Abdelilah Saber ( ar, عبد الإله صابر; born 21 April 1974) is a Moroccan retired

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 played as a

right 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 ...

Club career

Born in Casablanca, Saber played his first professional years with local

Wydad Athletic Club 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 Association footba ...

. In January 1997, he began playing in Europe, signing with Sporting Clube de Portugal. With the Lisbon side, Saber struggled initially, but eventually became first-choice. In January 2000, however, he lost his place to newly arrived

César Prates César Luís Prates (born 8 February 1975) is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a right back. He was known for his powerful free kicks, and played for 15 clubs during his extensive professional career in five countries, his biggest ...

, as the ''Lions'' eventually won the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

, the first in 18 years – he still contributed to the feat with 18 matches. Saber would play the next four years in Italy, initially being loaned to

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...

, moving to that club alongside Sporting teammates Facundo Quiroga and Luís Vidigal. The move was made permanent at the end of the season, as Napoli relegated from the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

, and the player played the remainder of his career in the country in the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

– two more years at

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and one with

Torino FC Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

– retiring at only 30.

International career

Saber gained 39

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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 ...

, the first arriving in 1997. In the following year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, he started in all three group stage matches as the national team exited with one win, one loss and one draw.

Coaching career

In the summer 2016, Saber started his coaching career with Botola club

Union Aït Melloul Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, where he was hired as a head coach. In mid-december 2019, Saber returned to

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 ...

as assistant coach to head coach Zoran Manojlović. After Manojlović was fired on 13 January 2020, Saber took charge of the team as an interim head coach. However, he was replaced on 21 January, and continued as assistant for the new head coach Sébastien Desabre.Desabre takes over the reins of Wydad
leseco.ma, 21 January 2020

International goals

:''Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saber, Abdelilah 1974 births Living people Footballers from Casablanca Moroccan footballers Association football defenders Botola players Wydad AC players Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Serie A players Serie B players S.S.C. Napoli players Torino F.C. players Morocco international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players Moroccan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Italy Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Moroccan football managers Botola managers Wydad AC managers