Ali Elkhattabi (; 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 lea ...

. Born in the Netherlands, Elkhattabi gained 10 caps for

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, making his debut in 1997.

Club career

Elkhattabi began his professional career in the 1995–96 season with

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

. After one season, he moved to

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

. 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 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 ...

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 sports agent and former professional footballer who played as a striker. Upon playing in his homeland, Kežman went on to play top-flight football in the N ...

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

RBC Roosendaal RBC, previously known as RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the fifth-tier Vierde Divisie after bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in the tenth tier Vijfde Klasse. History 1912– ...

on loan in 2005 after being rumored to

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. 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 the fear of being on an aircraft, such as an airplane or helicopter, while it is in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromerhanophobia (although aero ...

, 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, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

in November 1997, and he was included in Morocco's

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

squad.

Retirement

Elkhattabi has worked as a real estate 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 men's footballers Morocco men's 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 Moroccan Berbers Footballers from Schiedam Men's association football forwards