Mohammed "Moa" Abdellaoue (; born 23 October 1985) is a Norwegian 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 ...

who played as a striker. He started his career with Skeid and Vålerenga before moving to Germany where he played for

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

and

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

. After returning to Vålerenga he ended his career due to knee problems. At international level, Abdellaoue represented the Norway national team.

Club career

Early career

Abdellaoue was born in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

and played for Hasle-Løren and Skeid as a youth player. Before joining Skeid's first team squad in 2003 he had to have corrective surgery to his left foot due to the fact he was born with only four toes, something which was never a hindrance before top flight football. He made his debut on 9 June 2003, when he came on as a substitute against Hødd. In his fourth game of the season, he scored his first two goals in a 2–1 win over

Raufoss Raufoss is a town in Vestre Toten Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality. It is located about south of the larger town of Gjøvik. The town is located along the municipal border wi ...

. Abdellaoue scored a total of 42 league goals for Skeid in five seasons, and was their top scorer in 2004 and 2007. He appeared once for the Norwegian under-21 team, six times for the under-18 team and once for under-19 team.

Vålerenga

At the end of the 2007 season, he signed a three-year contract with Vålerenga, transferring to his new club on 15 November. During his first season, he became the club's top goalscorer in the league with nine goals in 23 appearances, including a hat-trick of penalties in one game, earning him his debut for the Norway national team against the Republic of Ireland. Abdellaoue scored six goals in the 2008 Norwegian Cup, including two goals in the final itself, in which Vålerenga defeated Stabæk 4–1 to become Norwegian cup champions.

Hannover 96

On 17 August 2010, Vålerenga and

reported on their official websites that Abdellaoue would be joining the Bundesliga club on a four-year contract, and it was reported that the transfer fee was around

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1.2–1.4 million. He made his Bundesliga debut in a 2–1 home win against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

on 21 August 2010, and he scored his first Bundesliga goal on 28 August 2010 against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

in a 2–1 away win. The following match against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

he scored his first goal at home as Hannover 96 failed to secure a safe win having gone 2–0 up. And in the next match he scored his third goal of the season in a 4–1 home win – making it the result. And then in the next game against

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

he also scored the only goal of the match. He scored a total of 10 goal in his first season for the German side. In his second Bundesliga season, "Moa" notched up seven goals in seven games. His consistent performances attracted interest from bigger clubs, most notably Bayern Munich. In the opening match of the

2011–12 Bundesliga The 2011–12 Bundesliga was the 49th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season started on 5 August 2011 with the opening match involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and ended with the last games on 5 May ...

season, he scored a goal against 1899 Hoffenheim at the 30th minute. He scored his first hat-trick in the Hannover jersey versus

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

on 2 October in a game they won 3–2. Abdellaoue was troubled with injuries during the

2012–13 Bundesliga The 2012–13 Bundesliga was the 50th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 24 August 2012 with the season opening match at Westfalenstadion involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and SV Werde ...

season, but managed to score eight goals in the league. He made a total of 80 appearances for Hannover in the Bundesliga, scoring 29 goals.

VfB Stuttgart

On 11 June 2013, Abdellaoue signed a four-year deal with

, and it was reported that the transfer fee was around

4 million. He made his debut for his new team in the qualifying match for the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The final was played between Sevilla and Benfica at the Juventus Stadium in Tu ...

against

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

on 1 August 2013 when he came on as a substitute in the 88th minute. Abdellaoue scored his first goal for Stuttgart in the 1–2 loss against Mainz 05 on 25 January 2014, which also was the first match he started for Stuttgart. That goal ended a 274 days goal-drought, as he had not scored a goal in the Bundesliga since 26 April 2013. He was sent to the

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 ...

and started in the 2–0 win against 1. FSV Mainz 05 II.

Vålerenga

Abdellaoue signed a contract with his former club Vålerenga on 7 August 2015. In December 2017 he retired from football due to injuries.

International career

Abdellaoue made his debut for the Norway national team on 20 August 2008, in a friendly against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. His first goal came in his seventh match; a

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

match against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. In the friendly match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 29 February 2012, Abdellaoue was the captain of Norway in the absence of the regular captain Brede Hangeland. Moa was awarded the Gold Watch after his 25th cap against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in March 2013.

International goals

:Source:

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Vålerenga *

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Individual * Kniksen of the Year: 2011

Personal life

In 2020 he became an employee—a '' miljølærer''—at a school in

Grorud Valley The Grorud Valley () is a valley and urban area or suburb in the northeastern part of Oslo, the capital of Norway. Four of Oslo's boroughs lie within the Grorud Valley; Bjerke to the west, Alna to the south, Grorud to the north, and Stovner to ...

in Oslo. He was raised in the Sinsen neighborhood. His younger brother striker Mustafa Abdellaoue, known as "Mos", is also a professional footballer who plays as a striker.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdellaoue, Mohammed 1985 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Men's association football forwards Norwegian people of Moroccan descent Norwegian men's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen Norwegian men's futsal players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Norway men's international footballers Skeid Fotball players Vålerenga Fotball players Hannover 96 players VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian Second Division players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers