Marouane Fellaini
Personal information
Full name	Marouane Fellaini-Bakkioui
Date of birth	22 November 1987 (1987-11-22) (age 22)
Place of birth	Etterbeek, Belgium
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defensive Midfielder, Midfielder, Second Striker, Striker
Club information
Current club	Everton
Number	25
Youth career
1994–1997 1997–2000 2000–2002 2002–2004 2004–2006	Anderlecht Mons R. Francs Borains Sporting Charleroi Standard Liège
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2006–2008 2008–	Standard Liège Everton	84 (11) 47 (10)
National team2
2007–	Belgium	16 0(3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:27, 26 May 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 15:06, 25 October 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Marouane Fellaini-Bakkioui (born 22 November 1987 in Etterbeek, Brussels) is a Belgian footballer of Moroccan descent currently playing for Premier League side Everton and the Belgian national team. He was previously at Standard Liège. His main attributes are his stamina, heading ability and tackling, though he has been criticized for being too aggressive at times.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Belgium

Fellaini began playing football at the age of 7 for Anderlecht. In his first season at Anderlecht's Academy, he scored 26 goals and in his second he scored 37. He was at the club's academy until the age of 10 when he joined Mons. Three years later, he joined R. Francs Borains before leaving the club when he signed for Sporting Charleroi. At the age of 17, he signed his first permanent contract with Standard Liège. Between 2006 and 2008, he made 84 appearances for the club, scoring 11 times.^[1] He is known for his heading ability and stamina, which made him one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the Belgian First Division and resulted in him winning the Ebony Shoe in 2008,^[2] an award given to the best player of the season of African descent.

Fellaini playing for Everton

[edit] England

After rejected advances from Manchester United^[3] and following reported interest from Aston Villa,^[4] Real Madrid, Tottenham and Bayern Munich,^[5] Fellaini signed for Everton in September 2008 on a five year deal from Standard Liège for an initial transfer fee of £12 million rising to £15 million (a record for a Belgian player and a club record for Everton).^[6] He made his Everton debut in a 3–2 away victory at Stoke City on 14 September 2008,^[7] and scored his first goal for the team against Newcastle United in a 2-2 home draw on 5 October 2008.^[8] At the end of the 2008–09 season Fellaini was named Everton's Young Player of the Season.^[9] In his time in England he has become well known for his large "afro" hair, becoming a cult hero with Everton fans regularly sporting afro wigs as a homage to Fellaini.

[edit] International career

Fellaini with Belgium in 2008

This section requires expansion.

Fellaini was eligible to play for Belgium or Morocco. Having already played for Belgium at youth level, he chose to continue representing the country of his birth. He scored his first goal in a 2-1 defeat against Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualification.

Fellaini also represented the U-23 team at the 2008 Olympics and achieved 4th place, losing to Brazil.

[edit] International goals

Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2007-03-24	Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels	Portugal	1-1	1-2	2008 Euro Qualifying
2	2008-10-11	Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels	Armenia	2-0	2-0	2010 World Cup Qualifying
2	2009-11-15	Jules Ottenstadion, Ghent	Hungary	1-0	3-0	Friendly

[edit] Personal life

Fellaini was born to Moroccan parents from Tangier and brought up in Brussels.^[10] His father, Abdellatif, was a former goalkeeper for Raja Casablanca and Hassania Agadir who signed for Racing Mechelen but was unable to play as his former Moroccan club refused to release his paperwork. Instead of returning home, he opted to become a bus driver for STIB.^[11]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Club

• Updated as of May 3, 2009

[edit] Honours

[edit] Standard Liège

Winner

• Belgian First Division - 2007–08
• Belgian Ebony Shoe - 2008

[edit] Everton FC

Runners-Up

• FA Cup - 2009

• Young Player of the Season - 2008/09

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Marouane Fellaini career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Belgium squad – 2008 Summer Olympics Fourth Place 1 Bailly • 2 De Roover • 3 Kompany • 4 Vermaelen • 5 Pocognoli • 6 Fellaini • 7 De Mul • 8 Haroun • 9 Mirallas • 10 Vertonghen • 11 Martens • 12 Makabu-Makalambay • 13 Ciman • 14 Mulemo • 15 Simaeys • 16 Vanden Borre • 17 De Smet • 18 Dembélé • 19 Odjidja-Ofoe • Coach: De Sart