Oussama Assaidi facts for kids

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Oussama Assaidi

Assaidi playing for Morocco in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Oussama Assaidi
Date of birth	(1988-08-15) 15 August 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth	Ait Bouyafar, Morocco
Height	1.77 m
Playing position	Winger
Youth career
2003–2006	AZ
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–2008	Omniworld	36	(3)
2008–2009	De Graafschap	17	(6)
2009–2012	Heerenveen	79	(20)
2012–2015	Liverpool	4	(0)
2013–2015	→ Stoke City (loan)	28	(4)
2015–2016	Al-Ahli Dubai	14	(3)
2017	Jong FC Twente	1	(0)
2017–2019	Twente	41	(7)
Total		228	(46)
National team
2011–2015	Morocco	17	(2)
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Oussama Assaidi (born August 15, 1988) is a former professional footballer from Morocco. He played as a winger, which is a player who mostly plays on the sides of the field.

Assaidi started his football journey in the Netherlands. He played for clubs like FC Omniworld and De Graafschap. In 2009, he joined Heerenveen. His great skills there helped him get noticed by the Morocco national team. Bigger European clubs also started to pay attention to him.

In August 2012, Assaidi signed with the famous English club Liverpool. However, he found it hard to get a regular spot in their main team. He then went on loan to Stoke City for two seasons. Later, in January 2015, he was sold to Al-Ahli Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Assaidi also played for his country, Morocco, from 2011. He represented them in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 and 2013.

Oussama Assaidi's Football Journey

Starting His Career in the Netherlands

Oussama Assaidi was born in Beni-Boughafer, Morocco. His family later moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands. He began playing football at the AZ academy when he was young. He spent three years there, learning the game.

In 2006, he started his professional career with Omniworld. This club played in the Eerste Divisie, which is the second-highest league in Dutch football. He played for Omniworld for two seasons. During that time, he scored 3 goals in 36 games.

In 2008, he moved to De Graafschap. This team played in the Eredivisie, the top Dutch football league. Assaidi stayed there for only one year.

Joining Heerenveen

On the very last day of the transfer window in 2009, Assaidi made a surprising move to Heerenveen. Heerenveen had not planned to buy new players. But Assaidi had scored five goals in his first five games of the 2009–10 Eredivisie season. This impressive start made Heerenveen decide to sign him.

Assaidi played his first game for Heerenveen in a 1–0 loss against Groningen. He came on as a substitute in the 71st minute. He scored his first goal for the club in a cup game, a big 7–0 win. He soon earned a spot in the starting team. His first league goal for Heerenveen came in a 3–1 loss to Heracles.

Under a new coach, Ron Jans, Assaidi became a very important player for Heerenveen. He scored two goals against his old club De Graafschap. He also made two assists in those early games. This meant he was involved in four goals in the first six games. This was as many goals as he had helped create in his entire previous season.

November 2010 was a great month for Assaidi. He scored a goal and made many assists for his teammates. In December, he had an amazing game against the champions, Twente. Even with an ankle injury, he scored three goals (a hat-trick) and made two assists. He also helped his team win a penalty. Heerenveen won that game 6–2. His coach, Ron Jans, praised him a lot for this performance.

Playing for Liverpool

On August 17, 2012, Liverpool, a top team in the English Premier League, signed Assaidi. The transfer fee was about £2.4 million. Liverpool's manager, Brendan Rodgers, was very happy about the deal. He called Assaidi "an exciting player" who would make the fans happy.

Assaidi played his first game for Liverpool on September 20. It was a UEFA Europa League match against Young Boys, which Liverpool won 5–3. A few days later, he made an assist in a cup game against West Bromwich Albion.

However, other young wingers like Raheem Sterling and Suso were playing very well. This made it hard for Assaidi to get a regular spot in Liverpool's starting team. He made 12 appearances in the 2012–13 season, but only four of those were in the league.

Loan Spells at Stoke City

On August 27, 2013, Assaidi joined Stoke City on loan for the 2013–14 season. He said he chose Stoke because he had good talks with their manager, Mark Hughes. He played his first game for Stoke in a cup win against Walsall.

Assaidi scored his first goal for Stoke in a League Cup match in October 2013. On December 7, he scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory against Chelsea. This was Stoke's first league win against Chelsea since 1975. He scored similar goals against Newcastle United and Everton in December and January.

In February, Assaidi got an injury to his leg ligaments. This meant he couldn't play for about six weeks. When he came back, he scored in a 4–1 win against Fulham. Stoke's manager, Mark Hughes, wanted to sign Assaidi permanently. But Liverpool's price for him was too high for Stoke.

On September 1, 2014, Assaidi returned to Stoke City for another loan spell. He played 11 games for Stoke that season. In January 2015, Liverpool called him back from his loan.

Moving to Al-Ahli Dubai

After returning to Liverpool, Assaidi was sold to Al-Ahli Dubai. This club plays in the UAE Arabian Gulf League in the United Arab Emirates. The fee for his transfer was reported to be around £4.7 million.

He played 14 games in the 2015 AFC Champions League. His team reached the final but lost 1–0 to Guangzhou Evergrande. On November 15, 2016, Assaidi left the club. He later said that he only joined Al-Ahli Dubai for the good salary. He also mentioned that he was ready to come back to the Premier League.

Return to Twente and Retirement

On December 24, 2016, Assaidi went back to the Dutch Eredivisie. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Twente.

Assaidi left Twente at the end of the 2018-19 season. After that, he started his own sports gym in Morocco. It is called "PlayersHome" and he started it with Kamal El Makrini.

Playing for Morocco

Assaidi playing for Morocco against Algeria in 2011.

Oussama Assaidi could have chosen to play for either the Netherlands or Morocco. In February 2011, he got his first call-up to a senior national team. The coach of the Morocco national team, Eric Gerets, invited him to play in a friendly match against Niger.

Assaidi made his debut for Morocco in their 4–0 win over Niger. He came on as a substitute in the 77th minute. Since it was a friendly game, he could still have chosen to play for the Netherlands. However, on February 14, 2011, he announced that he had definitely chosen to play for Morocco.

Assaidi scored his first goal for Morocco on June 4, 2011. It was in a 4–0 win against Algeria in a qualifying match for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. He played in the final tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. He started Morocco's first game, but they lost 2–1 to Tunisia. Morocco was eliminated from the group stage in that tournament.

He also played in the next year's tournament in South Africa. His team faced the same result and was eliminated early again. On November 16, 2014, Assaidi scored his second international goal. It was a long-range shot that helped Morocco win a friendly game against Zimbabwe 2–1.

International Goals

Here are the goals Oussama Assaidi scored for the Morocco national team:

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	4 June 2011	Stade de Marrakech, Marrakesh	Algeria	4–0	4–0	2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier
2.	16 November 2014	Stade Adrar, Agadir	Zimbabwe	1–1	2–1	Friendly

See also

In Spanish: Oussama Assaidi para niños