Moroccan Soccer Star Balances Pro Career with Accounting Degree

The 32-year-old Moroccan player was not predestined for a football career at the outset. A brilliant student, he obtained his master’s degree in management sciences at the age of 22 and dreamed of working in an accounting firm. According to the Reims defender, as a young scholarship student, he was thinking neither of football nor of anything else, but of making a living and having his job in accounting. "That was my goal before football," he specified.

For the young man, who grew up between the ball and his studies, his first steps in the round ball were effective with coach Jean-Louis Saez, from the Arles-Avignon reserve. The Moroccan player states that he played as a central defender and recounts that the trial was conclusive. This allowed him to start his professional football career at the age of 24, with this club in the south of France.

During a training session with the Arles Avignon pros, Yunis Abdelhamid recalls that his small car, a 205 borrowed from an uncle, broke down one day and he had to use his father’s Clio 2. The downside with this vehicle, he specifies, is that it had his father’s construction equipment, a mason by trade. "I arrive at the pros’ training and yes, we try to park it a little away from the other cars. But everyone saw us; so I had to assume it. Plus, it was a bit of advertising for my father! Sometimes, when players needed information, I tried to direct them to his company."

The Reims player, however, assures that it is not a shame, because he knew well where he came from. "But when you come out of a parking lot for pro players, where there are only big cars and the fans see you with your Clio 2 of masonry, it’s weird. For me, it’s a pride today to remember all that." The native of Montpellier also testified about his lifestyle. "At Arles-Avignon (2011-2014), I didn’t have a lifestyle at all... Amateur, you can eat mom’s tagine and then go to the game. Then, in the evening, eat a kebab. I didn’t have that rigor yet; it took me a long time to get there. It’s really since I’ve been at Reims that I’ve managed to do it," explains the defender. The Atlas Lion did not fail to return to his next objectives, in particular with the Moroccan national team with which he wishes to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and go as far as possible in the CAN.