Munir Mohamedi

Munir Mohand Mohamedi El Kajoui (Arabic: منير مهند محمدي الكجوي; born 10 May 1989), known simply as Munir, is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Saudi Professional League club Al Wehda and the Morocco national team.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mohamedi and the second or maternal family name is El Kajoui.
Munir
Munir with Morocco at the 2018 World Cup
Personal information
Full name Munir Mohand Mohamedi El Kajoui[1]
Date of birth (1989-05-10) 10 May 1989[2]
Place of birth Melilla, Spain
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Al Wehda
Number 1
Youth career
Goyu Ryu
2008 Ceuta
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2009 Ceuta B
2009 Almería B 4 (0)
2009–2010 Melilla B
2010–2014 Melilla 74 (0)
2014–2018 Numancia 74 (0)
2018–2020 Málaga 76 (0)
2020–2022 Hatayspor 71 (0)
2022– Al Wehda 22 (0)
International career‡
2015– Morocco 46 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:00, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 03:15, 12 September 2023 (UTC)

He played for Ceuta B, Almería B, Melilla, Numancia, Málaga, Hatayspor and Al Wehda.

Born in Spain, Munir represented Morocco at international level, making his debut in 2015 and being part of the squads at two World Cups and three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

Club career

Born in Melilla, Munir played youth football with CG Goyu Ryu and AD Ceuta,[3] and made his debut as a senior with the latter's reserves in the regional leagues.[4] On 29 January 2009 he moved to another reserve team, UD Almería B from Tercera División,[5] but appeared sparingly and was subsequently released.[6]

Munir joined UD Melilla in summer 2009, initially being assigned to the reserves and being definitely promoted to the main squad in the Segunda División B the following year. He acted mainly as a backup to Pedro Dorronsoro in his first two seasons at the club, becoming a starter afterwards.[7]

On 17 June 2014, Munir signed a two-year contract with Segunda División side CD Numancia.[8] On 10 September he made his professional debut, starting in a 1–1 away draw against CD Leganés in the second round of the Copa del Rey and also saving two penalties during the shootout.[9]

Munir made his debut in the second tier on 19 October 2014, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 loss at UD Las Palmas.[10] He was first choice for the remainder of the campaign, overtaking Biel Ribas.[11]

Munir left the Soria team at the end of 2017–18, after losing his starting spot to Aitor Fernández.[12] On 19 July 2018, he joined Málaga CF also in the second division.[13]

From 2020 to 2022, Munir competed in the Turkish Süper Lig with Hatayspor.[14] On 10 June 2022, he agreed to a two-year deal at Saudi Arabian club Al Wehda FC.[15]

International career

Having Moroccan heritage, Munir switched his allegiance to its national team in 2014. On 9 March 2015, he was called up by manager Ezzaki Badou for a friendly against Uruguay to be held late in the month,[16] and made his debut by starting in the 0–1 loss.[17]

On 29 December 2016, Munir was included in Hervé Renard's 23-man squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations,[18] and started the whole tournament ahead of Yassine Bounou. He was also selected to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,[19] making his first appearance in the World Cup on 15 June in the 1–0 group stage defeat to Iran.[20]

Munir was also selected for the 2019[21] and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations[22] and the 2022 World Cup.[23][24] After starter Bounou fell ill shortly before the start of the group-stage fixture against Belgium in the latter tournament, he replaced him and eventually contributed to a 2–0 win in Doha;[25] he and his teammates were part of the first African nation ever to reach the semi-finals of the competition.[26]

Career statistics

International
As of 17 June 2023[27]
Morocco
YearAppsGoals
201560
201660
2017120
201890
201950
202010
202120
202230
202320
Total460

