Karim Zaza

Infobox Football biography
playername= Karim Zaza
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1975|1|9
countryofbirth = Denmark
height = height|m=1.84
position = Goalkeeper
currentclub = AaB
clubnumber = 1
contractend = 30 June 2009
youthyears =
youthclubs = Brøndby IF
years = 1995-2000
2000-2003
2003-2006
2006-2007
2007-present
clubs = FC København
Fremad Amager (loan)
Silkeborg IF (loan)
Odense BK
Brøndby IF
Rot-Weiss Essen
AaB
caps(goals) = 80 (0)
1 (0)
0 (0)
79 (0)
49 (0)
27 (0)
11 (0)
nationalyears = 2004
nationalteam = Morocco
nationalcaps(goals) = 2 (0)
pcupdate = 1 February 2008
ntupdate =

Karim Zaza (born January 9, 1975) is a Danish-Moroccan professional football player, who plays as a goalkeeper for Danish club Aalborg Boldspilklub. Born in Denmark to Moroccan parents, he established himself as one of the top goalkeepers of the Danish Superliga with three consecutive Danish "Goalkeeper of the Year" awards from 2001 to 2003.

Biography

He started his youth years as a striker, but due to his harsh temper he was moved back to goalkeeper to stay out of trouble. He first played at Brøndby IF, but never got a match for the club, and moved on to main rivals FC København in 1995. Here he was known as a somewhat errant goalkeeper, despite showing good reflexes and , and he spent lacklustre time on loan at Fremad Amager (one match) and Silkeborg IF (no matches).

In 2000 he made a permanent move to provincial club Odense BK. Here he immediately made an impact, and got his big breakthrough, winning the Danish "Goalkeeper of the Year" award in both 2001 and 2002. Former club Brøndby then decided to move in after him. In January 2003, Zaza signed a two-year contract with Brøndby, effective after the end of the 2002-03 Superliga season. He moved back to Brøndby on a free transfer in July 2003, looking to star in the newly built team of coach Michael Laudrup. Zaza continued his successful run, and won another Danish "Goalkeeper of the Year" award in 2003.

Following an injury at the start of the 2004-05 Superliga season, Zaza found himself benched as a result of young substitute Casper Ankergren's good performances, and only played two matches for his team that year. He didn't find more playing time in the first half of the 2005-06 Superliga season, again sitting on the bench. Following the winter break halfway through the season, Zaza reclaimed his starting position for the remainding half of the season. As his contract with Brøndby expired in June 2006, he made a move to Rot-Weiss Essen of the German secondary 2nd Bundesliga division.

He established himself as the first-choice goalkeeper in the Essen team. Despite battling to avoid relegation in the 2006-07 2nd Bundesliga season, Zaza kept a number of clean sheets for Rot-Weiss Essen. The club was relegated at the end of the season, and Zaza moved back to Denmark. He signed a two-year contract with Danish Superliga club Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB), replacing AaB's goalkeeping legend Jimmy Nielsen.

Honours

*Danish Cup:
**1995 and 1997, with FC København
**2005, with Brøndby IF
*Danish "Goalkeeper of the Year"
*Danish Superliga: 2004-05, with Brøndby IF and 2007-08 with Aalborg BK

External links

*da icon [http://www.aabsport.dk/D9F0E860-B9F4-4ADF-B984-D671D77AA564.W5Doc?id=50ea0e57-ed1b-40e1-b611-31236042674e AaB profile]
*da icon [http://www.brondby.com/player.asp?sid=90&id=33 Brøndby IF profile]
* [http://resol.dr.dk/sportservice_person.aspx?personid=114178 Career stats] at Danmarks Radio
*de icon [http://www.fussballdaten.de/spieler/zazakarim/ FussballDaten statistics]

Persondata
NAME = Zaza, Karim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Moroccan footballer
DATE OF BIRTH = January 9, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH = Denmark
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =