Abdelilah Saber

Abdelilah Saber (Arabic: عبد الإله صابر; born 21 April 1974) is a Moroccan retired footballer who played as a right back.

Abdelilah Saber
Personal information
Full name Abdelilah Saber
Date of birth (1974-04-21) 21 April 1974
Place of birth Casablanca, Morocco
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Right back
Team information
Current team
 Wydad AC (assistant)
Youth career
Wydad AC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1996 Wydad AC 106 (7)
1997–2001 Sporting CP 61 (0)
2000–2001 → Napoli (loan) 18 (0)
2001–2003 Napoli 49 (0)
2003–2004 Torino 11 (0)
Total 227 (7)
International career
1995–2003 Morocco[1] 53 (1)
Managerial career
2016–2017 Aït Melloul
2019– Wydad AC (assistant)
2020 Wydad AC (interim coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Born in Casablanca, Saber played his first professional years with local Wydad Athletic Club. In January 1997, he began playing in Europe, signing with Sporting Clube de Portugal.

With the Lisbon side, Saber struggled initially, but eventually became first-choice. In January 2000, however, he lost his place to newly arrived César Prates, as the Lions eventually won the national championship, the first in 18 years – he still contributed to the feat with 18 matches.

Saber would play the next four years in Italy, initially being loaned to S.S.C. Napoli, moving to that club alongside Sporting teammates Facundo Quiroga and Luís Vidigal. The move was made permanent at the end of the season, as Napoli relegated from the Serie A, and the player played the remainder of his career in the country in the Serie B – two more years at Naples and one with Torino FC – retiring at only 30.

International career

Saber gained 39 caps for Morocco, the first arriving in 1997. In the following year's FIFA World Cup, he started in all three group stage matches as the national team exited with one win, one loss and one draw.[2]

Coaching career

In the summer 2016, Saber started his coaching career with Botola club Union Aït Melloul, where he was hired as a head coach.[3]

In mid-december 2019, Saber returned to Wydad Casablanca as assistant coach to head coach Zoran Manojlović.[4] After Manojlović was fired on 13 January 2020, Saber took charge of the team as an interim head coach. However, he was replaced on 21 January, and continued as assistant for the new head coach Sébastien Desabre.[5]

International goals
Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first.[6]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.12 February 2003Stade Sébastien Charléty, Paris, France Senegal1–01–0Friendly

References
  1. Abdelilah Saber - International Appearances
  2. Abdelilah Saber – FIFA competition record (archived)
  3. Maroc Telecom D2: Abdelilah Saber entame sa carrière d’entraîneur à Aït Melloul, m.le360.ma, 7 January 2016
  4. Fouad Sahabi quitte le WAC, Abdelilah Saber nouvel adjoint, news.imperium.plus, 13 December 2019
  5. Desabre takes over the reins of Wydad, leseco.ma, 21 January 2020
  6. "Saber, Abdelilah". National Football Teams. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
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