Ilias Emilian Chair (Arabic: إلياس إميليان الشاعر; born 30 October 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL Championship club Queens Park Rangers and the Morocco national team.
Ilias Chair was born in Antwerp in Belgium to a Moroccan father and Polish mother.[3][4]
Chair began his career in the youth system at Lierse.[5] He also spent time at the academy of Club Brugge, as well as the JMG Academy Belgium.[6] Chair made his professional debut for Lierse at the age of 17, playing in the Belgian Second Division, when he came as a 76th-minute substitute in Lierse's 1–1 away draw at Coxyde on 9 August 2015.[7][8] He subsequently started his first match a month later, on 9 September 2015, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–2 home defeat to Cercle Brugge.[7][9]
Chair went on trial at Championship club QPR in January 2017.[5] During the trial period, he scored in a 3–1 friendly win for the U23s against Bournemouth.[5] He subsequently signed for QPR on a permanent basis on 31 January 2017.[5] Chair was added to the club's Elite Development Squad and spent the remainder of the 2016–17 season playing for the club's U23 team.[5]
Having impressed QPR manager Ian Holloway in training,[10] Chair was named as a substitute in club's first round EFL Cup tie against Northampton Town at Loftus Road on 8 August 2017.[11] He replaced Luke Freeman in the 63rd minute of the match to make his first-team debut.[7][11] Chair made his first starting appearance for QPR in a 1–0 defeat against Preston North End at Deepdale on 2 December 2017.[12] He signed a two-year contract extension with the club on 9 February 2018, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2020.[13] He scored his first goal for the club during QPR's final home game of the 2017–18 campaign on 28 April 2018, scoring a volley at the far post as QPR overturned a one-goal deficit to win 3–1 against Birmingham City.[14] Chair made seven first-team appearances during the season, scoring once.[15]
Having made eight appearances for QPR during the first half of the 2018–19 season,[16] Chair joined League Two club Stevenage on a loan deal for the remainder of the season on 31 January 2019.[17][18] He made his Stevenage debut in the club's 1–0 victory over Yeovil Town at Broadhall Way on 2 February 2019, playing the full match.[19] Chair scored his first goals for Stevenage by scoring two long-range efforts late-on in a 2–2 away draw at league leaders Lincoln City on 16 February 2019.[20] A month later, on 12 March 2019, he scored from within his own half in Stevenage's 2–0 home win against Swindon Town.[21] Chair was nominated for League Two Player of the Month for March 2019 having contributed four goals and four assists during the month.[22] He made 16 appearances during the loan agreement, scoring six times and assisting six goals.[16][23] Stevenage manager Dino Maamria described Chair as "the best player that has ever worn the Stevenage shirt", as well as the best player to have ever played in League Two.[23]
Upon his return to QPR, he signed a new three-year contract with the club in September 2019.[24] Under new manager Mark Warburton, Chair became a key player for QPR at the start of the 2019–20 season.
On 29 January 2021, Chair signed a new four-and-a-half-year deal that would see him remain at the club until 2025, with the club having the option to extend this contract by another year.[25]
Chair started the 2021–22 season in good form and won the Championship Goal of the Month award for October 2021 after an impressive strike against Blackburn Rovers.[26]
Chair was born in Belgium and is Moroccan by descent.[3] He was called up to the Morocco U20 squad for a week-long training camp in Rabat in June 2017.[3] Chair represented the Morocco U23s in a 1–0 friendly defeat to the Senegal U23s on 23 March 2018.[27]
He debuted with the senior Morocco national team in a friendly 1–0 win over Ghana on 9 June 2021.[28] On 6 October 2021, in his fourth appearance for his country, Chair scored his first Morocco goal with the third in a 5–0 win over Guinea-Bissau.[29]
On 10 November 2022, Chair was named in Morocco's 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.[30][31] On 17 December, he made his World Cup debut in the 3rd place playoff against Croatia in an eventual 2–1 loss.[32]
On 23 February 2024, Chair, along with his brother Jaber, were convicted of assaulting a truck driver by a court in Antwerp. He was found to have assaulted the truck driver with a rock, breaking his skull and leaving him unconscious.[33] He was sentenced to 12 months in prison with a further 12 months suspended. Chair is appealing the sentence, and Queens Park Rangers have stated that he will remain available for selection during the appeals process.[34]
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