Nabil Dirar

Early career

Born in Casablanca, Morocco, Dirar moved to Belgium in his early teens and began his career at R. White Daring Molenbeek and R.U. Saint-Gilloise before moving to K. Diegem Sport in 2004, where he started his professional career. During his two-year career, Dirar made 26 appearances and scoring two times.

His performance drew the attention of many clubs, including Westerlo and won a race from other clubs to sign him, where he signed a three–year contract, effecting the move on 1 July 2006.

Westerlo

Following his move to Westerlo, Dirar made his Westerlo debut, in the opening game of the season, where he came on as a late substitute for Patrick Ogunsoto, in a 2–1 loss against Roseselare. It wasn’t until on 21 October 2006 when he scored his first Westerlo goal, in the sixth round of the Belgium Cup, in a 1–0 win over Zaventem. Dirar provided a double assist, in a 2–1 win over Mons on 10 February 2007 and did so again, in a 4–2 win over Zulte Waregem on 21 April 2007. On the last game of the season, Dirar scored his first Westerlo goal, in a 1–1 draw against Gent. Dirar finished the 2006–07 season, making thirty–five appearance and scoring two times in all competitions.

The 2007–08 season saw Dirar scored his first goal of the season on 24 September 2007, in a 2–1 loss against Standard Liège. Dirar then set up two goals to help the club beat Roseselare 6–0 on 20 October 2007. It wasn’t until on 19 January 2008 for Dirar scored and set up one of the two goals, in a 7–2 win over Brussels. However, as the 2007–08 season progressed, Dirar suffered injuries, restricted him into making twenty–five appearance in all competition.

His performance at Westerlo attracted interests from clubs, such as, Ajax, Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard Liège. Ultimately, Dirar ended up joining Club Brugge, signing a five–year contract with the club on 21 May 2008.

Club Brugge

The next day after signing for the club, Dirar joined Club Brugge, alongside Joseph Akpala and Ronald Vargas.

Dirar made his Club Brugge debut in the opening game of the season, where he made his first start and played the whole game, in a 4–1 win against AFC Tubize. After making his UEFA Cup debut against Young Boys on 18 September 2008, Dirar scored his first Club Brugge goal in the derby, in a 3–1 win against Cercle Brugge on 19 October 2008. Since making his debut, Dirar became a first-team regular under the management of Jacky Mathijssen and then set up three assists, which he did twice against Zulte Waregem and once against K.V. Kortrijk between 29 October 2008 and 1 November 2008; which both were wins. Dirar scored his second goal of the season on 31 January 2009, in a 3–1 win over Tubize and again set up three assists, which he done twice against Roeselare and Cercle Brugge between 28 February 2009 and 8 March 2009 respectively; which were also win. On the last game of the season, Dirar scored and set up two goals, in a 4–1 win over Royal Excel Mouscron. In his first season at the club, Dirar helped the club finish third place behind Anderlecht and Standard Liège, qualified for the Europa League next season and made 40 appearances, scoring three times and assisting eleven times in all competitions.

Ahead of the 2009–10 season, Dirar was linked with a move to Premier League, such clubs as Tottenham Hotspur and Everton expressed interests signing him. Despite this, Dirar stayed at the club, though changes had been made, with Manager Mathijssen was replaced by Adrie Koster and found himself competing over a same position with newly signing Ivan Perišić. Despite this, Dirar scored and set up a goal in the opening game of the season, in a 2–1 win over Charleroi. However, in a 3–2 win against KV Mechelen on 15 August 2009, Dirar spat at opposition player Yoni Buyens, which wasn’t seen by referee, but was caught on television, and as a result, he served a five match ban, three on immediate effect and two on the last game of the season. However, after an appeal from the club, his match ban was reduced to two. Around the same time, Dirar was suspended by the club and was sent to the reserve team after being late for training. the club then gave him a chance and made his return to the first team on 1 October 2009, in a Europa League match, in a 2–2 draw against Toulouse. After being late once again in mid–November, Dirar was dropped from the squad against Charleroi and for his punishment, he trained alone. Despite this, Dirar returned to the first team from suspension and scored his second goal of the season and set up one of the goals, in a 4–1 win over Kortrijk on 30 December 2009. In early February, Dirar suffered an injury that kept him out throughout February and early–March. As he’s prepared to return to the first team, Dirar was involved in alceration with the club captain Stijn Stijnen in training. Despite this, He returned to the first team on 21 March 2010, where he set up two goals, in a 4–1 win over Beerschot. Weeks later, Dirar scored two goals in two games against Anderlecht and Gent between on 3 April 2010 and 11 April 2010. Dirar went on to finish the 2009–10 season, making forty–two appearance, scoring four times and assisting eleven times in all competitions.

