Youssef Safri
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Youssef Safri | ||
| Date of birth | 3 January 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Casablanca, Morocco | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1995 | Olympique de Casablanca | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1996–2001 | Raja Casablanca | 27 | (6) |
| 2001–2004 | Coventry City | 91 | (1) |
| 2004–2007 | Norwich City | 83 | (3) |
| 2007–2008 | Southampton | 37 | (0) |
| 2008–2013 | Qatar | 90 | (8) |
| Total | 328 | (18) | |
| National team | |||
| 2000–2009 | Morocco | 77 | (9) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Youssef Safri (Arabic: يوسف سفري, born 3 January 1977) is a Moroccan former footballer who currently is an assistant coach for Raja Casablanca.
Safri started his youth career at Olympique de Casablanca, which merged with Raja Casablanca in 1995. The following year, he was promoted to the senior squad. He was a midfielder best known for his passing and tackling ability.
In 2001, he joined Coventry City where he played until 2004, scoring once against Sheffield Wednesday. In December 2003, he had come under fire after breaking the leg of Sunderland player Colin Healy. The next season, he joined Norwich City for an initial fee of £500,000 in the summer of 2004, after the Canaries had been promoted to the Premier League.
Safri became popular among the Norwich fans towards the end of the 2004–05 campaign and during the 2005–06 season following a series of impressive performances. He scored a 40-yard strike against Newcastle United in April 2005 during the team's fight against relegation from the Premiership. Safri was linked with a move to Feyenoord in the summer of 2005, but stayed at Carrow Road.
As a tribute to the player, Norwich City supporters devised a song which was sung regularly at home games, to the tune of Status Quo's 'Rocking all over the world' -
"Here we are, here we are and here we go, Youssef's better than Juninho, Moroccan all over the world!"
Following the 3–1 defeat at Plymouth Argyle in September 2006, Safri and teammate Dickson Etuhu were reported to have traded punches on the team bus during their return journey to East Anglia, although these reports are now thought to have been discredited. After Peter Grant was appointed Norwich manager in October 2006, Safri was not a regular selection. There was speculation that he would leave the club in January 2007, fuelled by his comments in the Eastern Daily Press on 29 December 2006 in which Safri indicated that he would seek a transfer if Grant continued to use him as a substitute. Safri remained at Carrow Road until the end of the 2006–07 season, but after falling out with manager Peter Grant, Grant stated in the press on 1 August that Safri would not play for the club again.
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