Abdelkabir "Abdel" Abqar (; born 10 March 1999) is a Moroccan 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 the Morocco national team.

Club career

Born in

Settat Settat () is a city in Morocco between the national capital Rabat and Marrakesh. Settat is located by road south of the centre of Casablanca, roughly an hour's drive. It is the capital of Settat Province and is its largest city in both size and ...

, Abqar joined

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

's youth setup in 2017 from Mohammed VI Football Academy. He made his senior debut with the former's reserves on 12 November 2017, starting in a 1–0

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

away loss against

CD Huétor Tájar Club Deportivo Agroisa Huétor Tájar is a Spanish football team based in Huétor-Tájar, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1940, it plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Miguel Morato'', with a capacity of 52 ...

. Abqar made his first-team debut on 11 September 2018, starting in a 2–1 home loss against

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

for the season's

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. It was his maiden appearance for the main squad, as he continued to feature regularly with the B's and suffering relegation at the end of the campaign. On 22 July 2020, Abqar signed for another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

Deportivo Alavés B Deportivo Alavés B, S.A.D., usually known as Alavés B, is a Spanish football team based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1959 it is the reserve team of Deportivo Alavés, and currently plays in , ho ...

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. The following 6 May, he renewed his contract until 2025. Abqar first appeared with Alavés' main squad on 30 November 2021, playing the entire second half in a 3–0 away win over Unami CP, also for the national cup. He was definitely promoted to the first team for the 2022–23 season, with the club now in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, and became a first-choice as the club returned to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

at first attempt; his first professional goal occurred on 29 October 2022, as he scored the opener in a 2–1 home win over

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

International career

On 13 March 2023, Abqar was called up to the full squad by manager

Walid Regragui Walid Regragui (; born 23 September 1975), sometimes known as Hoalid or Oualid Regragui, is a professional football manager and former player who played as a right-back. He is the head coach of the Morocco national team. He made history when h ...

, for friendlies against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. On 28 December 2023, Abqar was amongst the 27 players selected by coach

to represent Morocco in the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

. He made his debut on 22 March 2024 in a friendly against Angola.

Statistics

International

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abqar, Abdel 1999 births Living people People from Settat Footballers from Casablanca-Settat Moroccan men's footballers 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen Morocco men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tercera Federación players Atlético Malagueño players Málaga CF players Deportivo Alavés B players Deportivo Alavés players Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players