Youssouf Hadji

Youssouf Hadji

Hadji during an interview
Personal information
Date of birth	(1980-02-25) 25 February 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth	Ifrane Atlas-Saghir, Morocco
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–2003	Nancy	95	(13)
2003–2005	Bastia	61	(13)
2005–2007	Rennes	34	(3)
2007–2011	Nancy	130	(39)
2011–2012	Rennes	23	(6)
2012–2013	Al-Arabi	3	(0)
2013–2014	Elazığspor	6	(0)
2014–2018	Nancy	122	(34)
Total		474	(78)
International career
2003–2012	Morocco	64	(16)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Youssouf Hadji (

He is the younger brother of former Moroccan star Mustapha Hadji and the uncle of striker Samir Hadji. In May 2016, he won the 2015–16 Ligue 2 with AS Nancy.

Career

Nancy

Hadji started his career at

In 2003, Hadji moved to Corsica to play for SC Bastia in Ligue 1. After his old team were relegated at the end of his second season there, he reunited with Bölöni at Rennes. In Brittany, he was not a regular starter but contributed largely to their season with 3 goals and 3 assists.

Return to Nancy

On 10 January 2007, Hadji re-joined

On 31 August 2011, after four years at Nancy, Hadji returned to Rennes, for one season with the Ligue 1 team.

Qatar

Hadji signed a two-year contract with Qatari side Al-Arabi on 26 June 2012. Sidelined due of injuries for most of the season, he terminated his contract after only one season making only 8 appearances in all competitions.

Turkey

Hadji signed a two-year-deal with

Third stint with Nancy

2014–15 Ligue 2

In May 2014, Hadji came back to

Since the team was promoted back to Ligue 1 since their last stint on 2012–13 Season, Hadji was appointed as the team captain for the 2016–17 Ligue 1 season. He appeared in 26 matches mostly as a substitute, but failed to score during the league season. On 10 September 2016, he recorded one assist against FC Lorient in the 31st minute. He scored only one goal against Besançon FC on the 58th minute in a 3–0 win during a 2016–17 Coupe de la Ligue match. By the end of the season, Nancy achieved the 19th position on the league table and was relegated again to Ligue 2.

2017–18 Ligue 2 and last season

On 25 July, Hadji extended his contract for another season even though it was believed he was going to retire by the end of the 2016–17 Ligue 1 season. He scored 4 goals in 5 matches against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, Stade Brestois 29, Valenciennes FC and Football Bourg-en-Bresse Péronnas 01 respectively. On 29 September, he scored a hat-trick against LB Châteauroux in a 4–1 win. He scored a brace against Tours FC three months later. and then he did not score until the last 2 games of the season, the first in a 2–1 away loss against Paris FC and the second and the last in his career in a 3–0 home win against US Orléans from the penalty spot. He received a standing ovation from AS Nancy fans.^[5]

Personal life

Hadji acquired

. He is married to hair stylist Behcia Hadji, they have two daughters together.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[7][8]

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Nancy	1998–99	Division 1	1	0	—		—		1	0
	1999–00	Division 1	4	0	1	0	—		5	0
	2000–01	Division 2	34	6	4	2	—		38	8
	2001–02	Division 2	26	2	5	2	—		31	4
	2002–03	Ligue 2	30	5	5	2	—		35	7
	Total		95	13	15	6	—		110	19
Bastia	2003–04	Ligue 1	29	6	3	0	—		32	6
	2004–05	Ligue 1	32	7	3	0	—		35	7
	Total		61	13	6	0	—		67	13
Rennes	2005–06	Ligue 1	21	3	1	0	3	1	25	4
	2006–07	Ligue 1	13	0	2	0	—		15	0
	Total		34	3	3	0	3	1	40	4
Nancy	2006–07	Ligue 1	14	1	—		—		14	1
	2007–08	Ligue 1	24	7	3	0	—		27	7
	2008–09	Ligue 1	36	11	2	0	2	0	40	11
	2009–10	Ligue 1	26	11	2	0	—		28	11
	2010–11	Ligue 1	26	8	2	0	—		28	8
	2011–12	Ligue 1	4	1	1	0	—		5	1
	Total		130	39	10	0	2	0	142	39
Rennes	2011–12	Ligue 1	23	6	4	1	6	1	33	8
Al-Arabi	2012–13	Qatar Stars League	3	0	1	1	—		4	1
Elazığspor	2013–14	Süper Lig	6	0	4	0	—		10	0
Nancy	2014–15	Ligue 2	31	14	3	2	—		34	16
	2015–16	Ligue 2	33	9	0	0	—		33	9
	2016–17	Ligue 1	26	0	1	1	—		27	1
	2017–18	Ligue 2	32	11	0	0	—		32	11
	Total		122	34	4	3	0	0	126	37
Career total			474	108	47	11	11	2	532	121

International

Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hadji goal.

List of international goals scored by Youssouf Hadji^[9][10]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	27 January 2004	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet, Monastir, Tunisia	Nigeria	1–0	1–0	2004 African Cup of Nations
2	8 February 2004	Stade Taïeb El Mhiri, Sfax , Tunisia	Algeria	2–1	3–1	2004 African Cup of Nations
3	11 February 2004	Stade Olympique de Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia	Mali	3–0	4–0	2004 African Cup of Nations
4	9 February 2005	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat , Morocco	Kenya	4–0	5–1	2006 World Cup qualification
5	26 March 2005	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat, Morocco	Guinea	1–0	1–0	2006 World Cup qualification
6	4 June 2005	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat, Morocco	Malawi	2–1	4–1	2006 World Cup qualification
7				4–1
8	17 January 2006	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Morocco	Angola	2–0	2–2	Friendly
9	16 August 2006	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Morocco	Burkina Faso	1–0	1–0	Friendly
10	25 March 2007	National Sports Stadium, Harare, Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe	1–0	1–1	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
11	2 June 2007	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca , Morocco	Zimbabwe	2–0	2–0	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
12	11 October 2008	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat, Morocco	Mauritania	2–0	4–1	2010 World Cup Qualification
13				3–0
14	11 August 2010	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Morocco	Equatorial Guinea	1–1	2–1	Friendly
15				2–1
16	4 June 2011	Marrakech , Morocco	Algeria	3–0	4–0	2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Honours

Nancy

• Ligue 2: 2015–16

Individual

• Ligue 2 top scorer: 2014–15 with 13 goals

References