Khalid Boulahrouz

Football player infobox
playername = Khalid Boulahrouz


fullname = Khalid Boulahrouz
nickname = Khalid the Cannibal, Boula
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|12|28
cityofbirth = Maassluis
countryofbirth = Netherlands
height = height|m=1.83
currentclub = VfB Stuttgart
clubnumber = 4
position = Defender
years = 2001–2004 2004–2006 2006–2008 2007–2008 2008–
clubs = RKC Waalwijk Hamburger SV Chelsea →Sevilla (loan) VfB Stuttgart
caps(goals) = 64 (4) 52 (2) 13 (0) 06 (0) 00 (0)
nationalyears = 2004–
nationalteam = Netherlands
nationalcaps(goals) = 26 (0)
pcupdate = 05:07, 18 October 2007 (CET)
ntupdate = August 22, 2008

Khalid Boulahrouz December 28, 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.cite web | url = http://home.skysports.com/worldcup/player.aspx?plid=12433&clid=366 | title = Boulahrouz profile | publisher = Sky Sports | accessdate = 2008-06-20]

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.cite web | url = http://www.parool.nl/sport/2005/SEP/090305-1.html | title = Kannibaal op voetbalschoenen | publisher = Het Parool | language = Dutch | date = 2005-09-03]

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. [cite web | url = http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/19/sports/EU-SPT-SOC-Euro-2008-Netherlands-Boulahrouz.php | title = Prematurely born daughter of defender Boulahrouz dies | publisher = AP| date = 2008-06-19 | accessdate = 2008-06-20] He opted to play against Russia a few days later, and the entire Dutch team wore black armbands in his daughter's memory.

Club career

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

RKC

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

Hamburger SV

After playing 2 seasons for RKC he moved to Hamburger SV to play in the German Bundesliga at the start of the 2004/05 season. While at HSV he earned his nickname "Khalid der Kannibale" ("Khalid the Cannibal") for his ability to eat up the opposition. This is illustrated by the amount of cards he received - 16 yellows and 3 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. [cite web | url = http://www.football-lineups.com/tournaments/league.php?route=7&g=0 | title = Bundesliga 2005/2006 | publisher = AP | date = 2008-06-19 | accessdate = 2008-06-20]

Chelsea

On August 18 2006, Chelsea agreed a fee with Hamburg to sign Boulahrouz. The fee is thought to be around £8,500,000 (€12,000,000).cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/5265164.stm | title = Boulahrouz completes Chelsea move | publisher = BBC News | date = 2006-08-22 | accessdate = 2008-06-20] 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,cite web | url = http://www.chelseafc.com/article.asp?hlid=411057&m=8&y=2006&nav=news&sub=latest+news | title = FReaction: Mourinho delighted with energetic Essien | publisher = Chelsea FC | accessdate = 2006-08-21] 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 Boulahrouz, Ricardo and John — three options for the centre; I can have Paulo and Boulahrouz — two options for the right side; I can have Boulahrouz and Wayne Bridge — two options for the left side."

On August 21 2006 Chelsea completed the signing of Boulahrouz. Six days later, he was handed his Premiership debut 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.

Having done himself no favours with his shaky performances throughout the latter half of the season, Boulahrouz sealed his own fate by committing an avoidable individual error and eventually earning a straight red card, the first of his Chelsea career, against Arsenal by bringing down Julio Baptista in the box, conceding a penalty (that Gilberto Silva converted). The game ended as a 1-1 draw which, coupled with Manchester United's win against Manchester City the day before meant that the Red Devils clinched the Premier League title. However, he featured in Chelsea's final game of the season, against Everton.

evilla FC

Boulahrouz joined Spanish club Sevilla on a year long loan for the 2007-2008 season. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/6896711.stm|title=Sevilla take Boulahrouz on loan|accessdate=2007-07-12|date=2007-07-12|publisher=BBC Sport]

VfB Stuttgart

On July 21, 2008 Boulahrouz moved to VfB Stuttgart for a fee of around €5m. [cite web | url = http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1348061,00.html | title = BOULAHROUZ MOVES | publisher = chelseafc.com | accessdate = 2008-07-21] [cite web | url = http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/381060/ | title = Fünf Millionen für Boulahrouz | publisher = kicker.de | accessdate = 2008-07-22]

International career

After moving to Hamburger SV his impressive displays caused Marco van Basten to pick him for the Netherlands national football team. He made his international debut 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
*"He can become my successor" — Jaap Stam

Statistics

References

External links

*FIFA player|218246
*soccerbase|id=40993|name=Khalid Boulahrouz
* [http://www.chelseafc.com/page/ThePlayers/0,,10268~35422,00.html Official Chelsea profile]
* [http://wm2006.deutschland.de/EN/Content/WorldCupNews/Interviews/2006/golz-fragt-van-der-vaart-und-boulahrouz__en.html Interview with Boulahrouz]
* [http://www.autogramm-archiv.de/spieler/boulahrouz-khalid.htm Autograph Khalid Boulahrouz]
*

Persondata
NAME= Boulahrouz, Khalid
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Boulahrouz, Khalid
SHORT DESCRIPTION= footballer
DATE OF BIRTH= 1981-12-28
PLACE OF BIRTH= Maassluis, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=