Walid Azaro

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Walid Azaro

| image = Walid Azarou 12.jpg

| caption = Azaro with Al Ahly in 2020

| full_name = Walid Azaro{{cite web |url=https://fdp.fifa.org/assetspublic/ce14/pdf/SquadLists-English.pdf |title=FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021: List of players: Morocco |publisher=FIFA |page=8 |date=4 December 2021 |access-date=13 December 2022}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1995|06|11|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Ait Melloul, Morocco

| height = 1.86 m{{cite web |title=Walid Azaro |publisher=365scores|url=https://www.365scores.com/fr/football/player/walid-azaro-50038 |access-date=}}

| position = Striker

| currentclub = Ajman

| clubnumber = 9

| youthyears1 = 2008–2015

| youthclubs1 = Adrar Union Athletique Souss

| years1 = 2015–2017

| clubs1 = Difaâ El Jadidi

| caps1 = 53

| goals1 = 18

| years2 = 2017–2020

| clubs2 = Al Ahly

| caps2 = 60

| goals2 = 26

| years3 = 2020

| clubs3 = → Al-Ettifaq (loan)

| caps3 = 7

| goals3 = 3

| years4 = 2020–2022

| clubs4 = Al-Ettifaq

| caps4 = 42

| goals4 = 11

| years5 = 2022–

| clubs5 = Ajman

| caps5 = 71

| goals5 = 33

| nationalyears1 = 2017–

| nationalteam1 = Morocco A'

| nationalcaps1 = 15

| nationalgoals1 = 11

| nationalyears2 = 2017–

| nationalteam2 = Morocco

| nationalcaps2 = 6

| nationalgoals2 = 0

| club-update = 1 February 2025 (UTC)

| nationalteam-update = 17 October 2024 (UTC)

}}

Walid Azaro ({{langx|ar|وليد أزارو}}; born 11 June 1995) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ajman and the Moroccan national team.{{cite news |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244810/walid-azarou-highest-scoring-foreigner-egypt-single-season/ |title=Moroccan Walid Azarou Ranked Top Goal Scorer in Egyptian League |work=Morocco World News |author=Zoubida Senoussi |date=20 April 2018}}

After beginning his career in his home country, he joined Al Ahly in 2017 and finished as the Egyptian Premier League's top goalscorer in his first season. He made his international debut for Morocco in 2017.

Club career

Azaro was born in Aït Melloul.{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/y=2017/m=10/news=moroccan-finishers-poised-for-final-showdown-2917668.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026221545/http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/y=2017/m=10/news=moroccan-finishers-poised-for-final-showdown-2917668.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 October 2017 |title=Moroccan finishers poised for final showdown |publisher=FIFA |date=26 October 2017 |access-date=19 June 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/06/247663/moroccos-walid-azaro-to-leave-egyptian-al-ahly-club/ |title=Morocco's Walid Azaro to Leave Egyptian Al-Ahly Club |publisher=Morocco World News |author=Zoubida Senoussi |date=1 June 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}} He started his career with Adrar Souss in the third division of the Moroccan league.{{cite web |url=http://www.egyptindependent.com/azaro-becomes-highest-scoring-foreigner-in-a-single-egyptian-league-season/ |title=Azaro becomes highest scoring foreigner in a single Egyptian League season |publisher=Egypt |author=Farah Tawfeek |date=18 April 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}} He joined Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi in 2015, signing for them on a three-year contract. During the 2016–17 season, he finished as the club's top goalscorer with twelve league goals.{{cite web |url=https://www.kingfut.com/2017/06/08/walid-azarou-confirms-al-ahly/ |title=Walid Azarou confirms move to Al Ahly |website=KingFut.com |author=Seif Soliman |date=8 June 2017 |access-date=19 June 2018}}

In June 2017, Azaro turned down several offers from European clubs to join Egyptian Premier League club Al Ahly on a four-year deal for a fee of $1.4 million, despite Moroccan national team manager Hervé Renard attempting to convince him to move to Europe.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40379493 |title=Morocco international Walid Azaro snubs Europe for Al Ahly |publisher=BBC Sport |author=Tarek Talaat |date=23 June 2017 |access-date=19 June 2018}} His transfer saw him become the first Moroccan to play for the club.{{cite web |url=https://www.kingfut.com/2018/02/14/walid-azaro-personality-mohamed-salah/ |title=Sayed Abdel-Hafiz: Walid Azaro’s personality is similar to Mohamed Salah’s |website=KingFut.com |author=Dahab Elkady |date=14 February 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}}

