Football Player's Biography 7: ibrahim afellay

Date of birth	2 April 1986 (1986-04-02) (age 24)
Place of birth	Utrecht, Netherlands
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11¹⁄₂ in)^[1]
Playing position	Attacking midfielder / Winger

Ibrahim Afellay (born 2 April 1986 in Utrecht) is a Dutch footballer playing for FC Barcelona in the Spanish First Division. He has played for the Dutch national youth team and is now part of the senior Dutch national team, who he represented at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He usually played as the centre attacking midfielder for PSV Eindhoven but can also play on either wing due to his pace and creative qualities. In 2007, Afellay was awarded the Johan Cruijff Award for "Young Player of the Year" in the Netherlands.

Club career

PSV Eindhoven

Early career

Afellay started his footballing career at USV Elinkwijk in Utrecht. In 1996 he switched to the youth academy of PSV Eindhoven. Afellay's official debut for PSV Eindhoven was on 4 February 2004 during a cup match against NAC Breda at the age of 17. His debut in the competition was on 14 February, against Twente. In the 2003–04 season he played three official games, and seven more in the 2004–05 season.
On 15 May 2005, PSV Eindhoven played a game against Feyenoord. Afellay was a part of the starting lineup, and made a great impression with two goals.

Breakthrough

In the 2005–06 season he played games in the Johan Cruijff-schaal and the first three competition games. Because of the absence of DaMarcus Beasley and Mika Väyrynen he always started in the line-up.
On 13 September, Afellay made his Champions League debut against Schalke 04. PSV won the game 1–0. On 8 October, Dutch coach Marco van Basten took Afellay into the full national team during the games against the Czech Republic and Macedonia, though he did not play.
In the 2005–06 season, following the departure of important players including midfielders Johann Vogel and Mark van Bommel, Afellay grew to be a first-team regular, and was even pre-selected for the Dutch national team. He played a total of 23 league matches during the season, scoring 2 goals. This number could have been higher were it not for the minor injuries he suffered throughout the season.

Barcelona

On 16 November 2010, FC Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven came to terms regarding the transfer of Afellay to the Catalan side in January 2011. Afellay travelled to Barcelona on 23 December 2010 for a medical to finalize the deal. The fee was reported to be around € 3 m.^[3]^[4] He signed a contract that will tie him until 2015 with the club and he will wear the squad number 20. Afellay made his Blaugrana debut on January the 5th in the Copa del Rey against Athletic de Bilbao. He was brought in for David Villa in injury time. Afellay was given his first start for the Barcelona on 19 January 2011 against Real Betis during the second leg of the Copa del Rey in which they lost 3-1 but qualified for the semis on a 6-3 aggregate. He scored his first goal for Barcelona against UD Almeria in the Copa del Rey

International career

After both the Moroccan and the Dutch national teams managers selected him for their squads, he was caught in the dilemma to either play for the Moroccan national team, because of his Moroccan descent, or to play for the Dutch team, the Netherlands being his place of residence. He ultimately decided to play for the Dutch national team despite the heavy competition for places in midfield.^[5] He made his international debut in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Slovenia on 28 March 2007. On October 12, 2010 Ibrahim Afellay scored his first international goals in a EURO 2012 Qualifier against Sweden.

Euro 2008

Afellay was included in Marco van Basten's squad for Euro 2008 and was mostly used as a substitute. Just seconds after replacing Dirk Kuyt in the group match against Italy he nearly scored a goal but his volley went off the crossbar. In their last match against Romania, he was given a place in the starting 11 alongside Arjen Robben in midfield.

2010 World Cup

Afellay was part of the Dutch team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup managed by Bert van Marwijk.^[6] The player came on as a substitute for their first and second matches in the competition, a 2-0 victory over Denmark and 1-0 victory over Japan respectively,^[7] as well as the round of 16 match against Slovakia.