Moroccan professional footballer
Youssef Belammari (Arabic: يوسف بلعمري; born 20 September 1998) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder or left-back for Botola club Raja CA and the Morocco national team.
He began his football career by joining the youth teams of Fath Union Sports when he was aged 10. In 2017, he was called-up to the first team but he did not fully establish himself until the 2019–20 season. In 2023, he signed with Raja Club Athletic with whom he won the historic invincible-double in 2023–24, an unprecedented achievement in the history of Moroccan football.
Club career
Fath US
Born in Casablanca on 20 September 1998, Youssef Belammari arrived at Fath Union Sports's youth system at a young age. In early 2017, he joined the first team's squad under Walid Regragui.
On 5 April 2017, he made his professional debut against Raja CA in 2016–17 Botola (2–0 loss).[1][2]
On 28 May, he made his first starting debut against Moghreb Tetouan (1–1 draw). On 27 August 2017, he scored his first professional goal against Mouloudia d'Oujda in the first round of the 2017 Throne Cup (1–1 draw).[3]
Raja CA
On 2 July 2023, he signed a three-year deal with Raja CA and became the club's third summer signing of the season.[4]
On 27 August 2023, he made his debut with the Greens against Youssoufia Berrechid on the opening match of the season (1–3 win). Slowed down a bit by an ankle injury the he got during a training session, it was against the same opponent on 8 February 2024, that he scored his first goal (2–0 win).[5][6]
On 14 June 2024, after a 0–3 win against MC Oujda in the last round, Raja were crowned champions ending the season without a single defeat – the first team ever to do so in the history of the league and breaking the record of points. On July 1, Raja beat AS FAR once again in the Throne Cup final to secure the third domestic double of its history, and Belammari made a decisive tackle in the final minutes of the match.
Belammari strongly kicked-off the 2024–25 season with one goal and three assists in the first eight games. The team also qualifies to the Champions League's group stage.[7][8]
International career
In October 2017, he received his first call-up to the Morocco U20 squad by Mark Wotte. He played one friendly game against Italy U21 and two other against France U20.[9][10][11] In October 2018, he played two friendly games against Algeria with the Moroccan U23 team.
In August 2022, Belammari was called up by Hussein Ammouta to the National A' team for a training camp between 1st and 6 August.[12] The Atlas Lions played a friendly tournament in Austria against Qatar and Jamaica.[13][14][15]
On 7 October 2024, he received his first call-up with the first team from Walid Regragui, as a reinforcement to replace Noussair Mazraoui, who was out due to injury.[16][17][18] The goal of this gathering is a double confrontation against Central African Republic, counting for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifications.[19][20]
Honours
Raja CA
Morocco
References