The 2010–11 season saw Dirar signed a new contract with Club Brugge, keeping him until 2014. However, Dirar was sent to the reserve team once again for two weeks after he didn’t attend the fan day, though he claimed that he was sick as a reason he didn’t attend. After serving a two weeks at the reserves, Dirar was reinstated to the first team. However, following a 1–0 loss against Lokeren on 23 October 2010, Dirar was again sent to the reserve side for three weeks after he fouled Tiko, which could have got him a red card and was substituted in the second half as a result. After a three weeks absence, Dirar was reinstated to the first team and scored his first goal on 28 November 2010, in a 2–1 win over Sint-Truidense, followed up by scoring his second goal, in a 4–3 win over Westerlo in the next game. However, in a game against Gent on 26 December 2010, Dirar set up one of the goals, but was sent–off, in a 2–0 win. After the match, Dirar served a two–match suspension. Though he served a one–match suspension, Dirar returned to the first team and scored and set up one of the goals, in a 5–0 win over Charleroi on 29 December 2010. During a match against Lokeren on 21 February 2011, which saw Club Brugge won 2–1, Dirar was in an incident with team–mate Perišić over who should take a free kick, which led him to scoring and Dirar refused to celebrate following the goal. However, Dirar, once again, was sent to the reserve team for the third time this season. It came after in a 4–1 win over Kortrijk on 12 March 2011 when Dirar was in an incident with teammate Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe over who should take a free kick. After the incident, Club Brugge’s supporters booed him, leading him to respond to the supporters with an obscene gestures and was ordered by Manager Koster to leave the pitch to avoid making the situation much worse. After the match, Dirar made an apology to the club and his team–mate Odjidja-Ofoe during the press conference, insisting his behaviour was unacceptable. A few weeks later, before the start of the playoffs, Manager Koster reinstated Dirar again to the first team and went on to appear all the matches of the playoffs. Dirar went on to finish the 2010–11 season, making forty appearance, scoring three times and assisting eleven times in all competitions. At the end of the 2010–11 season, Dirar signed a contract with the club, keeping him until 2016.

In the 2011–12 season, Dirar became a key player in the first team at Club Brugge and has become one of the most productive players at the club, having made the most assists for the club that season by eleven. Dirar started the season well when he scored his first European goal in the first leg of the Europa League Qualifiers, in a 4–1 win over Qarabağ and went on to progress to the next round despite losing 1–0 in the next leg. Dirar scored again in the Europa League Group Stage, and set up one of the goal, in a 2–0 win over Maribor, followed up by scoring his first league goal of the season, in a 2–1 win over Lokeren on 18 September 2011, as well as, setting up one of the goal. Between 26 October 2011 and 30 November 2011, Dirar scored seven goals in six appearances in all competition against Gent, Genk, Standard Liege, Cercle Brugge and scoring a brace against Maribor in the Europa League.

In the January transfer window, Dirar was linked with a move away from Club Brugge. French side AS Monaco made a bid for him, which led to Dirar not playing against Mons on 29 January 2012, due to suffering from a hip injury.

AS Monaco

On 31 January 2012, Dirar joined Ligue 2 side Monaco for a transfer fee of €7.5m, the highest transfer fee ever received by the club. Upon joining the club, Dirar stated leaving Club Brugge for AS Monaco was the offer he couldn’t turn down, though he made an apology to Manager Christoph Daum.

