Ayoub El-Kaabi, Morocco forward, king of the overhead kick | OneFootball

Ayoub El-Kaabi lit up Morocco’s AFCON 2025 opener against Comoros, his sensational overhead sealing a 2-0 win and underlining a trademark finish he has perfected.

Earlier, starting striker Soufiane Rahimi missed an 11th-minute penalty. L'Équipe notes that in the 74th minute El-Kaabi acrobatically converted Anass Salah-Eddine’s cross, with AS Roma midfielder Neil El-Aynaoui reacting in disbelief nearby.

The spectacular routine is the 32-year-old Olympiakos forward’s calling card. A three-minute social-media compilation shows acrobatics for club and country, including June’s 1-0 friendly against Benin and an October 2021 demolition of Guinea-Bissau, 5-0.

Those three minutes are not exhaustive, he scored four such goals in 2020-2021 for Wydad and the total is hard to quantify. The footage reveals a drilled technique, striking from above rather than the side, often with his foot level to a defender’s head.

Former RS Berkane team-mate Issoufou Dayo once compared him to Robert Lewandowski, praising mobility, ruthless finishing and a calm final touch that resists panic.

Trained as a left-back, El-Kaabi has 30 goals in 61 caps for Morocco and led Olympiakos to the 2024 Europa Conference League title, scoring 16 in Europe, a record for an African.

After Racing Casablanca’s breakthrough at 23, he moved to China, returned to Wydad, then reached Greece via short spells in Türkiye and Qatar. His nine-goal CHAN 2018 earned a 2018 World Cup call and widened his reputation. With competition for No 9 fierce, he began on the bench and his starting prospects should be clearer on Friday against Mali.

Source: L'Équipe