Ayoub Assal

Ayoub Assal
Ayoub Assal in 2025
Personal information
Full name Ayoub Assal[1]
Date of birth (2002-01-21) 21 January 2002
Place of birth Maidstone, England
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Positions
Team information
Current team
 Al-Wakrah
Number 7
Youth career
2010–2011 Millwall
2011–2019 AFC Wimbledon
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2023 AFC Wimbledon 78 (17)
2019–2020 → Metropolitan Police (loan) 15 (2)
2020 → Billericay Town (loan) 1 (0)
2023– Al-Wakrah 54 (13)
2023 → Al-Markhiya (loan) 14 (4)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17 January 2026

Ayoub Assal (born 21 January 2002) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Qatar Stars League club Al-Wakrah.

Club career

Assal began his career in the youth system at Millwall, joining AFC Wimbledon at under-12 level. In April 2019, Assal signed his first professional contract with Wimbledon.[2] In August 2019, Assal joined Metropolitan Police on loan.[3] After returning to Wimbledon, he made his debut for the club on 13 November in a 3–1 EFL Trophy loss against Southend United.[4] On 11 January 2020, Assal rejoined Metropolitan Police on loan until 25 April 2020.[5]

In October 2020, Assal joined National League South side Billericay Town.[6] He returned to Wimbledon after making one appearance during his loan, and made his league debut as a substitute against Shrewsbury Town on 2 March 2021, scoring a late equaliser in a 1–1 draw.[7] On 10 April, Assal scored twice for AFC Wimbledon in a 5–1 win against Accrington Stanley,[8] and in May he signed a new three-year contract with Wimbledon.[9]

On 10 December 2022, Assal was awarded the EFL Young Player of the Month Award for November 2022 having scored in all five of Wimbledon's matches across all competitions.[10] This was the second time he had received the award having also won in April 2021,[11] only the second player, after Djed Spence, to win the award twice.

On 18 January 2023, it was announced that the release clause in Assal's contract had been triggered by a bid from a club based in Qatar.[12] On 27 January, Assal completed his transfer to Al-Wakrah,[13] where he signed a five-year contract. The fee was a club record sale for the Dons.[14][15] On 29 January, Assal joined Al-Markhiya on loan for the rest of the season.[16]

International career

Born in England, Assal is of Moroccan descent. In March 2022, he was called up to the provisional England U20 squad, having previously attended a training camp with Morocco U20.[17]

Career statistics

As of match played 7 May 2024
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
AFC Wimbledon 2019–20[18] League One 0000001[a]010
2020–21[19] League One 14400002[a]0164
2021–22[20] League One 42832202[a]04910
2022–23[21] League Two 22532105[a]33110
Total 781764301039724
Metropolitan Police (loan) 2019–20[5] Southern League Premier Division South 15220—2[b]0192
Billericay Town (loan) 2020–21[5] National League South 1000—0010
Al-Wakrah 2022–23[22] Qatar Stars League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023–24[22] Qatar Stars League 206000 010216
Total 20 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 9 3
Al-Markhiya (loan) 2022–23[22] Qatar Stars League 144100 00 0154
Career total 12829943013315336
  1. 1 2 3 4 Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
  2. ↑ One appearance in FA Trophy, one appearance in Southern League Cup

Honours

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Notification of shirt numbers: AFC Wimbledon" (PDF). English Football League. p. 2. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  2. ↑ "Ayoub Assal". AFC Wimbledon. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  3. ↑ "Loan watch: Ayoub stars in FA Cup tie". AFC Wimbledon. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  4. ↑ "Young Dons go down fighting at Southend". AFC Wimbledon. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 "AYOUB ASSAL Profile". aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  6. ↑ "Ayoub joins National League South club on loan". AFC Wimbledon. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "Shrewsbury 1–1 Wimbledon". BBC. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  8. ↑ "Dons strike five in rampant away display". AFC Wimbledon. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  9. ↑ "Spear we go! Ayoub signs until 2024". www.afcwimbledon.co.uk.
  10. 1 2 "Ayoub Assal named EFL Young Player of the Month for November". www.efl.com. 10 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  11. 1 2 "AFC Wimbledon rising star wins EFL Young Player of the Month for April". www.efl.com. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "Update on Ayoub Assal". AFC Wimbledon. 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  13. ↑ "Assal leaves AFC Wimbledon for Qatari club". BBC Sport. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  14. ↑ "Done deal! ✍️ We are delighted to announce that our client @ayoubassal1 has signed for @alwakrah_sc on a 5 year deal. A club record transfer fee for @AFCWimbledon. Team @nssm20 #ayoubassal #qsl #afcwimbledon #alwakrahsc". Twitter. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  15. ↑ "📄| نادي #الوكرة يتعاقد رسميًا مع المغربي أيوب عسال لاعب @AFCWimbledon والذي يبلغ من العمر 21 عامًا للدفاع عن شعار الموج الأزرق لمدة خمسة أعوام حتى 2028. #". Twitter (in Arabic). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  16. ↑ Al-Markhiya SC (29 January 2023). "Our club signed a contract with the player Ayoub Assal". Twitter (in Arabic).
  17. ↑ "Ayoub trains with the Young Lions". www.afcwimbledon.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  18. ↑ "Games played by Ayoub Assal in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  19. ↑ "Games played by Ayoub Assal in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  20. ↑ "Games played by Ayoub Assal in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  21. ↑ "Games played by Ayoub Assal in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  22. 1 2 3 Ayoub Assal at Soccerway


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