Dirar made his AS Monaco debut on 13 February 2012, coming on as a substitute in a 1–0 loss against Bastia. Nine days later on 24 February, Dirar scored his first goal for the team in a 2–1 win over Stade Lavallois. Dirar then score two more goals later in the 2011–12 season against Châteauroux and Istres. Dirar finished the half of the 2011–12 season, making fifteen appearance and scoring three times in all competitions.

In the 2012–13 season, Dirar started the season well for the club, when he set up one of the goals, in a 4–0 win over Tours in the opening game of the season. It wasn’t until on 25 February 2013 when Dirar scored his first goal of the season, in a 1–0 win over Lens. After missing out two matches, Dirar scored on his return on 15 March 2013, in a 2–2 draw against Angers. His third goal came on 22 April 2013, as well as, setting up one of the goals, in a 4–0 win over Clermont. After a two–year absent from top–flight football, Dirar helped the club reach promotion to Ligue 1. However, on 24 May 2013, in the final game of the 2012–13 season during a match against Tours, Dirar ruptured his cruciate ligaments. Following the game, it was announced that Dirar would be out for six months with cruciate ligaments injury. Despite this, Dirar finished the 2012–13 season, making thirty–seven appearance and scoring three times in all competition.

In the 2013–14 season saw Dirar continued to rehabilitating his injury and after seven months on the sidelined, he made his return to training from injury in January. It wasn’t until on 1 February 2014 when he made his return from the first team, where he came on as a substitute for James Rodríguez in the 62nd minutes, in a 2–2 draw against Lorient. Dirar then scored his first goal of the season on 10 May 2014, in a 2–1 win over Valenciennes. Dirar finished the 2013–14 season, making thirteen appearance and scoring once in all competition.

In the 2014–15 season, Dirar started the opening game of the season, as a right–back position, in a 2–1 loss against Lorient. It came after when newly Manager Leonardo Jardim began putting Dirar in the right–back position in the pre–season. After being absent for one match, due to ankle injury, Dirar scored his first goal for the club on 21 September 2014, in a 1–0 win over Guingamp. Despite suffering two separate injuries throughout November, Dirar set up a goal for Lucas Ocampos to score the only goal in the game of the Champions League match, with a 1–0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on 26 November 2014. After suffering from a shinebone injury at the start of 2015, Dirar made his first team return on 17 January 2015, coming on as a substitute in the second half, in a 1–0 win over Nantes. Dirar then captained Monaco for the first time following absent of the main captain Jérémy Toulalan in the Champions League Knockout Stage in the first leg, in a 3–1 win over Arsenal. A month later on 22 March 2015, Dirar scored his second goal of the season, in a 3–1 win over Stade de Reims. As the 2014–15 season progressed, Dirar suffered an injury and was sent–off, in a 4–1 win over Toulouse on 3 May 2015. Nevertheless, Dirar finished the 2014–15 season, making forty–one appearance and scoring two times in all competition.

In the 2015–16 season, Dirar started in all seven matches, both in the league and the Europa League Qualifers. However, in late–August, Dirar suffered ankle injury that kept him out of the sidelined for weeks. After four weeks out with an injury, Dirar made his return to the first team on 24 September 2015, where he set up one of the goals, in a 3–2 win over Montpellier, followed up by scoring his first goal of the season, in a 3–3 draw against Guingamp. However, Dirar, once again, continued to remain on the sidelined, including suffering another ankle injury. Dirar made his first team return on 5 December 2015, where he set up one of the goals, in a 2–1 win over Bastia. After suffering from another injury, his return was short–lived when he received a straight red card for leaning his head in towards referee Tony Chapron in the second half, in a 1–0 win over Nice on 6 February 2016. Initially given a three match ban, it was later extended for an eight match ban on 4 March 2016. After serving an eight match ban, Dirar made his return to the first team on 10 April 2016, in a 4–1 loss against Lille and then scored his second goal of the season, in a 3–2 win over Guingamp on 30 April 2016. Dirar went on to finish the 2015–16 season, making twenty–four appearance and scoring two times in all competition.

In the 2016–17 season, Dirar started the season well when he provided two assists to help the club beat Turkish side Fenerbahçe to send them through to the next round of the Champions League Qualifer. In the next game against Guingamp in the opening game of the season, Dirar was given a captaincy following the absence of returning Radamel Falcao, as well as, assisting, in a 2–2 draw. Dirar went on to captain two more matches, which is up against Villarreal and progressed to the Group Stage after beating them 3–1 on aggregate. However, Dirar suffered a calf injury during a Champions League match against Tottenham Hotspur, which kept him out for six weeks. It wasn't until on 26 November 2016 when he made his first team returm, coming on as a second half substitute, in a 4-0 win over Marseille. Two weeks after returning to the first team, he captained the side again in the Matchday 6 of the UEFA Champions League, in a 3-0 loss against Bayer Leverkusen, followed up by captaining another match, in a 7-0 win over Rennes in the last 16 of Coupe de la Ligue seven days later. Despite being sidelined on three occasion, due to international commitment and injuries, Dirar then scored an equaliser following a free kick from Radamel Falcao, in a 2-1 win over Dijon on 15 April 2017. However, he suffered an injury during a warm up prior to a UEFA Champions League match against Juventus, keeping him out for the rest of the season. Despite the injury, the club went on to win the league for the first time since 2000 and was among three players (along with Danijel Subašić and Andrea Raggi) to win both Ligue 1 and Ligue for the past four seasons. At the end of the 2016-17 season, Dirar went on to make thirty-three appearances and scoring once in all competitions.

Fenerbahçe

In May 2017, Dirar expressed desire to leave AS Monaco to seek new adventure. It was announced on 16 June 2017 that Dirar moved Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe for 4.5 million euros and signing a three-year contract with one-year option extend.

International career

Dirar holds both Belgian and Moroccan citizenship, making him eligible to play for either national football team. After featured for the Morocco U23, Dirar hinted of playing for Belgium after being left out of the Morocco squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.

He announced his intention to play for the Belgium national football team after he decided to decline Morocco's offer. However, Dirar was ineligible to play for Belgium due to his appearances for the Moroccan youth squad. Eventually, two months later, Dirar announced his intention to play for Morocco. Previously, Dirar said that he considered himself Moroccan than Belgian.

After appearing in the Morocco U23 side, Dirar made his first cap for the Morocco in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Mauritania on 11 October 2008. However, Dirar’s international career was in doubt after being left out of the squad. Dirar later revealed that he didn’t get on with then Morocco Manager Roger Lemerre, saying Lemerre treated him like a dog. Following Lemerre’s sacking, Dirar was welcomed back to the national team. In February 2012, Dirar was called by Manager Eric Gerets for the Africa Cup of Nations, but declined the offer, believing that Gerets won’t be needing him for the national team squad.

However, after a six-year absence, Dirar made his national team return, where he played as a right–back, in a 1–0 loss against Uruguay on 28 March 2015. It was his first appearance since being suspended.

International goals

Club

Personal life

Born in Casablanca, Morocco, Dirar grew up in a poor childhood: his father died when he was one, leaving his mother, a housekeeper, raising eleven children, seven sons and four sisters. Due to his mother’s struggle, his brothers worked to support his mother.

Dirar is a Muslim, though he’s a not strict Muslim and expressed his dislike for school, having revealed that he skipped schools and exams. Despite this, Dirar took auto mechanics classes for two years. Dirar is also good friends with compatriot team–mate Mbark Boussoufa. In September 2012, Dirar was fined and lost his license for about fifteen days after he parked his car in the bike path prior to his departure to AS Monaco.

Dirar married in 2011. In 2012, Dirar became a father when his wife gave birth to a daughter, Layana, which led him to cancel his international commitment for Morocco.