Redouan El Yaakoubi (born 25 January 1996) is a Dutch 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

Club career

El Yaakoubi played in the youth academy of

USV Elinkwijk Utrechtse Sportvereniging Elinkwijk, known as USV Elinkwijk is a Dutch football club, based in Utrecht. It played professional football during the years 1955–1970. Marco van Basten was a player of the club during his youth years. History The ...

. In 2015, he joined

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

club

VV De Meern VV De Meern is a football club from De Meern, Netherlands. VV De Meern plays in the Sunday Hoofdklasse. History In the 2018 De Meern relegated to the Hoofdklasse after just one season in the Derde Divisie. During the preparation for the 2018–0 ...

. With De Meern, El Yaakoubi promoted to the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede D ...

. In May 2017, after having initially decided to move to

DVS '33 DVS '33 Ermelo (, English: ''Strong Through Unity'') is a Dutch amateur football club from Ermelo, founded 1 September 1933. The club currently competes in the Derde Divisie, the fourth tier of league football in the Netherlands. The club evo ...

, El Yaakoubi opted to sign for

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 ...

led by manager

Erik ten Hag Erik ten Hag ( ; born 2 February 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He will become the head coach of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen on 1 July 2025. Ten Hag played as a centre-back and began his career with Ere ...

. He made his

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

debut for

Jong FC Utrecht Jong FC Utrecht (U23) is a Dutch football team, based in Utrecht. It is the reserve team of FC Utrecht and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2016–17 Eerste Divisie season. Current squad Out on loan Techni ...

on 25 August 2017 in a game against

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

. After six matches for the reserve team in the Eerste Divisie, El Yaakoubi signed his first professional contract with FC Utrecht; a two-and-a-half-year deal with an option for an additional season. In July 2019, however, he signed for two years with

SC Telstar Sportclub Telstar () is a Dutch professional football club based in the town of Velsen-Zuid, North Holland. The team competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in t ...

. On 6 April 2021, El Yaakoubi signed a two-year contract with

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

with an option for an additional season. On 28 March 2023, the club announced he had relinquished the club captaincy after refusing to pose in a team photo with a banner marking the

OneLove OneLove is an anti-discrimination, anti-racism, LGBT+ rights and human rights campaign, started during the 2020 football season by the Dutch Football Association, that invites football players to wear armbands with the rainbow-coloured OneLove l ...

campaign, which embraces inclusiveness, connection, tolerance and opposition to all forms of discrimination. On 30 January 2025, El Yaakoubi signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

Personal life

Born in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, El Yaakoubi is of Moroccan descent.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yaakoubi, Redouan 1996 births Living people Footballers from Utrecht (city) Dutch men's footballers Dutch sportspeople of Moroccan descent USV Elinkwijk players Jong FC Utrecht players SC Telstar players Excelsior Rotterdam players RKC Waalwijk players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Men's association football central defenders Vierde Divisie players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen