Zakaria El Azzouzi (Arabic: زكريا العزوزي; born 7 May 1996) is a Dutch-Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a forward.[1]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1996-05-07) 7 May 1996 (age 26) | ||
| Place of birth | Rotterdam, Netherlands | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| DWS | |||
| 2009–2015 | Ajax | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2018 | Ajax | 0 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Jong Ajax | 11 | (6) |
| 2016 | → Twente (loan) | 13 | (4) |
| 2016–2017 | → Sparta Rotterdam (loan) | 21 | (5) |
| 2017–2018 | → Excelsior (loan) | 17 | (2) |
| 2019 | Emmen | 0 | (0) |
| 2019–2021 | Volendam | 35 | (8) |
| 2021–2022 | FC Brașov | 18 | (5) |
| National team | |||
| 2013 | Morocco U-17 | 3 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 08:13, 22 June 2022 (UTC) | |||
El Azzouzi was born in Rotterdam. He is a youth exponent from AFC Ajax. He made his professional debut at 21 August 2015 with Jong Ajax against NAC Breda. He played the full game, a 3–0 loss.[2] On 22 January 2016, El Azzouzi was sent on loan to FC Twente for the rest of the season[3] and he joined newly promoted Sparta on loan for the 2016–17 season.[4]
He was without a club after his contract with Ajax was dissolved in December 2018.[5]
On 7 March 2019, El Azzouzi signed a six-month contract with an option for an additional year with Emmen after being a free agent for two months.[6] However, the club failed to register him, which meant that he did not make an official appearance during his stint at the club.[7]
On 20 June 2019, Volendam announced that they had signed El Azzouzi as their first new addition ahead the 2019–20 season.[8] He signed a two-year contract with an option for another year. During his unofficial debut, on 6 July against Hoofdklasse club VPV Purmersteijn, he also scored his first goal for the club.[9]
El Azzouzi was born in the Netherlands to parents of Moroccan descent. He represented Morocco in the 2013 African U-17 Championship.[10]
On 12 March 2015, when El Azzouzi played in the youth academy of Ajax, he was arrested along with teammates Samet Bulut and Aschraf El Mahdioui for assaulting a plainclothed policewoman. The officer suffered shoulder injuries and various bruises. She later filed charges against the three players.[11] A day later, Ajax announced in an official message that they had suspended the players.[12] Later that week, El Azzouzi remained the only suspect in the case. They were, however, allowed make appearances for the Ajax A1 youth side again after serving a month suspension. As punishment, he had to inform the youth players of Ajax together with Bulut and El Mahdioui.[13][14]