Former sports director Peter Knäbel introduced him on February 1, 2016 as “a technically strong player” who “always looks for 1:1 situations on the wing and is very dangerous in front of goal from that position.” Just over a year later, however, Nabil Bahoui was suspended by Markus Gisdol. Bahoui’s agent then called the ex-coach a “cowardly scumbag” – and the Swede himself said goodbye to HSV in the summer of 2017. What has happened since then: Bahoui played for five other clubs, had to leave involuntarily, was suddenly unwanted at his last station – and has now been without a club for months. The chronicle of an enigmatic career.
Bahoui had played exclusively in his native Sweden as a youth and until he was 25 years old before moving to Saudi Arabia to play for Al-Ahli in July 2015, which he left again just over six months later. He terminated his contract in the desert – to join HSV on a free transfer. “I am happy and grateful. I am proud that I am now part of this team,” said Bahoui at the time. However, he was only to play for this team seven times – initially six times in the second half of the 2015/16 season under Bruno Labbadia.
Ex-HSV-Trainer Markus Gisdol suspended Nabil Bahoui
In the following season, the Swede with Moroccan roots only played once more, in a 0:1 home defeat against FC Bayern Munich on September 24, 2016. It was the last competitive game of Labbadia’s tenure. The former coach had to leave, Gisdol took over – and Bahoui never played for HSV again. He was only in the squad once between the 6th and 34th matchdays, and in the season finale he was not even allowed to train because Gisdol suspended him, as well as former captain Johan Djourou and former talent Ashton Götz.
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“The coach is a cowardly scumbag! The decision has nothing to do with football,” ranted Bahoui’s agent Nochi Hamasor in May 2017. The agent subsequently even offered his protégé to city rivals FC St. Pauli, but their former managing director Andreas Rettig declined, instead condemning the agent’s choice of words. “The agent’s statements are catastrophic. His insults have been registered in the scene,” criticized former HSV boss Heribert Bruchhagen. Former Hamburg sports director Jens Todt was then quoted as saying in July 2017: “We wish Nabil all the best in Zurich and, above all, more playing time.”
Bahoui only played briefly in Zurich and the Netherlands
Bahoui’s time at HSV ended after seven Bundesliga games in one and a half years without a goal or an assist, despite a contract running until 2018. HSV is said to have even paid Bahoui a severance payment of 400,000 euros. He moved to Grasshoppers Zurich, but was loaned out again six months later – to AIK in Sweden for the second half of the 2017/18 season. This was followed by another half-season for his former home club in Switzerland before Bahoui had enough of Grasshoppers and said goodbye to the Netherlands in February 2019. The winger also only played for a few months for today’s second division club De Graafschap Doetinchem, and in the summer he returned to AIK in his home country. This time, however, Bahoui, who moved on a free transfer, finally found a permanent home – for three and a half long years.
From summer 2019 to February 2023, Bahoui played 90 times for AIK, including in the Europa League and Conference League qualifiers, and scored 30 goals and provided nine assists. In a friendly against Man United, he shone so much that the Premier League club wanted to sign him. But then things got heated at his favorite club, which no longer planned to keep the ex-Hamburger. “I am very disappointed with how this was handled. I always wanted to stay at AIK, I have a big heart for AIK and I love the club,” Bahoui wrote on Instagram at the time. “I would have loved to have been on this journey with a new coach who I believe in very much.”
At the beloved club AIK there was a bang about ex-HSVer Bahoui
The then AIK coach Andreas Brännström had assured him “that he really wants me to stay,” Bahoui continued. “But there are others in the club who don’t want to keep me for some reason. I know who they are and I will talk more about it in the future.” It was an attack on the AIK bosses with which the eight-time national player said goodbye to the club from the north of Stockholm. His old, new home then became: the desert. This time, however, he did not go to Saudi Arabia, but to Qatar, where he signed with Qatar SC in February 2023. “New chapter,” Bahoui wrote on Instagram at the time. It was again only a short one.
Nabil Bahoui (r.) last played for Persepolis in India from September 2023 to February 2024. IMAGO/Aksonline
Nabil Bahoui (r.) last played for Persepolis in India from September 2023 to February 2024.
Again, only a little over six months. Again, he was unhappy. Again, his contract ran out. So again, he was free. Again, he had to look for a new club. And again, he agreed to join a new club: Iranian first division club Persepolis became the twelfth professional club of his career in the autumn of last year. But you guessed it: Bahoui was not to play in the Persian Gulf Pro League for long either. He had signed there in September 2022, but it was over again in February of this year. According to Iranian media reports, Bahoui was suddenly unwanted at Persepolis, for whom he played eleven times (one goal, one assist). The contract was terminated, and Bahoui has been without a club since then. However, the offensive player also apparently regrets leaving Persepolis.
Contract terminated in Iran: Will Bahoui play again?
He made it clear this week that he still feels a strong connection to the Iranian club: Bahoui reposted a post from his former club on the occasion of Persepolis’ championship and wrote: “You don’t have to be Iranian and know Persian to be a Persepolian. You just have to love them. Congratulations Red Army.” Bahoui received a lot of support under the post from Persepolis fans, who would have liked the now 33-year-old to stay. But the reality is different. Bahoui has not officially ended his career yet, and there were recently rumors about alleged interest from Brazilian first division club Cuiabá EC.
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But at the moment it seems questionable whether Bahoui – who was suspended at HSV, who is unwanted in many places and now without a club – will even sign with a club again at the end of his mysterious career.
2024-06-08 19:40:41
#Suspended #attacked #clubless #mysterious #career #HSV #flop
