Abdelhak ‘Appie’ Nouri: ‘We Are With Him 24/7, Talking to Him, Praying for Him’

 Abdelhak Nouri of Ajax during the friendly match against Werder Bremen. Photograph: VI-Images/Getty Images
Abdelhak Nouri of Ajax during the friendly match against Werder Bremen. Photograph: VI-Images/Getty Images
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Abdelhak ‘Appie’ Nouri: ‘We Are With Him 24/7, Talking to Him, Praying for Him’

 Abdelhak Nouri of Ajax during the friendly match against Werder Bremen. Photograph: VI-Images/Getty Images
Abdelhak Nouri of Ajax during the friendly match against Werder Bremen. Photograph: VI-Images/Getty Images

On the first floor of a modern office block in Amsterdam, and in the shadows of the stadium where Abdelhak Nouri lived his dreams, the eldest of the Ajax midfielder’s six siblings delivers a brave and moving message. “Being angry doesn’t help,” Abderrahim Nouri says. “Being sad doesn’t help. Crying all day doesn’t help. Being positive helps. Praying for him helps. When I’m next to his bed, talking with him, saying good things to him, those things help.”

Speaking eloquently and emotively for more than an hour, Abderrahim has been reflecting on the tragic chain of events last summer that left his 20-year-old brother, who was one of the most talented young footballers in the Netherlands, with severe and permanent brain damage.

Nouri, or “Appie” as he is commonly known, collapsed on the pitch during a pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen in July and remains in a low level of consciousness in a hospital in Amsterdam, in the hearts and minds of everyone in the city and permanently surrounded by the people that love him most. Every day and every second of the last five months, a member of his family has been at his bedside. “We’re with my brother 24-7,” Abderrahim says.

As light turns to dusk at the end of a bitterly cold afternoon, Abderrahim talks at length about the inner strength that the family draw from being devout Muslims and how their faith has helped them to find comfort and relief throughout such a traumatic experience, yet their pain is never far from the surface.

“Yesterday someone brought an enlarged photo in here of my brother in his playing kit, in a game against Feyenoord, and even the photo was difficult to see,” Abderrahim says. “If I watch videos of Abdelhak playing, it’s only the first 10-15 seconds and then I can’t watch any more, it’s too difficult.”

Abderrahim prefers reliving memories in his mind. He can still picture his youngest brother running rings around children almost twice his age, despite being “so short that the ball was up to his knees”, and performing the “unbelievable skills” that were practised for so long that his parents had to “beg him to come home”. Even then “Appie” wanted to take the game to bed with him. “He’d sleep with his football shoes on,” Abderrahim says, smiling.

Precociously talented, Nouri signed for Ajax at the age of seven and more than a decade later was still playing with the same joy and freedom that characterised those early years. A wonderfully gifted playmaker of Moroccan descent, Nouri made football fun to watch – partly because he looked as if he was having so much fun himself. Technically superb, only 5ft 6in, and capable of exquisite eye-of-the-needle passes, Nouri had an astonishing repertoire of flicks and tricks that bamboozled opponents and left even the Ajax coaches open-mouthed.

“An incredible player,” says Wim Jonk, the former Holland international, who coached Nouri at Ajax’s academy. “If you ever saw an Ajax game, everybody was talking about Appie because his skills were so different to all the others. He was so creative but also entertaining the fans and that was what people liked. For him, it was second nature to act like that, because he was just playing like he was playing on the street.”

Nouri’s reputation preceded him within Ajax and beyond. All the top clubs in Europe courted him as a youth player and the Ajax supporters were singing his name before he made his debut. When Nouri did finally get his chance, from the substitutes’ bench against Willem II in the KNVB Beker (Dutch FA Cup) in September last year, he jinked his way past a few players, won a free-kick on the edge of the area, politely asked Lasse Schone, the set-piece specialist and a Danish international in his thirties, if he could take it, and dispatched the ball into the bottom corner.

