Mohamed Abarhoun (; 3 May 1989 – 2 December 2020) was 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 played as a defender. He played domestic football for hometown club

Moghreb Tétouan The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

, Portuguese club

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim d ...

, and Turkish club

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Rize, a city on the eastern Black Sea region, Black Sea coast. The team competes in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Football in Turkey, Turkish footba ...

. Abarhoun also represented Morocco at under-20, under-23 and senior level. He died of

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

at the age of 31.

Club career

Abarhoun was born in

Tétouan Tétouan (, or ) is a city in northern Morocco. It lies along the Martil Valley and is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about E.S.E. of Tangier. In the 2014 Morocc ...

and played as a centre-back for local club

between 2010 and 2017. He was hailed as part of the club's "golden generation" that won the Botola Pro 1 league in 2012 and 2014 and took part in the

2014 FIFA Club World Cup The 2014 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2014 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club association football, football ...

. He made 164 league appearances for the club and scored 7 goals. Abarhoun joined Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

in June 2017 after refusing to sign a new contract with Tétouan. Abarhoun was the eighth player brought to the club by new manager Manuel Machado. He scored his only goal for the club on 10 September in a 2–0 win at Estroil Praia, their first win of the season. Machado was sacked by the club in October following a run of poor results. He went on to make 23 league and 5 cup appearances for the club in his first season, in which the club finished fourth from bottom in the league. Abarhoun was the preferred starting centre-back for the club in the first part of the 2018–19 season, under new manager

Ivo Vieira Ivo Ricardo Abreu Vieira (born 10 January 1976) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a defender, currently a manager. He spent his entire playing career with Nacional, where he also began his managerial career in 2011. He managed s ...

, and made 1 cup and 14 league appearances. Abarhoun joined Turkish club

in January 2019 on an 18-month initial contract. The transfer fee generated €200,000 for Moreirense. Rizespor manager

Okan Buruk Okan Buruk (, born 19 October 1973) is a Turkish professional football manager and former player, currently serving as the manager of Super League club Galatasaray. As both a player and a manager, Buruk is widely recognized as one of the most inf ...

stated that Abarhoun was brought in to bolster the club's defence during their fight to avoid relegation from the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

. Abarhoun played in 16 league games for Rizespor that season and the club finished mid-table in 11th position. Abarhoun made 20 league for Rizespor in the 2019–20 season before illness ended his career. His last match was a 2–1 defeat at home to

İstanbul Başakşehir Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

on 24 February 2020. He also made one cup appearance, during a 2–1 loss away to

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

in the second leg of the 8th round of the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

on 23 January 2020.

International career

Abarhoun played nine games for the Morocco under-20 team and eight for the under-23 team. This included three appearances at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

where the team drew two games and lost one to finish third in

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA Worl ...

. He made his senior international debut in 2013 and went on to earn seven international caps.

Illness and death

In February 2020 Abarhoun reported feeling sick prior to a league match against

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

. He was taken to Istanbul's Acıbadem Hospital and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. In June 2020 a Rizespor spokesman claimed that Abarhoun was seriously ill and expected that he would not return to playing football. He was released by Rizespor at the end of the season, but continued to receive financial support from the club for his condition. Abarhoun announced that he was recovering and feeling better in October 2020 and was hopeful of a return to football, but he died of the disease on 2 December 2020, at the age of 31.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abarhoun, Mohamed 1989 births 2020 deaths Sportspeople from Tétouan Footballers from Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Moroccan men's footballers 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen MA Tétouan players Moreirense F.C. players Çaykur Rizespor footballers Botola players Primeira Liga players Süper Lig players Men's association football defenders Morocco men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Morocco Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Deaths from stomach cancer in Turkey Morocco men's under-20 international footballers Morocco men's A' international footballers 2016 African Nations Championship players