Karim Touzani is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 footballer of Moroccan

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 descent who plays for Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands, established on April 1, 1888. Sparta is one of three professional football clubs from Rotterdam, the others being Excelsior and Feyenoord , the latter playing in the Eredivisie.-History:Sparta was first founded in 1887....

. He plays as a midfielder

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 or a defender

Defender (association football)

Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

.

Karim Touzani is also the older brother of footballer freestyler Soufiane Touzani.

Club career

Touzani came through the Ajax academy, but failed to make the first team. He then went on to play for FC Utrecht and FC Twente

FC Twente

FC Twente is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, playing in the Eredivisie. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Eredivisie Champions, Sportclub Enschede and Enschedese Boys...

, an identical history to former Aberdeen and Scotland striker Scott Booth

Scott Booth

Scott Booth is a former Scottish football player. He began his career at Aberdeen as a teenager in 1990, before moving to Germany in 1997 to play for Borussia Dortmund. After a spell in the Netherlands, he returned to Aberdeen in 2003 before retiring a year later...

. While playing for Utrecht, he was just about to make a £1.5 million move to PSV Eindhoven, until an unfortunate training ground injury. He suffered a cracked tibia

Tibia

The tibia , shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates , and connects the knee with the ankle bones....

 and fibula, after an ill-timed lunge tackle by Dirk Kuyt

Dirk Kuyt

Dirk Kuyt is a Dutch footballer who plays for English club Liverpool. He started his career as a striker, but he has been converted into a winger and plays the position for both Liverpool and the Netherlands national team....

.

He signed a one year deal with Aberdeen

Aberdeen F.C.

Aberdeen Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen...

 in June 2006 but was plagued by injury throughout his first season in Scotland. In July 2008, Touzani completed a free transfer to Dutch outfit Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands, established on April 1, 1888. Sparta is one of three professional football clubs from Rotterdam, the others being Excelsior and Feyenoord , the latter playing in the Eredivisie.-History:Sparta was first founded in 1887....

.

International career

He also has played for the Netherlands youth team, alongside Rafael van der Vaart

Rafael van der Vaart

Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart is a Dutch footballer who plays for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Dutch national team. His preferred position is as an attacking midfielder; he can, however, also operate in other positions, such as second striker...

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External links