Osame Sahraoui (; born 11 June 2001) is a 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

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for club

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. Born in Norway, he plays for the Morocco national team.

Club career

Vålerenga

Growing up in Hauketo IF, Sahraoui joined Vålerenga's youth system in 2014. Steadily advancing in the junior ranks, he signed his first professional contract in May 2019, then made his senior debut in June 2020 against Stabæk, where he provoked a penalty kick that equalised the match. In July 2020, he signed a contract extension which runs until 2023. On 26 July 2020, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win against

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county) in Norway which is today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). ...

SC Heerenveen

On 31 January 2023, Sahraoui signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with

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 ...

club

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

. He made his debut for the club the very next game on 4 Februari against

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

which resulted in a 1–0 defeat.

Lille

On 1 August 2024, French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

announced the signing of Sahraoui on a five-year contract.

International career

Born in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, Sahraoui is of Moroccan descent. He was previously called up to a training camp for Morocco youth national teams. On 8 October 2021, Sahraoui gained his first cap for the Norway U21 in a match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. In August 2023, Sahraoui received his first call-up to the Norway senior national team by head coach Ståle Solbakken, for a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and a

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

match against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. On 30 August 2024, Sahraoui switched nationality to instead represent the Morocco national team. He debuted with Morocco in a 4–0 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification win over

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

on 15 October 2024.

Personal life

He was born and raised 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 ...

, where his parents moved to from the city of Bni Bouayach in northern Morocco. Sahraoui's uncle, Mohammed Fellah, is a former professional

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Individual *

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

Young Player of the Month: August 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahraoui, Osame Living people 2001 births Dual internationalists (men's football) Footballers from Oslo Moroccan men's footballers 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen Morocco men's international footballers Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norwegian people of Moroccan descent Men's association football midfielders Eliteserien players Eredivisie players Ligue 1 players Vålerenga Fotball players SC Heerenveen players Lille OSC players Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen