Mustapha Hadji

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Mustapha Hadji
Personal information
Full name	Mustapha Hadji
Date of birth	November 16, 1971 (1971-11-16) (age 36)
Place of birth	Ifrane, Morocco
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	CS Fola Esch
Number	10
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1991-1996 1996-1997 1997-1999 1999-2001 2001-2004 2004 2004-2005 2005-2007 2007-	AS Nancy Sporting Lisbon Deportivo Coventry City Aston Villa Espanyol Al Ain 1. FC Saarbrücken CS Fola Esch	124 (31) 27 (3) 31 (2) 62 (12) 35 (2) 16 (1) 54 (10)
National team2
1993-2004	Morocco	54 (13)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 May 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 10 March 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Mustapha Hadji (Arabic: مصطفى حاجي) (born 16 November 1971 in Ifrane, Morocco) is a Moroccan ex-international footballer. His younger brother, Youssouf Hadji, is also a Moroccan international and currently plays for AS Nancy.

Hadji, nicknamed Mous, immigrated with his family at an early age to France. They first settled at Saint-Etienne, then Monceau, and finally Creutzwald. Mustapha Hadji began playing football there. He signed his first contract with AS Nancy where he spent his first season as a youth player before joining the senior squad in his second year with the club.

In the mid 1990s, Mustapha was offered a place in the French junior national team but decided to play for Morocco.

After playing for Nancy, Hadji joined Sporting and then Deportivo, but it was with Coventry City where he became well known, especially in Britain. After an impressive 1998 FIFA World Cup, where Hadji scoring a memorable goal against Norway, he became much sought after, especially after being named African Footballer of the Year in 1998. He was signed a year later by Gordon Strachan for Coventry.

Hadji was a goal-scoring attacking midfielder with great pace and skillful runs. At Coventry, he was joined by Moroccan international, Youssef Chippo, sparking a brief trend for City fans to wear fezzes to games in their honor. After Coventry were relegated in 2001, he joined local rivals Aston Villa, having scored against them three times in the previous season. But after only playing sporadically, he was released on a free transfer to Espanyol in Spain in 2004 where he remained until June 2004.

Mustapha has since played for Al Ain FC in United Arab Emirates where he remained for one year before returning to Europe with 1. FC Saarbrucken of Germany in 2005, where he signed a two year contract. In August 2007, Hadji signed for CS Fola Esch, a team currently playing in the Luxembourg's second-tier Division of Honour.

Recent events for Hadji included being selected for Ambassadorship during the 2010 World Cup by FIFA to represent Africa. Hadji is also involved in a partnership with plans to invest in Morocco, thus making opportunities for the local people, as he's aiming to help rid poverty from his homeland.

Mustapha Hadji is also a supporter of Show Racism The Red Card charity.

v • d • e Morocco squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Azmi • 2 Abdellah • 3 El Hadrioui • 4 El Khalej • 5 Triki • 6 Naybet • 7 Hadji • 8 Azzouzi • 9 Chaouch • 10 El Haddaoui • 11 Daoudi • 12 Dghay • 13 Bahja • 14 Masbahi • 15 Hababi • 16 Nader • 17 El Ghrissi • 18 Neqrouz • 19 Bouyboud • 20 Kachloul • 21 Samadi • 22 Alaoui • Coach: Blinda

v • d • e Morocco squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 El Brazi • 2 Saber • 3 El Hadrioui • 4 Rossi • 5 Triki • 6 Naybet • 7 Hadji • 8 Chiba • 9 Hadda • 10 Ouakili • 11 El Khattabi • 12 Benzekri • 13 Neqrouz • 14 Bassir • 15 Abrami • 16 Azzouzi • 17 Amzine • 18 Chippo • 19 Sellami • 20 El Khalej • 21 Rokki • 22 Chadili • Coach: Michel

Awards
Preceded by Victor Ikpeba	African Footballer of the Year 1998	Succeeded by Nwankwo Kanu

Mustapha Hadji famously wore raw meat in his football boots for comfort and good luck.