Khalid Boulahrouz (Arabic: خالد بُلحروز) (born December 28, 1981, in Maassluis, Netherlands) is a Dutch footballer of Moroccan descent, who plays for the Netherlands and Sevilla of the La Liga, on loan from Premier League side Chelsea. His nickname is "Khalid the Cannibal" for his ability to "eat up" his opposition. He joined Chelsea in August 2006 from Hamburger SV.

Personal life

Boulahrouz was born into a Moroccan family living in the Netherlands. He has eight siblings. When he was younger, he had a lot of problems, such as being sent away from the youth teams of Ajax and Haarlem. When he was sixteen his father died and he had to take responsibility for his family.

Club career

In his youth Boulahrouz played consecutively for Excelsior Maassluis, DSOV, Ajax, HFC Haarlem and AZ Alkmaar.

RKC

After a difficult period playing for different clubs, he finally found some stability at RKC Waalwijk, where coach Martin Jol gave him the confidence he had been looking for.^[3] He began his professional career in the Dutch Eredivisie for RKC on March 9, 2002, against SC Heerenveen.

Hamburger SV

After playing 2 seasons for RKC he moved to Hamburger SV to play in the German Bundesliga at the start of the 2004/05 season. While at HSV he earned his nickname "Khalid der Kannibale" ("Khalid the Cannibal") for his ability to eat up the opposition. This is illustrated by the amount of cards he received - 16 yellows and 3 reds in two seasons at the club. He was also part of a defence that conceded the least amount of goals in the 2005/2006 Bundesliga season: 30 goals in 34 games.

Chelsea

On August 18, 2006, Chelsea agreed a fee with Hamburg to sign Boulahrouz. The fee is thought to be around £8,500,000 (€12,000,000). After Chelsea’s opening game of the 2006-07 season, manager José Mourinho confirmed that the club had signed Boulahrouz and the club is only waiting for his international clearance to be finalised, before speaking of the potential roles Boulahrouz will have in the side. Mourinho stated "In a short squad and in a country where you can have only 16 players for a match, it’s important to have cover for many positions. So, for example, now I can have Boulahrouz, Ricardo and John — three options for the centre; I can have Paulo and Boulahrouz — two options for the right side; I can have Boulahrouz and Wayne Bridge — two options for the left side.."

On August 21, 2006 Chelsea completed the signing of Boulahrouz. Six days later, he was handed his Premiership debut against Blackburn Rovers. He wore the number 9 shirt, previously occupied by Hernán Crespo - this is an unconventional number for a defender, being traditionally associated with strikers, but was given to him just because it happened to be one of the numbers not currently allocated to a player by Chelsea at the time of signing.

Boulahrouz made a promising start to his Chelsea career, figuring prominently in high-profile games against Liverpool and more notably Barcelona where he dominated Ronaldinho. However, Boulahrouz gradually dropped out of favour. Boulahrouz was out for a lengthy period of time after a knee injury, followed by a shoulder injury while playing in an FA Cup tie against Norwich City.

Boulahrouz eventually dropped out of contention as the season wound down, with John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho as the first-choice defensive pairing. When Carvalho was injured against Spurs, manager Mourinho paired Terry with Ghanaian midfielder Michael Essien.

Having done himself no favours with his shaky performances throughout the latter half of the season, Boulahrouz sealed his own fate by committing an avoidable individual error and eventually earning a straight red card, the first of his Chelsea career, against Arsenal by bringing down Julio Baptista in the box, conceding a penalty (that Gilberto Silva converted). The game ended as a 1-1 draw which, coupled with Manchester United’s win against Manchester City the day before meant that the Red Devils clinched the Premier League title. However, he featured in Chelsea’s final game of the season, against Everton.

Boulahrouz had since been linked with Newcastle United, with ex-Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce hoping to land the Dutch international for a cut-price £4 million. However, Chelsea organised a loan deal with Spanish giants Sevilla, with the aim of signing Daniel Alves in return.

International career

After moving to Hamburger SV his impressive displays caused Marco van Basten to pick him for the Netherlands national football team. He made his international debut on 3 September 2004 in a 3:0 win for the Netherlands against Liechtenstein, and was named to the squad for the 2006 World Cup. He has managed 19 caps for the national side, as of August 2006.

Boulahrouz was sent off from the Netherlands match against Portugal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Round of Sixteen after a second bookable offence. He was judged to have used an elbow on Portugal’s Luís Figo. Referee Valentin Ivanov issued a total of 16 yellow cards and four red cards in this match, a World Cup record.

Quotes about Boulahrouz

• "He is an important defender, but he is also the man to lift spirits within the squad. He is the sort of guy you need around during long evenings at training camp." — Edwin van der Sar
• "He can become my successor" — Jaap Stam

Khalid Boulahrouz’s selection hokey cokey with Netherlands coach Marco van Basten has ended with the defender firmly on the front foot and stepping back into the squad for UEFA EURO 2008™.

Ins and outs
The versatile 26-year-old has returned to the national-team fold as a replacement for the injured Ryan Babel, only four days after being cut from the squad at the last minute. Boulahrouz was released as Van Basten dropped one last man in order to nominate his 23-player squad on Tuesday. He had only been accommodated within the coach’s 30-man preliminary party because of fitness concerns surrounding fellow defenders André Ooijer and Mario Melchiot.

Total recall
With Melchiot convincing the Oranje training staff of his fitness, Boulahrouz fell at the last hurdle earlier in the week, only to be reprieved today after forward Babel damaged ankle ligaments in training. The Chelsea FC centre-back or full-back, who spent the season on loan with Sevilla FC, has 22 caps – the last of which he won against Ukraine last week. "He made a good impression," Van Basten said.

Sevilla FC defender Khalid Boulahrouz has been drafted into the provisional Netherlands squad for UEFA EURO 2008™, with four other players failing to make the cut after Marco van Basten trimmed his party.

Unlucky quartet
AFC Ajax defender Urby Emanuelson, Kew Jaliens of AZ Alkmaar, Valencia CF’s Hedwiges Maduro and PSV Eindhoven striker Danny Koevermans have all been sent home as Van Basten coordinates the team’s final preparations, which kick off in Noordwijk on Tuesday. The quartet had originally been named as part of a 30-man squad, which was reduced to 29 this week following Clarence Seedorf’s withdrawal.

Fitness concerns
The versatile former Chelsea FC defender Boulahrouz was not included in this provisional list but will team up with his colleagues on Tuesday. Once there, he will be required to prove his physical condition to Van Basten over the first five days of training, given that he has recently been declared fit again after months of injury trouble.

Rest periods
Meanwhile, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink will report for duty on 23 May due to club commitments with Real Madrid CF and Celtic FC. In a similar vein, Wesley Sneijder and Edwin van der Sar will not arrive until 26 May, on account of their heavy workloads with Madrid and Manchester United FC respectively.

Friendly schedule
The definitive list of 20 outfield players and three goalkeepers will be presented to UEFA before the deadline on 28 May. The Netherlands have lined up friendlies at home against Ukraine on 24 May, Denmark five days later and Wales on 1 June before beginning the their Group C campaign against Italy in Berne on 9 June.