Omar Elabdellaoui

Omar Elabdellaoui (born 5 December 1991) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays for English club Hull City, on loan from Olympiacos. He plays primarily as a right back but can also play as a right midfielder.
Elabdellaoui began his career with Skeid before signing with Manchester City in 2008; he made his professional debut while on loan at Strømsgodset. He has also spent a loan spell in the Netherlands with Feyenoord. After spending a half season on loan with Eintracht Braunschweig in 2013, Elabdellaoui joined the German side permanently in May 2013. He signed for current club Olympiacos in June 2014.
Elabdellaoui represented Norway at youth international level, and was a part of the Norwegian team in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. He made his debut for the senior national team in August 2013.

Manchester City

After playing for the Norwegian club Skeid, Elabdellaoui joined the English club Manchester City when he was 16 years old. Scott Sellars, coach of the City's U18 team, stated in an interview with Norwegian TV 2 in January 2010 that Elabdellaoui had "a big future". Elabdellaoui made an impressive effort at the academy and was awarded a first-team number for the 2010–11 season, but sat on the bench during City's Europa League match against Juventus on 16 December 2010.

Strømsgodset

On 31 March 2011, the last day of the Norwegian transfer window, Elabdellaoui was loaned out to Strømsgodset in Norway until City's pre-season started in July. In Strømsgodset he was reunited with his teammates from City, Mohammed Abu and Razak Nuhu. He played eight league matches before fracturing his foot in the league match against Fredrikstad on 28 May 2011, and returned to Manchester for surgery. On 1 September, he returned to Strømsgodset where he played until the end of the 2011-season, in a total of 12 matches, scoring one goal and giving one assist.

Strømsgodset wanted Elabdellaoui for another loan-spell for the 2012 season, but Elabdellaoui was reluctant to play at Godset's home ground Marienlyst Stadion because he was concerned that its artificial turf would re-injure him.

Feyenoord

In June 2012, Elabdellaoui signed a two-year contract with City, and was loaned to the Dutch club Feyenoord for the 2012–13 season. His teammate at City, John Guidetti, who was loaned to the same club in the 2011–12 season, both recommended Elabdellaoui to Feyenoord and advised Eladbellaoui to accept Feyenoord's offer if Manchester City let him go. Guidetti said that Elabdellaoui was a perfect fit for Feyenoord because he was physically strong, technically well-equipped and a fast player. According to Feyenoord's technical director Martin van Geel, Elabdellaoui was to mostly play as a left or right winger, but would also play as an attacking midfielder behind the forwards. He also said that Feyenoord wanted Eladbellaoui on their team for a couple of years, but were unable to sign him previously.

Elabdellaoui played five matches for Feyenoord, four as a substitute, until he in January 2013 requested to be released from the club. He wanted to play regularly and realized that his chances at Feyenoord would be limited, where he were competing against the right back and the right wing at the Netherlands national team.

Eintracht Braunschweig

In January 2013, Elabdellaoui was loaned to German club Eintracht Braunschweig for the second half of the 2012–13 2. Bundesliga season. Elabdellaoui became a regular from the start and won promotion to the Bundesliga with his team. On 10 May 2013, Eintracht Braunschweig announced that the loan deal had been made permanent. Following Eintracht Braunschweig's promotion, Elabdellaoui made his debut in the Bundesliga in the match against Werder Bremen on 10 August 2013. He started the first three matches of the season as a right back, but sat on the bench in the next match against Hamburg.

Olympiacos

On 17 June 2014 he was offered a contract by Greek club Olympiacos. He signed for the club the next day, stating that he was very excited to be a part of the club.

On 23 August 2014, he made his debut with the club, in a Super League 3-1 win home game against Niki Volos, and scored his first goal three months later, in a 4-0 away win against Kerkyra. On 4 March 2015, the 23-year-old Norwegian felt pain in his thigh and did not complete practice. He has possibly pulled a muscle, which means that he will definitely miss the game against Panthrakikos, but if the injury is more serious he could also be ruled out of the Cup game against AEK. Despite the rumors of a possible transfer Elabdellaoui spoke to the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet denying that he is thinking a move during the next transfer window. “Everything at Olympiakos is great and that's the most important for me. The interest on me is really faltering but I'm focused on playing football with Olympiakos. It's better not to get into further details of which clubs are interested,” the Norwegian right-back quoted.

At the end of his remarkable season, Olympiakos right back Omar Elabdellaoui is attracting a lot of interest from several European clubs according to reports in Norway and Beşiktaş reportedly interested in his services lately. On 13 July, Olympiakos have turned down a bid from Benfica in the region of €5,5 million. In February 2016 he was linked with a summer move to English club Manchester United. On 7 February 2016, Elabdellaoui gave Olympiakos its 20th victory in 21 Super League matches this season, by beating 1-0 rivals PAOK at Karaiskaki Stadium in an episodic match as both teams ended it with 10 players. On 11 April 2016, the Norwegian right defender wore captain's armband for the first time on a 5-2 away victory against Panetolikos.

Hull City (loan)

On 20 January 2017, Elabdellaoui signed a loan deal with Hull City. He made his debut on 22 January 2017 in the 2–0 away loss to Chelsea.

Elabdellaoui playing for Norway U21 in 2011

Elabdellaoui made his debut for Norway when he played for the under-15 team in the 0–0 draw Poland U15 on 8 August 2006, in a match where Stefan Johansen also made his debut at youth international level. Elabdellaoui played one more match for the under-15 team before he scored one goal in ten matches for the under-16 team. He later scored one goal in eight matches for the under-17 team, before he made six appearances for the under-18 team and eleven for the under-19 team, where he scored one goal.

Elabdellaoui made his debut for the Norway national under-21 football team against Greece U-21 on 17 October 2010. He featured heavily in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification as a right-back.

He made his debut for the Norway under-23 team in a game against Wales in June 2012, with Elabdellaoui as the first goalscorer in the 4–0 victory.

Elabdellaoui was first called up for the Norwegian national team for the friendly match against Sweden in August 2013, and made his debut for the senior team when he started the match and played 72 minutes as a right back.

As of 22 January 2017

Elabdellaoui is of Moroccan descent and is the cousin of Mohammed Abdellaoue and Mustafa Abdellaoue.