Souffian El Karouani (; born 19 October 2000) 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-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for club

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

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

Career

El Karouani played in the youth teams of TGG,

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

, BVV, Elinkwijk and

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

NEC

2019–20 season

In 2019, he was promoted to NEC's first team. He made his debut for the club on 9 August 2019, in the home match against

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

which was lost 1–2. El Karouani came on as a substitute for Anthony Musaba in the 68th minute. On 2 July 2020, he signed a one-year contract with NEC which included an option on another season.

2020–21 season

In the 2020–21 season, he became the starting left back in an attacking NEC led by head coach

Rogier Meijer Rogier Meijer (born 5 September 1981) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player, who is the head coach of Eredivisie club NEC. As a player, Meijer appeared his entire professional career for De Graafschap as a midfielder. In Ma ...

. On 3 October, El Karouani scored his first goal for the club in the home game against FC Eindhoven, which was won 6–0. On 23 May 2021, El Karouani won promotion to the

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 ...

with NEC, by beating

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

1–2 in the final of the play-offs. He provided the assist to the winning goal by

Jonathan Okita Jonathan Yula Okita (born 5 October 1996) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Bodrum. Born in Germany, he plays for the DR Congo national team. Club career Okita made his Belgian First Divis ...

, which meant that the club returned to the highest Dutch division after an absence of four year. He finished the season with 43 appearances in which he scored 3 goals, and his 8 assists were the most in the team.

Utrecht

On 26 April 2023, El Karouani signed a three-year contract with

, set to commence from the 2023–24 season.

International career

Born in the Netherlands, El Karouani is Moroccan by descent. He debuted with the Morocco national team in a 3–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

win over

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

on 9 October 2021.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Team of the Month: May 2022, November 2022,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karouani, Souffian 2000 births Living people Footballers from 's-Hertogenbosch Moroccan men's footballers 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen Morocco men's international footballers Dutch men's footballers Dutch sportspeople of Moroccan descent Men's association football defenders FC Den Bosch players USV Elinkwijk players NEC Nijmegen players FC Utrecht players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen