Moestafa El Kabir.
"Musse", "Moes".
28.
5 brothers, 1 sister, my father, my mom and a daughter.
Sagan Tosu, Japan. (TODAY: Antalayaspor)
Way too much.
My debut in Serie A and my winning goal against Roma.
A happy life with my daughter.
Serie A.
It has to be Chris Brown.
A beautiful assist.
Ronneby, Blekinge, Sweden.
Work out!
"You grew up in Amsterdam. Can you tell us about your childhood?"
Yeah, that's right. I grew up in Amsterdam.
I lived there until I was 18 or 19.
19 years old.
Then I moved to Nijmegen.
And started to play for NEC Nijmegen.
It was where I made my debut in the top league in Holland.
My childhood in Amsterdam was quite good actually.
We were not so well-off at home. Economically.
But we fought.
A lot of hours on the streets.
It wasn't something my parents liked..
I've received a lot of punishment for coming home to late, etc.
It was mostly because we played football 24/7.
It was our living. Everyday after school we played.
And I think that's a big reason why I am as great as I am.
"Have you always been a 'Badboy'?"
I don't think that I am anymore.
I stand up for myself.
And I'm not scared to say what I have in mind.
But I've been more mischievous when I was younger.
I've calmed down quite a lot.
"As a youngster you belonged to Ajax, Feyenoord and Utrecht."
"Can you tell us about that time?"
Yeah. That's right.
It's kind of a fairytale.
How it happened.
Usually it doesn't happen that 16 years old boys get a chance in a academy.
It use to happen many years earlier.
And when the boys are a lot younger.
But I did get my chance and first I thought it was a joke.
My coach called me and asked if I wanted to go on a try out with Ajax.
And I took the chance straight away.
I played with the U21s in a friendly game.
I should have played as a Striker in the first half and as "Number 10" in the second half.
But I scored 2 goals in the first so they took me off and told me that they had seen enough.
"Lets sign the papers", they said.
It all happened very fast. I had a fantastic 1.5 years in Ajax and they have shaped me as a player.
I've learned a lot of what football really is and it's no wonder that it's one of the worlds best academys.
And that was the start of my professional career, you could say.
I was kind of a ''badboy'' as you said earlier.
I had to leave the club unfortunately..
It was something that made me really sad,
Ajax is the team that I cheer for.
But I have never had the idea of giving up my career.
I had try outs for Feeynord, and it took me three days.
Then the manager had seen enough from me.
The manager was Henk Fräser and he said to me ''You don't need to prove yourself to me''.
"I already know what you got".
I played pretty well the year earlier with Ajax, so he knew what I got.
It went pretty quickly and then I got injured.
So after six months, it was over..
First they didn't know what it was, but then they figured it out, and so on..
It was a tough time, I did some rehab.
I spend a lot of time at home training by myself.
My parents told me that I should look for a job or go to school but I was pretty determined.
I had some fights with my dad, I cried and left home.
I was sad but determined that I wanted to play football.
Then I went to Utrecht's reserve team.
I played half a year until the season was over.
And just before that, I had done a try out with NEC Nijmegen but at that time they didn't have enough money to pay me.
After a year, they had enough money to pay me so that I at least could manage to survive on playing football.
We lived four players in one house.
We all played for the reserves.
And we were four guys from Amsterdam, it was very fun.
Fun to have friends and to live with when you have moved from home.
That's when my career took off and I started to produce goals.
Every game I played, every shot hit the net.
It didn't take so long until I got to play for the A team.
Then my career took off. I played Europa League.
I played big games against teams like Tottenham, Spartak Moscow, Hamburg.
I played a lot in Eredivisie.
The year after that I began to be a start player.
I played the first 11 games of the season from start.
Then they substituted me.
I think it broke me and something in my head went wrong.
They started to make up stories about my discipline and weight.
And stuff like that.
Which I still think was a lie and unfair.
I didn't let anyone step on me.
Not today either.
I stand up for myself and if I think that I'm right, it's not many who can turn me over to think different.
But if I had the chance to go back and do some things different, I had probably behaved differently.
Perhaps it would have been in a different way then.
After all, I don't want to change anything in my career so far.
The way that I have chosen to take has been tough.
But unlike many other players, I have never given up.
I have full confidence in myself and what I can do.
I think that I can be as good as I want to be.
My self-confidence is something that nobody can touch.
It's something that keeps me alive.
And...
That was the time when it all ended in Holland.
At that time I played with Erton Fejzullahu.
A guy who became my best friend.
He and my agent at that time contacted Mjällby AIF.
And told them that they had a great player from Holland that could help them out.
At first they hesitated and wanted to see me on a try out.
But I thought that I was good enough to change club without doing a try out.
