Naïm Aarab (born 7 February 1988) is a Belgian 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for RAS Saintoise.

Career

Aarab progressed through the youth ranks of

Tubize Tubize (; ) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006 Tubize had a total population of 22,335. The total area is 32.66 km2 which gives a population density of 684 inhabita ...

and

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

, before joining the reserves of

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

. He signed his first professional contract − a one-year deal − with the club in 2007. Aarab made his league debut in a 5–0 loss against PSV, as an 84th-minute substitute for Jonas Olsson on 25 August 2007. Aarab decided to leave NEC after not reaching a new agreement, and in July 2008 he joined AEL in the

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

. He spent the 2010–11 season on loan at

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, suffering relegation from the top division but also managing to score his first professional goal – on 23 October 2010 in a 3–2 loss to

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

. On 23 July 2012, Aarab joined Hungarian

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

side

Újpest Újpest (; , ) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary in 1838. Újpest was a village ...

on a four-year contract. In September 2014, Aarab signed a three-year contract with Wydad. In his first season with the Moroccan club, he only made one appearance. Wydad won the league title that season. In July 2015, he joined

Deinze Deinze () is a city and a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It comprises the city of Deinze, and the towns of Astene, Bachte-Maria-Leerne, Gottem, Grammene, Hansbeke, Landegem, Meigem, Merendree, Nevele, Petegem-aan-de-Lei ...

on loan. There, he played 5 games until his loan period was terminated prematurely in January 2016. He played no more games for the remainder of the 2015–16 season. In Morocco, Aarab struggled with injuries and at his own request he returned to Belgium in 2016 for his rehabilitation and joined Deinze on a permanent contract at the end of that year, where he played 2 matches. In 2017, Aarab returned to Wydad. With the club, he won the national title twice and won the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

and the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup, known as TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was f ...

. In September 2019, Aarab moved to Tubize-Braine.

Honours

Wydad *

Botola The Botola Pro (), officially known as the Botola Pro Inwi for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Morocco and the top tier of the Moroccan football league system. Organized by the Ligue Nationale de Football Prof ...

: 2014–15, 2016–17, 2018–19 *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aarab, Naim 1988 births Living people Footballers from Brussels Belgian sportspeople of Moroccan descent Moroccan men's footballers Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football central defenders Royale Union Tubize-Braine players R.S.C. Anderlecht players NEC Nijmegen players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Royal Charleroi S.C. players Újpest FC players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Wydad AC players K.M.S.K. Deinze players Challenger Pro League players Eredivisie players Super League Greece players Belgian Pro League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Botola players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary 21st-century Belgian sportsmen 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen