Nabil El Zhar

Personal information
Full name	Nabil El Zhar
Date of birth	27 August 1986 (1986-08-27) (age 23)
Place of birth	Alès, France
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current club	Liverpool
Number	31
Youth career
1996–1999	Alès
1999–2004	Nîmes
2004–2006	Saint-Étienne
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–	Liverpool	19	(0)
National team‡
2004–2006	Morocco U20	7	(1)
2008–	Morocco	8	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:03, 5 January 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 April 2009

Nabil El Zhar (born 27 August 1986) is a French-born Moroccan football player who currently plays for Liverpool and Morocco. He can play wide as a winger or as a second striker.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 Statistics 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

El Zhar began his football career with OAC Alès, a local youth team. From here he moved to Nîmes Olympique, then switched again to AS Saint-Étienne. He signed for Liverpool in October 2006 and made his debut for their reserve team against Newcastle in a reserves match on 3 October 2006.^[1] He scored his first goal, from the penalty spot, in a reserve 'mini-derby' against Everton on 10 October 2006.

He made his first team debut on 29 November 2006, coming on as a substitute against Portsmouth. He went on to make two more appearances in the 2006–07 season.^[1]

He made his first Liverpool start in a Carling Cup tie, against Cardiff City on 31 October 2007, in which he scored his first goal for the club.^[2] El Zhar was moved from the number 42 shirt to the number 31 shirt for the start of the 2008–2009 campaign.^[3]

El Zhar became part of the regular first team squad in the 2008–09 season appearing in a 1–0 win against Sunderland and making his first assist on 18 October 2008, coming on for Andrea Dossena with Liverpool 1–2 down against Wigan Athletic. He set up Albert Riera for the equaliser and the game finished 3–2 to Liverpool. On 27 February 2009, He made his first start for Liverpool in the Premier League against Middlesbrough in which Liverpool lost 2-0.

On 11 July 2009, he signed a new contract extension to his current Liverpool contract that will keep him at Anfield until 2012. ^[4]

[edit] International career

Although born in Alès, France, El Zhar chose to play internationally for the country of his parents, Morocco. However he did represent France at youth level. El Zhar played in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, and Morocco got to the semi-finals, where they were defeated 3–0 by Nigeria. Morocco ended the tournament in fourth place after a 2–1 loss to Brazil.^[5]

On the 26 March 2008, El Zhar scored for Morocco in a 4–1 away win against Belgium in his first international appearance.

[edit] Statistics

All-Time Club Performance

		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Liverpool (Premier League)	2006–07	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	2007–08	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	3	1
	2008–09	15	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	19	0
	2009–10	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Liverpool total		19	0	1	0	4	1	2	0	25	1
Career totals		19	0	1	0	4	1	2	0	25	1
Correct as of 15 December 2009[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Nabil El Zhar career stats at Soccerbase
• Liverpool FC profile
• LFChistory.net player profile
• FIFA.com Profile
• ESPN Profile

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Persondata
NAME	El Zhar, Nabil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Eln Zhar, Nabil
SHORT DESCRIPTION	footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1986-08-27
PLACE OF BIRTH	Alès, France
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH