Hakim Ziyech (Dutch pronunciation: [ɦaːˈkim ziˈjɛɕ];[3] Arabic: حكيم زياش, romanized: Ḥakīm Ziyāš; Berber languages: ⵃⴰⴽⵉⵎ ⵣⵉⵢⴰⵛ, romanized: Ḥakim Ziyac; born 19 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a right winger or an attacking midfielder for Qatar Stars League club Al-Duhail.

[14] Ziyech was born in Dronten, Flevoland, (the youngest sibling of nine children, five boys and four girls) to Moroccan parents from Tafoughalt, a Berber village of the tribal confederation of Aït Iznassen located near Berkane in northeastern Morocco.

Like many Moroccans between the 1960s and 1990s, a large number of people from northern Morocco emigrated to Belgium and the Netherlands in search of work and better living conditions.

[22][23] With his brothers and his friends from the neighborhood, Ziyech spent hours playing football on the Cruyff Court esplanade opposite his home.

[25] During his childhood, Ziyech regularly watched Ajax stars on television such as Wesley Sneijder, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Rafael van der Vaart.

[27][28] At Reaal Dronten, he met Aziz Doufikar who was part of the club staff,[29] and the first Moroccan national to make an appearance in the Eredivisie.

[32] During this time, Ziyech has told that football was a dominant part of his life: "I went to school half an hour earlier every day with the ball in my hand.

[20] On 23 December 2003, only ten years old, he suffered a great personal trauma, witnessing the death of his father, with whom he had a close relationship.

[15] Once settled in at Heerenveen, he lived a turbulent life marked by delinquency, alcohol and drug problems, and he dropped out of school at age sixteen.

[47] Having been an academy footballer for two years under youth coach Robin Veldman,[48] Ziyech very rarely participated in matches, spending his evenings until five in the morning in the neighbourhood drinking alcohol and using hard drugs.

[49][50] Doufikar described Ziyech during his first years in Heerenveen's academy: He drank, smoked and did drugs a lot, the only chance I had with him was to make him play in smaller tournaments.

[47]Hakim Ziyech saw Doufikar as his second father,[51] spending his afternoons in indoor gyms playing two-on-two with his neighbourhood friends in his hometown of Dronten.

To steer him away from a destructive path and bad habits, his former coach, Doufikar, kept Ziyech engaged in indoor football, emphasising the importance of focusing on the sport.

In that match, Ziyech, starting alongside Oussama Tannane and Rajiv van La Parra, left an impression by scoring his first goal with a remarkable free kick.

[55] His performance earned him head coach Marco van Basten approval, and he assured him of a spot within Heerenveen's squad for the UEFA Europa League match against Rapid București.

On 2 August 2012, Ziyech made his formal debut for Heerenveen in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Europa League, against Rapid, playing a total of 53 minutes before being substituted.

[102] On 5 March 2019, he scored again in the 4–1 victory over Real Madrid in the second leg, which saw the title holders being knocked out and bringing Ajax to the quarter-finals, where they eliminated Juventus to reach the semi–finals of the competition.

[118] Ziyech started ten matches and scored two goals in Chelsea's run to the final of the competition, including one against Atlético Madrid in the Round of 16 second leg at Stamford Bridge.

[120] Ziyech was subbed off shortly before half-time with his arm in a sling after challenging for a header inside his own penalty area and landing badly.

[124] In the January transfer window, Ziyech could not move to Paris Saint-Germain on loan as his parent club submitted the wrong documents before the deadline which were rejected by the LFP.

[127][128][129] On 16 September 2023, Ziyech made his debut in a 4–2 home win against Samsunspor after he came off from the bench in second half to replace Tetê, providing an assist to Mauro Icardi in the process.

[144][145][146] On 1 September, Ziyech returned to the national side, and scored in a 6–0 win over Mali, in a qualifying match for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

[149][150] In September 2021, Ziyech was omitted from the national team squad due to a "poor attitude", having previously refused to play, citing an injury.

Manager Vahid Halilhodžić said, "For the first time in my coaching career, I saw a national team player who doesn't want to train and claims to be injured, although tests have shown he can play.

[153] On 13 March 2022, Ziyech and his Moroccan teammate Noussair Mazraoui, both rejected Halilhodžić's invitation to represent the Morocco national football team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF third round against DR Congo, and reaffirmed his decision to retire internationally.

[154][155] Halilhodžić was later sacked in August with Walid Regragui replacing him, which lead to Ziyech rescinding his retirement and he rejoined the national team for the friendly against Chile on 23 September.

[156] Ziyech excelled as Morocco advanced to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup becoming the first African Team to do so, scoring a goal and providing an assist.

He is most dangerous coming into central areas and looking to play killer balls to teammates making diagonal runs towards goal from the left.

He is particularly skilled at playing deft balls over a defence, and if his teammates time their runs well, they often very suddenly find themselves with a one-on-one shooting opportunity.

He has incredible balance, speed and acceleration, is able to shake off the attention of an opponent with ease and create himself shooting opportunities, rather than going down the line to cross.