Fatima Zahra Tagnaout (; born 20 January 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

AS FAR Association sportive des Forces armées royales (, ), abbreviated as AS FAR (), is a professional sport club based in Morocco's capital Rabat, that competes in Botola, the top tier of Moroccan football. The club was founded in 1958, 3 years aft ...

and the Morocco women's national team.

Early life

Originally from the Tata region, Tagnaout was born in

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

. After having spent a long time around boys, and playing with the AJS club in

Sidi Maârouf Sidi Maârouf is a ''neighborhood'' of Casablanca, Morocco. Since 1993, several multinationals have set up their headquarters in this area of Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business c ...

, she received offers to participate in detection days in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

where she quickly integrated into the

women's team.

Club career

Tagnaout has played for

in Morocco since she was 15. She has won 8 Championships and 6 Throne Cups. Tagnaout played in the inaugural

CAF Women's Champions League The CAF Women's Champions League (; ), sometimes abbreviated as ''CAF WCL'', is an annual African women's association football club competition launched on 12 September 2020 and organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It is ...

which took place in Egypt in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. She participated in all of the games. She recorded a goal in the third-place match and provided several assists throughout the tournament. She was named to the Team of the Tournament. She was chosen by the

CAF Awards The CAF Awards is an awards evening held to honour the best African association football players. It is conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). History The CAF Awards was first awarded in the year 2000. It is an award conteste ...

Committee as a finalist for the African Club Player of the Year 2022 but did not win the award. Morocco hosted the

2022 CAF Women's Champions League The 2022 CAF Women's Champions League was the 2nd edition of the annual African women's association football football team, club tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) held in Morocco from 30 October to 13 November 20 ...

. AS FAR won the final match at the expense of the defending champions,

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

, with a score of 4-0. Tagnaout scored the first goal on a penalty kick and received a yellow card. Throughout the tournament, Tagnaout had three goals and three assists. She was named Best Player and to the Team of the Tournament. On 14 November 2023, Tagnaout was nominated for the 2023 African Player of the Year and 2023 Interclub Player of the Year by

CAF 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 ...

. A month later, she won the Women's Interclub Player of the Year award.

International career

Morocco U-17

Tagnaout played for the Morocco U-17 women in the African qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Morocco U-20

Tagnaout played in a number of matches with the Morocco U-20 national team, including African qualifiers for the 2018 U-20 Women's World Cup. After eliminating Senegal in the first round, Morocco lost in the second round to Nigeria. The score was 1-5 and the only goal for Morocco was scored by Tagnaout. She participated in December 2019 in a UNAF U-20 Tournament in Algeria where she played two matches against Burkina Faso and Algeria.

Senior team

Tagnaout has capped for Morocco at senior level. She was first called up to play for the national team in 2018. She registered her first two international goals on 31 January 2020 in a friendly against Tunesia. In September 2021, she participated in the Aisha Bukhari cup, during which she scored a goal against Cameroon in the 78th minute. She was chosen by

Reynald Pedros Reynald Michel Sebastian Pedros (born 10 October 1971) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He recently managed the Morocco women's national team. Early life and club career Reynald Michel Seb ...

to play in the

2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations The 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (, ), (also referred to as WAFCON 2022) officially known as the 2022 TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 14th edition of the biennial African international women's ...

. She participated in all matches and was awarded the title of Woman of the Match for the match against Senegal. Morocco finished as runners-up. She was selected as part of Morocco's 2023 Women's World Cup squad. She started all three games of the group stage.

Career statistics

International goals ''Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first''

Honours

AS FAR *

Moroccan Women's Championship The Moroccan Women's Championship, officially the Women's Professional National Football Championship D1 (; ) is the top-division professional women's football league in Morocco. The competition is overseen by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation ...

(9): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 * Moroccan Women Throne Cup (8): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 * UNAF Women's Champions League (1): 2021 *

(1):

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

; third place:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Morocco *

Women's Africa Cup of Nations The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by ...

runner-up:

UNAF Women's Tournament The UNAF Women's Tournament () is a football (soccer) women's tournament held between nations who are a member of the UNAF association. The first edition was played in 2009 in Tunisia and only three teams participated, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. ...

: 2020 Individual *

Best Player: 2021 *

Best Player: 2022 *

Team of the Tournament: 2021, 2022, 2023 *

Team of the Tournament:

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 ...

CAF Women's Team of The Year: 2022, 2023 * CAF Women's Inter-Club Player of the Year: 2023 * CAF Women's Africa XI: 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tagnaout, Fatima 1999 births Living people Moroccan women's footballers 21st-century Moroccan sportswomen Women's association football midfielders Morocco women's international footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players