But the time was running and it all became very hectic.
And I didn't want to stay at my club NEC.
I did not even got to play with the reserves although I scored every time I got the chance to play.
They wanted to get rid of me but I kept on scoring in the reserves.
Then it does not look good for the club when I keep on scoring goals but still does not get the chance to play.
Then it's something that is wrong.
And they chose not to play me at all instead.
It was like it was.
For me it was a sign that I was to good for them to handle.
I was to strong for them to brake.
At last, as I said, it got very hectic and I told my agent: "I'll go to Cyprus with Mjällby on their Training Camp and I will show them what I got".
And after less then 2 sessions they took me to a room and wanted to sign me.
They had seen enough.
The rest is history. I think everybody knows what i did in Sweden.
it was a great period of my career.
I'm happy that I took that step and I'm grateful for the chance that Mjällby gave me.
And for that help I got from my friend Erton and my agent.
Since then it has been an adventure.
I think it has been more fun than some others' careers.
Players who has been in the same club for a longer time.
"Then you went on loan to Cagliari?"
Yeah, after 1 and a half year and a lot of goals in Mjällby, I went to Cagliari.
On a loan.
I have never talked about it openly but I never knew that it was a loan.
But it became so..
And it started off fantastic.
I scored the winning goal against Roma away, in my debut.
Then I felt, if I can score against Roma, I can score wherever I go.
It was..
Something that I took with me and thought about during my career.
Although I was injured almost the whole year in Cagliari. My hamstring was a big problem for me, I was injured about 3 times.
I just managed to play 7 games.
But of those seven games I've played against Juventus, Milan and Roma.
And if you can play against such teams then you can play against all of the greatest teams.
It's such positive things that I've taken with me in my career.
I will never forget that.
I think there is a kind of quality that you remember what you been trough and what you can do.
Because there is nobody in this world that can tell me that I can't score goals.
I've scored wherever I've been.
Except in Holland and Eredivisie.
I don't know, I still think that someone put a spell on me or something in Holland.
I couldn't score. Call it bad luck. No, I was just lost in front of the goal. While in the reserves I scored a lot of goals.
Everything I touched went in.
It was strange.
But I still think that someone put a spell on me.
But after that everything has fallen into place.
I was sad because it went like it did in Italy and I can still think about going back there just to prove that I can score goals.
It just has not been a good time for that.
But I'm not moving back to Italy for a contract that isn't good enough or to play for a team in the bottom just to show them that I can score.
At that time I felt that I wanted to return to Sweden.
To play every game and show everyone that I'm alive and that I can deliver.
I went back to Mjällby after the loan had expired and I played 5 games and scored against your favorite team GAIS.
I think they got relegated that year.
Then I got a offer from Malmö FF and another one from BK Häcken.
I had a conversation with Peter (BK Häckens manager) and he told me exactly what I needed to hear at that time.
And the contract proved that they really believed in me.
It wasn't a bad one.
While Malmö FF wanted to sit in the front row for a penny.
I don't know how it would have gone if I played for Malmö instead.
I think that I had produced a lot of goal there too.
Have won the league and so on.
But one can not say that I made the wrong choice.
Both years I scored against Malmö with BK Häcken.
I think that Malmö FF is the ones who is regretting that they didn't sign me.
I can't remember how many times I scored against them. It's a very lot goals.
Anyways, I was successful in BK Häcken.
It was a fantastic time.
It went as I wanted and I was leading the scoring league almost the whole year.
Then I got injured again and missed 7 games and the other goalscorers went past me the last game.
It's not something that is important but when you are as close to win as I was, of course you want to win it.
I want to win everything.
And it's not so much that I have won in my life.
But I was happy in Häcken.
We had a really great team, a wonderful group of players and very great Ballers.
And.. Then.. Summer of 2014, my daughter was born in May.
I can remember that we played against Kalmar FF the day before and I had hardly slept because my girlfriend went to the hospital.
I received a phone call from my friend at 5 a'clock in the morning and he told me that it was time.
And my daughter was born the coming day.
I scored after 40 seconds and I remember it like it was yesterday.
I think I scored 7 goals in 10 games after that.
Then it was time to take the next step again.
As a Baller you get to take certain decisions during your career and I got a offer from Saudi Arabia.
I will not sit here and say that I went there because it was a great challenge and because of their great football.
It was an offer that was to good to turn down.
But after 6 months, I had enough.
There were delays in payments and I missed my daughter who was to far away and couldn't visit me in Saudi Arabia.
Then I had to take a new decision.
I went to Turkey and played for Gençlerbirliği S.K.
Where I made the best six months of my career.
I scored 5 goals and made 10 assists in about 15 games.
I was so f*cking great at that half of the year.