Honours

Individual

Orders

References
  1. Munir at WorldFootball.net
  2. "Munir". Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  3. "El ex del Ceuta Munir se enfrenta a España con Marruecos: "Vamos a luchar con nuestra armas"" [Former Ceuta man Munir takes on Spain with Morocco: "We will fight with our weapons"] (in Spanish). Ceuta Deportiva. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  4. "Munir rescinde su contrato con el Ceuta" [Munir terminates his contract with Ceuta] (in Spanish). AD Ceuta. 28 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  5. "Almería "B": se incorpora Munir (Ceuta)" [Almería "B": Munir (Ceuta) added] (in Spanish). esFutbol. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  6. "El Almería B, con Constantin Galca al frente, comienza la pretemporada" [Almería B, with Constantin Galca at the helm, start the pre-season] (in Spanish). Join Futbol. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  7. Salvatierra, Enrique (19 July 2018). "Munir retoma el hilo conector entre Melilla y Málaga" [Munir the new connecting thread between Melilla and Málaga] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  8. "Munir, portero del Melilla, primer fichaje numantino para la temporada 2014–15" [Munir, Melilla's goalkeeper, first numantino signing for the 2014–15 season] (in Spanish). CD Numancia. 17 June 2014. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  9. "Munir frena el sueño copero del Leganés" [Munir halts Leganés' cup dream]. Marca (in Spanish). 11 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  10. "Las Palmas vuelve a ganar al Numancia jugando media hora con uno menos" [Las Palmas beat Numancia again playing half an hour with one less]. Marca (in Spanish). 19 October 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  11. "Munir le quita a Biel Ribas la titularidad en la portería del Numancia" [Munir takes starting spot in Numancia's goal from Biel Ribas] (in Spanish). Vavel. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  12. Hernández Casado, Luis (12 June 2018). "Aitor, un portero que suma puntos" [Aitor, a goalkeeper who keeps adding points]. Heraldo de Soria (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  13. "Una portería más internacional con Munir" [A more international goal with Munir] (in Spanish). Málaga CF. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  14. "De Málaga a Turquía: Munir ya es del Hatayspor" [From Málaga to Turkey: Munir already belongs to Hatayspor] (in Spanish). Be Soccer. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  15. "الوحدة" يتعاقد مع حارس منتخب المغرب منير المحمدي" [Al-Wehda sign Moroccan goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi] (in Arabic). Sabq. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  16. "Munir, convocado con Marruecos" [Munir, called up with Morocco]. Diario de Soria (in Spanish). 9 March 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  17. "Edinson Cavani scores penalty to give Uruguay win in Morocco". ESPN FC. 28 March 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  18. "Morocco name AFCON 2017 squad". African Football. 29 December 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  19. "World Cup 2018: Sofiane Boufal left out of Morocco squad". BBC Sport. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  20. Mather, Victor (15 June 2018). "Morocco own goal gives Iran a World Cup victory". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  21. "Africa Cup of Nations squads". BBC Sport. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  22. "Afcon 2021: Morocco add three to squad for Cameroon". BBC Sport. 28 December 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  23. Mukherjee, Soham (10 November 2022). "Morocco World Cup 2022 squad: Who's in and who's out?". Goal. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  24. "Moroccan coach unveils list of 26 Atlas Lions in 2022 World Cup". Hespress. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  25. Fordham, Josh (27 November 2022). "LATE CHANGE | Where is Yassine Bounou? Morocco fans confused over late goalkeeper switch as Sevilla man on pitch for national anthem before Munir Mohamedi starts World Cup clash against Belgium". Talksport. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  26. El Nakadi, Jâd (13 December 2022). "Walid Regragui avant d'affronter la France: "Nous avons faim, nous voulons que l'Afrique soit au sommet du monde"" [Walid Regragui before facing France: "We are hungry, we want Africa to be on top of the world"] (in French). RTBF. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  27. Munir at National-Football-Teams.com
  28. García, Manuel (21 July 2020). "Munir se lleva el Zamora de Segunda" [Munir takes Zamora in Segunda]. La Opinión de Málaga (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  29. "King receives members of national soccer team, decorates them with Royal wissams". Hespress. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
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