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Khalid Boulahrouz

Personal information
Date of birth	28 December 1981 (1981-12-28) (age 28)
Place of birth	Maassluis, Netherlands
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Stuttgart
Number	4
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2004	Waalwijk	64	(4)
2004–2006	Hamburg	52	(2)
2006–2008	Chelsea	13	(0)
2007–2008	→ Sevilla (loan)	6	(0)
2008–	Stuttgart	21	(0)
National team‡
2004–	Netherlands	27	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 June 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22 August 2008

Khalid Boulahrouz (born 28 December 1981, in Maassluis, Netherlands) is a Dutch footballer of Berber Moroccan Rif descent, who plays for the Netherlands and VfB Stuttgart. His nickname is "Khalid the Cannibal" for his ability to "eat up" his opposition.^[1]

Personal life

Boulahrouz was born into a Rifi Berber Moroccan family living in the Netherlands. He has eight siblings. As a youngster he endured much hardship, such as being sent away from the youth academies of Ajax and Haarlem. When he was sixteen his father died and he had to take responsibility for his family.^[2]

While Boulahrouz was in Switzerland preparing for the Euro 2008 quarter finals against Russia, his and his wife Sabia's prematurely born daughter Anissa died in a Lausanne hospital.^[3] He opted to play against Russia a few days later, during which the Dutch team wore black armbands in his daughter's memory.

Club career

In his youth Boulahrouz played consecutively for Excelsior Maassluis, DSOV, Ajax, Haarlem and AZ.

RKC

After a difficult period playing for different clubs, he finally found some stability at Waalwijk, where coach Martin Jol gave him the confidence he had been looking for.^[2] He began his professional career in the Dutch Eredivisie for RKC on 9 March 2002, against Heerenveen.

Hamburg

After playing two seasons for RKC he moved to Hamburg to play in the German Bundesliga at the start of the 2004–05 season. While at Hamburg, he earned his nickname "Khalid der Kannibale" ("Khalid the Cannibal") for his ability to eat up the opposition.^[1] This is illustrated by the amount of cards he received - 16 yellows and three reds in two seasons at the club. He was also part of a defence that conceded the least amount of goals in the 2005/2006 Bundesliga season: 30 goals in 34 games.^[4]

Chelsea

Boulahrouz with Chelsea

On 18 August 2006, Chelsea agreed a fee with Hamburg to sign Boulahrouz. The fee is thought to be around £8.5 million (€12 million).^[5] After Chelsea's opening game of the 2006–07 season, manager José Mourinho confirmed that the club had signed Boulahrouz and the club is only waiting for his international clearance to be finalised,^[6] before speaking of the potential roles Boulahrouz will have in the side. Mourinho stated "In a short squad and in a country where you can have only 16 players for a match, it’s important to have cover for many positions. So, for example, now I can have [Khalid] Boulahrouz, Ricardo [Carvalho] and John [Terry] — three options for the centre; I can have Paulo [Ferreira] and Boulahrouz — two options for the right side; I can have Boulahrouz and Wayne Bridge — two options for the left side."^[6]

On 21 August 2006, Chelsea completed the signing of Boulahrouz. Six days later, he was handed his Premiership début against Blackburn Rovers. He wore the number 9 shirt, previously occupied by Hernán Crespo - this is an unconventional number for a defender, being traditionally associated with strikers, but was given to him just because it happened to be one of the numbers not currently allocated to a player by Chelsea at the time of signing.

Boulahrouz made a promising start to his Chelsea career, figuring prominently in high-profile games against Liverpool and more notably Barcelona where he dominated Ronaldinho. However, Boulahrouz gradually dropped out of favour. Boulahrouz was out for a lengthy period of time after a knee injury, followed by a shoulder injury while playing in an FA Cup tie against Norwich City.

Boulahrouz eventually dropped out of contention as the season wound down, with John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho as the first-choice defensive pairing. When Carvalho was injured against Spurs, manager Mourinho paired Terry with Ghanaian midfielder Michael Essien.