Then I got new opportunities.
With several parties involved.
Including my club that I don't have any control over.
I only have control over where I want to go.
And not what my club requires and want for me.
I finally had to accept that they wanted to keep me.
I don't think they were expecting me to perform as well as I did.
Not if I should believe in what I was told afterwards.
I stayed for a year.
I performed quite okay. I scored 8-9 goals and 2 assists in 20 games.
"Was it by then you got a new agent?"
Yeah, they worked together so it was just a "switch" from one agent to the other.
And...
When the season was over I wanted to take the next step again.
I got a lot of options again.
And I chose to go to Japan.
At the time there was chaos in Turkey with politics and stuff like that so I felt it was a good time to leave.
And I got this offer from Japan. My former manager from Italy is the manager for Sagan Tosu.
And if you know a manager from before you know where you have each other.
I am where I am and I enjoy playing in Japan.
Football has not gone as well as I hoped. I haven't performed as well as I can.
But I just have to make a fresh effort and I know what I can do.
I know what I'm good at.
Then it's January and you never know what happens then.
"There were many opportunities before you went to Japan?"
Yeah it was.
It's always fun when the window is open.
You get so many text messages, emails, and even Facebook and Instagram messages.
"I got a agent from here", "Do you want to go to.." , "I got a club over here", "They want you".
The only thing I do is that I'm referring to my agent.
My agent knows my options and we use to pick a day to meet to talk trough the opportunities.
Then we hear each other's opinion and we choose the best alternative for my career together.
That's a bit of my story.
"How is it in Japan today?"
It's great.
It's a different world.
I think that this world that we're in can learn something from them.
They are very respectful humans. The country is clean. No reasons to feel afraid, not where I live at least.
What I have seen and read about Japan, there is hardly any criminality there.
They are wonderful and peaceful human beings.
So there is hardly anything to complain about.
Besides that, you are on the other side of the Earth.
That you don't got your family and friends around.
It can be very boring sometimes. But luckily I have my Playstation which is my best friend.
I make it trough the days with it.
"What do you play?"
It's a lot of NBA and FIFA.
I don't play COD as much as I used to but...
Mostly "My Career" on NBA.
I'm great at it.
"With a team?"
No, I play with my own player. It's a draft and then you play our own career.
And it takes a long time before you get to the playoffs and finals so you can waste a lot of time on that.
"You've lived in a lot of different countries. How does it feel to move around like you do?"
For me it's a new adventure every time I move.
I have learned new cultures, new languages.
I've met a lot of new people and friends both in football and outside football.
I think you develop as a person.
As a human.
By moving so much and see so much of the world.
Different countries.
New languages.
And I really enjoy it.
Every time you move, it's a new challenge.
And I think I'm good at adapting wherever I go.
"And today you are 28 years old. What is the largest difference between the younger and the older El Kabir?"
Wow.
As I said before, I think that I've been a lot calmer.
But if I'm with my friends, I'm as crazy as I was before.
In a positive way.
I don't know actually. There's not much difference.
I think I just got a bit calmer.
Friend: "You know Oskar he moved to..."
Yes, I know and he's swimming in money now.
Friend: "52 million euros, man.."
"You talked about Oscar who's swimming in money?"
Yeah, it's crazy.
I don't know how they think in China but..
That's the world we live in.
"A lot of people may be having that thought about Asia, that the players go there for the money and to end their careers."
"Is it like that for you or do you have more to give?"
No, I got a lot more to give.
Wherever I go, I always do my best.
But I don't think people go to China to eat dogs and rats.
It's mostly for the money.
"Is it the same with Japan?"
I think Japan got the greatest league in Asia.
But I can't tell you that I went there to eat sushi or something like that.
But it was a nice offer that I received.
And a choice that I'm behind to 100%.
As I said, you get different choices in your career and you have to think them through.
You have to decide what you wan't to do with your career.
As I mentioned before, if I get a offer from Italy that I think I'm worth. Then I haven't hesitated twice.
"Do we make our next Episode with you in Japan or Europe maybe?"
That's a great question. We'll see what happens in January.
It remains to be seen.
"Second session for today soon. Are you in the form of your life?"
F*ck no. I'm just home from vacation and for me vacation is doing nothing at all.
Now it's time to go for it. I do it properly.
I focus on the next season now and train hard without excuses.
But sometimes, I'll be honest, I think I'll should not do it. And stay home.
Then it is just to convince yourself and just go for it.
That's the part that people don't see from the outside.
That you really does things that you don't like but you have to do because you are a Baller.
It's a part of the job.
It's just to accept it and to do your best.
You'll see later but it's not the most funniest thing with my job.
"See you at the gym then?"
Yeah!
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