Soufyan Ahannach (born 9 September 1995) 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 winger for

Union de Touarga Union Touarga Sport is a professional football club based in the Touarga district of Rabat, Morocco, that competes in Botola, the top flight of Moroccan football. The club was founded in 1971. It played in the Amateur1 Championship in 2019-20 ...

Club career

Ahannach started his professional career with

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 ...

side

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Netherlands. Founded in 2001, the club currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, following relegation from the Eredivisie in 2024–25 Eredivisie, 20 ...

, before moving on to England. On 10 August 2017, Ahannach signed for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

on a five-year contract. He was loaned out to

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

of 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 ...

for the 2017–18 season where he scored once in twelve appearances. Ahannach signed for Belgian second tier side

Union SG Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (), also known as Union Saint-Gilloise, Union SG or simply Union, is a Belgian professional football club from Brussels based in Forest. Founded in 1897 in the neighbouring Saint-Gilles, the club has played its home ...

on 2 September 2019 on a season-long loan. Ahannach returned to Brighton in January 2020 where he was released. He then signed with

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

for the remainder of the season. On 2 February 2021, it was announced that Ahannach had signed with

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

. The move reunited him with

Jack de Gier Jack de Gier (; born 6 August 1968) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. He was nicknamed ''Il Butre'' (The Vulture), after legendary Spain striker Emilio Butragueño. ("De Gier" is Dutch for "The ...

, his manager at Almere City. On 9 June 2022, Ahannach joined Saudi Arabian side Al-Arabi. On 2 January 2023, Ahannach joined Al-Rawdhah on loan. In August 2023, Ahannach joined Moroccan side

Wydad AC Wydad Athletic Club (, ), often known outside Morocco as Wydad Casablanca, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional Association football, football team that competes in Botola, the top tier of th ...

International career

On 26 March 2013, Ahannach gained a cap for the Netherlands U18 team in a friendly against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He came on as a substitute in the 74th minute for

Jorrit Hendrix Jorrit Petrus Carolina Hendrix (born 6 February 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for 2. Bundesliga club Preußen Münster. Club career PSV Hendrix started playing youth football at hometown club SV ...

Career statistics

Personal life

His older brother

Alami Ahannach Alami Ahannach (born 20 September 1969) is a Moroccan football manager and former international player. Playing career Ahannach spent his whole playing career in the Netherlands, playing over 200 professional games throughout his career. He als ...

is a football coach and a former Moroccan international footballer. His cousin Anass Ahannach is also a footballer. Ahannach is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, and follows the purist salafist branch of the religion. He wears a beard with a trimmed moustache and observes the ''

salah ''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as ''rak'ah'', include a specific s ...

'' five times daily.

References

External links

* 1995 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Men's association football wingers AFC DWS players Almere City FC players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Sparta Rotterdam players Go Ahead Eagles players FC Den Bosch players Al-Arabi SC (Saudi Arabia) players Al-Rawdhah Club players Wydad AC players Union de Touarga players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Saudi First Division League players Saudi Second Division players Botola players Expatriate men's footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch sportspeople of Moroccan descent Netherlands men's youth international footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Dutch Muslims Salafis 21st-century Dutch sportsmen {{Netherlands-footy-midfielder-stub