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Abdelhak Nouri (born 2 April 1997) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Eredivisie club Ajax. Nouri operated primarily as an attacking midfielder, but could also be deployed as a winger.
In July 2017, at age 20, during a pre-season friendly match, Nouri collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrhythmia attack, which left him with severe and permanent brain damage and unable to continue as footballer.
Early life
Nouri was born in Amsterdam, and is of Moroccan descent.[1] He made his name as a footballer largely in his youth, attracting attention from multiple publications as a future star. He was named as one of the best 40 youth players by The Guardian in 2014, before he made his professional debut.[2]
Career
Nouri was a youth exponent from the academy at Ajax, and made his professional debut for the reserve side, Jong Ajax, on 13 March 2015, in a Eerste Divisie game against VVV Venlo, replacing Danny Bakker after 78 minutes in a 1-0 loss.[3]
On 21 September 2016, Nouri made his official first-team debut in a KNVB Cup match against Willem II, and scored a goal. His exploits throughout the season for Jong Ajax saw him being gifted the Player of the Season award for the 2016-17 season, as well as promotion to the first team for the 2017-18 season.[4]
Collapse
On 8 July 2017, Nouri collapsed during a friendly match against Werder Bremen, due to cardiac arrhythmia. He was taken to the hospital by a trauma helicopter, and his condition was announced as stable.[5][6] Five days later, however, Ajax reported that Nouri had suffered severe and permanent brain damage as a direct result of the incident.[7] Nouri eventually left intensive care on 25 July 2017, being able to breathe unaided, but will not be able to play football again.[8] In June 2018, Ajax announced an investigation had found that the medical treatment Nouri received on the field was "inadequate",[9] which prompted a lawsuit from Nouri's family against Ajax through the Royal Dutch Football Association's arbitration panel, who stated a failure to resuscitate him with due haste was responsible for causing his brain damage.[10]
As of August 2018, Nouri is no longer in a coma and is said to be able to recognise and communicate with members of his family by moving his mouth and eyebrows.[11]
Tributes
Following Nouri's retirement, several tributes were conducted in his honor by Ajax and players at other clubs.[12][13] In December 2018, Ajax renamed their "Talent of the Future" award for Nouri,[14] while a number of Nouri's former Ajax and Dutch teammates, including Justin Kluivert, Philippe Sandler, Amin Younes, and Kevin Diks, have adopted Nouri's shirt number (34) at their new clubs. The club's 34th league championship was dedicated to Nouri by the players, who celebrated with his father during the trophy presentation on 16 May 2019.[15]