Sevilla

Boulahrouz joined Spanish club Sevilla on a year long loan for the 2007–08 season.^[7] However, he played just six games for them and was deemed surplus to requirements. He returned to Chelsea in 2008 but was not given a squad number and made no appearances.

VfB Stuttgart

On 21 July 2008, Boulahrouz moved to VfB Stuttgart for a fee of around €5 million.^[8][9]

International career

Boulahrouz with Netherlands manager Marco van Basten.

Boulahrouz' displays for RKC caused Marco van Basten to pick him for the Netherlands national football team. He made his international début on 3 September 2004 in a 3-0 win for the Netherlands against Liechtenstein, and was named in the squad for the 2006 World Cup. He has managed 22 caps for the national side, as of May 2008.

Boulahrouz was sent off from the Netherlands match against Portugal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Round of Sixteen after a second bookable offence. He was judged to have used an elbow on Portugal's Luís Figo. Referee Valentin Ivanov issued a total of 16 yellow cards and four red cards in this match, a World Cup record.

Having initially missed the cut for the Dutch Euro 2008 squad, following an injury to Liverpool's Ryan Babel, he was reinstated to the 23 man squad. He was chosen to start in the group games.

Quotes about Boulahrouz

• "He is an important defender, but he is also the man to lift spirits within the squad. He is the sort of guy you need around during long evenings at training camp." — Edwin van der Sar^[1]
• "He can become my successor" — Jaap Stam^[2]

Statistics

Club Performance^[10]

Club	Season	Bundesliga		German Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
VfB Stuttgart	2008-09	21	0	1	0	7	0	0	0	29	0
Total		21	0	1	0	7	0	0	0	29	0
Club	Season	La Liga		Copa del Rey		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Sevilla	2007-08	6	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	8	0
Total		6	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	8	0
Club	Season	Premiership		FA Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Chelsea	2006-07	13	0	2	0	5	0	3	0	23	0
Total		13	0	2	0	5	0	3	0	23	0
Club	Season	Bundesliga		German Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Hamburg	2005-06	28	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	34	0
	2004-05	24	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	26	2
Total		52	1	2	1	6	0	0	0	60	2
Club	Season	Eredivisie		Dutch Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Waalwijk	2004-05	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	2003-04	29	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	4
	2002-03	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	31	0
	2001-02	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Total		57	4	7	0	0	0	0	0	64	4
Overall Total		149	5	13	1	19	0	3	0	184	6

References

External links

• Khalid Boulahrouz FIFA competition record
• Khalid Boulahrouz career stats at Soccerbase
• Career stats at Fussballdaten.de (German)
• Interview with Boulahrouz
• Autograph Khalid Boulahrouz
• Khalid Boulahrouz profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)

Netherlands squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 van der Sar • 2 Jaliens • 3 Boulahrouz • 4 Mathijsen • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Landzaat • 7 Kuyt • 8 Cocu • 9 van Nistelrooy • 10 van der Vaart • 11 Robben • 12 Kromkamp • 13 Ooijer • 14 Heitinga • 15 de Cler • 16 Maduro • 17 van Persie • 18 van Bommel • 19 Vennegoor of Hesselink • 20 Sneijder • 21 Babel • 22 Timmer • 23 Stekelenburg • Coach: van Basten

Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 van der Sar • 2 Ooijer • 3 Heitinga • 4 Mathijsen • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 De Zeeuw • 7 van Persie • 8 Engelaar • 9 van Nistelrooy • 10 Sneijder • 11 Robben • 12 Melchiot • 13 Timmer • 14 Bouma • 15 De Cler • 16 Stekelenburg • 17 De Jong • 18 Kuyt • 19 Huntelaar • 20 Afellay • 21 Boulahrouz • 22 Vennegoor of Hesselink • 23 van der Vaart • Coach: van Basten