 Fc Sion * Swiss Cup:1986 Morocco *

1983 Mediterranean Games The IX Mediterranean Games ( ar, ألعاب البحر الأبيض المتوسط 1983), commonly known as the 1983 Mediterranean Games, were the 9th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Casablanca, Morocco, from 3 to 17 September 1983 ...

Champion:

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

* 1980 African Cup of Nations: 3rd place individual *

CAF African Footballer of the Year CAF or caf may refer to: Armed forces *Canadian Armed Forces (Canadian Forces), the Canadian Air Force, Army, and Navy *Canadian Air Force, now the Royal Canadian Air Force *Republic of China Air Force, the air force of the Republic of China (Tai ...

runner-up: 1986 * African Footballer of the 20th century: 15th place * African Cup Of Nations best player:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

All-time Morocco Men's Dream Team

References

External links

* * 1960 births Living people Footballers from Casablanca Moroccan men's footballers Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Morocco men's international footballers Wydad AC players FC Sion players Racing Club de France Football players Olympique Lyonnais players Ligue 1 players G.D. Estoril Praia players Primeira Liga players FC St. Gallen players Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in France Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1980 African Cup of Nations players 1986 African Cup of Nations players 1988 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players Competitors at the 1979 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1983 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Morocco Moroccan emigrants to the United States Men's association football midfielders Mediterranean Games medalists in football {{Morocco-footy-midfielder-stub