In his first season with the club, Azaro scored 18 league goals to finish as the top goalscorer in the Egyptian Premier League and help Al-Ahly win their 40th league title.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43460668 |title=Ahly striker Azaro eyes World Cup success with Morocco |publisher=BBC Sport |author=Tarek Talaat |date=19 March 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}} His tally saw him break the record for the most goals scored by a foreign player in the Egyptian Premier League, surpassing the previous record of 17 jointly held by Flávio Amado and John Utaka.{{cite web |url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/1287336/sport |title=Moroccan Walid Azaro becomes highest-scoring foreign player in single Egypt league |publisher=Arab News |date=18 April 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}} He also surpassed Stanley Ohawuchi's record for the most goals scored in the Egyptian Premier League by a player in their first season.{{cite web |url=https://www.kingfut.com/2018/03/06/walid-azaro-creates-egypl-history/ |title=Walid Azaro beats Egyptian Premier league goals record |website=KingFut.com |author=Sina Isaac |date=6 March 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}} He also scored the only goal of the 2017 Egyptian Super Cup and scored a hat-trick against Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel in the semi-final of the 2017 CAF Champions League.{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-cafchampions-aly-sah/azaro-hat-trick-sees-al-ahly-into-champions-league-final-idUKKBN1CR0VX |title=Azaro hat-trick sees Al Ahly into Champions League final |publisher=Reuters |date=22 October 2017 |access-date=19 June 2018}} His performances attracted attention from several clubs and Al Ahly rejected an offer from Saudi club Al-Nassr of William Jebor plus a cash sum.{{cite web |url=https://www.kingfut.com/2018/01/28/al-ahly-refuse-azarous-departure-to-saudi-side-al-nassr/ |title=Al-Ahly refuse Azarou’s departure to Saudi side Al-Nassr |website=Kingfut.com |author=Ali Ismail |date=28 January 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}}

In October 2020, Azaro agreed to join Saudi club Al-Ettifaq on a permanent deal for two years, after being on loan since January.{{cite web |url=https://www.kingfut.com/2020/10/16/azarou-joins-etifaq-alahly/ |title=Official: Azarou joins Al-Ettifaq from Al Ahly |website=kingfut.com |date=16 October 2020 }} On 30 January 2022, Azaro was released by Al-Ettifaq.{{cite web |title=رسميًا.. الاتفاق يُعلن رحيل المغربي وليد أزارو |url=https://akhbaar24.argaam.com/article/detail/586204}}

Career statistics

= Club =

{{updated|match played 1 February 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://us.soccerway.com/players/Walid-Azaro/485205/|title=Walid Azaro|website=Soccerway}}

rowspan="2"\|Club !rowspan="2"\|Season !colspan="3"\|League !colspan="2"\|National cup{{efn\|Includes Moroccan Throne Cup, UAE President's Cup}} !colspan="2"\|League cup{{efn\|Includes UAE League Cup}} !colspan="2"\|Continental !colspan="2"\|Other !colspan="2"\|Total
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
rowspan="3"\|DHJ \|2015–16 \|rowspan="2"\|Botola \|25	6	2	1	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	27	7
2016–17 \|28	12	5	2	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	33	14
colspan="2"\|Total !53	18	8	3	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	61	21
rowspan="4"\|Al Ahly \|2017–18 \|rowspan="3"\|EPL \|30	18	1	1	colspan="2"\|–	8	6	2	2	41	27
2018–19 \|23	6	1	0	colspan="2"\|–	14	5	1	0	39	11
2019–20 \|7	2	1	2	colspan="2"\|–	4	1	colspan="2"\|–	12	5
colspan="2"\|Total !60	26	3	3	colspan="2"\|–	26	12	3	2	92	43
rowspan="4"\|Al-Ettifaq \|2019-20 \|rowspan="3"\|SPL \|7	3	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	7	3
2020–21 \|25	9	1	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	26	9
2021–22 \|17	2	1	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	18	2
colspan="2"\|Total !49	14	2	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	51	14
rowspan="5"\|Ajman \|2021–22 \|rowspan="4"\|UPL \|12	5	0	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	12	5
2022–23 \|26	12	5	2	1	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	32	14
2023–24 \|20	12	2	0	2	2	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	24	14
2024–25 \|12	4	1	0	2	1	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	15	5
colspan="2"\|Total !71	33	8	2	5	3	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	84	38
colspan="3"\|Career total !233	91	21	8	5	3	26	12	3	2	288	116

International career

Azaro made his debut for Morocco on 24 March 2017 as a substitute during a 2–0 victory over Burkina Faso.{{NFT |id=67567 |name=Walid Azarou |access-date=19 June 2018}} He was named in Morocco's preliminary squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup but was later omitted from the final squad.{{cite web |url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/6/54/299717/Sports/Africa/Morocco-reveal-World-Cup-squad,-Ahly-striker-Azaro.aspx |title=Morocco reveal World Cup squad, Ahly striker Azaro left out |publisher=Ahram Online |date=17 May 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}}