Yet what Nouri could do on the pitch is only part of his story. His warm, infectious personality shone through in social media clips that attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers, and behind the boyish smile there was a layer of humility and modesty that Abderrahim still marvels at. “He could play amazing for Jong Ajax [Ajax reserves, who play in the Dutch Championship], the crowd went crazy and so did I. It seemed impossible the things he was doing on the field, and afterwards I was like: ‘How can you do that?’ But he’d just say, shyly: ‘I can play better.’”

The Ajax fans adored him and Nouri loved them. After beating Lyon 4-1 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final last season, a huge crowd gathered outside the stadium and serenaded all the players, including Nouri, despite the fact that the teenager had been an unused substitute. Stepping forward to acknowledge the Ajax supporters, Nouri looked like a picture of happiness as he smiled and applauded before making a heart shape with his hands.

As a player, his potential was huge. Within Ajax there was a long-held view that he would go right to the top and Jonk tells an interesting story about the day he made that point to Nouri. The conversation came about after the one and only occasion that Jonk can remember Nouri being reluctant to play in a match. Looking back, Jonk suspects it had something to do with the fact that the youth fixture was straight after a Champions League under-19 game and that the midfielder would rather have been turning out for Jong Ajax at a higher level.

Either way, it was totally out of character for Nouri, who went on to play in the match and scored “an incredible goal” as well as setting up two others. A couple of days later, in the canteen at Ajax’s training ground, Nouri asked to speak to Jonk and apologised. The two embraced and Jonk, who left Ajax a couple of years ago, felt compelled to tell Nouri just how highly he rated him. “He hugged me,” Jonk recalls. “And I said: ‘Appie, just open your eyes. For me, with your skill and your ability, you are the new Iniesta.’”

The Guardian Sport



Marc Marquez Wins Italian Grand Prix to Delight Ducati Fans on Home Soil

MotoGP - Italian Grand Prix - Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero, Italy - June 22, 2025 BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP's Alex Marquez, Ducati Lenovo Team's Marc Marquez and Ducati Lenovo Team's Francesco Bagnaia in action during the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
MotoGP - Italian Grand Prix - Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero, Italy - June 22, 2025 BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP's Alex Marquez, Ducati Lenovo Team's Marc Marquez and Ducati Lenovo Team's Francesco Bagnaia in action during the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
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Marc Marquez Wins Italian Grand Prix to Delight Ducati Fans on Home Soil

MotoGP - Italian Grand Prix - Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero, Italy - June 22, 2025 BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP's Alex Marquez, Ducati Lenovo Team's Marc Marquez and Ducati Lenovo Team's Francesco Bagnaia in action during the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
MotoGP - Italian Grand Prix - Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero, Italy - June 22, 2025 BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP's Alex Marquez, Ducati Lenovo Team's Marc Marquez and Ducati Lenovo Team's Francesco Bagnaia in action during the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini

Ducati's Marc Marquez won the Italian Grand Prix after a dogfight for podium places at the Mugello Circuit on Sunday, taking the chequered flag ahead of his brother Alex to maintain his iron grip on the riders' championship.

Gresini Racing's Alex briefly led the race early on before Marc took control, while Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 Racing claimed third place after snatching the final podium spot from his Italian compatriot Francesco Bagnaia, Reuters reported.

Home favourite Bagnaia also led the race in the initial stages but the Italian, who had won the last three races at Mugello, was overshadowed by the Marquez brothers and could only finish fourth in front of his home fans.

Marc's victory was also the 93rd win of his career across all classes, matching his motorcycle number, and the Spaniard celebrated by planting a Ducati flag in front of the home fans who once saw him as a rival when he was with Honda.

"Amazing feeling... three Ducatis on the podium, to win here (at Mugello) in the red," said Marc, who now leads Alex by 40 points while Bagnaia is 110 points back in third.

"I already understood this morning that was super special for them, even for me, because I feel part of them. Super happy.

"We managed the race... I was calm and then when the tyres dropped a bit, I started to give everything. Happy to take the 37 points in this amazing weekend."

Fresh from claiming his historic 100th career pole with a blistering lap record and Saturday's unlikely sprint victory , Marc found himself locked in a fraternal battle with Alex -- a running theme this season.

The opening laps unfolded as a masterclass in close-quarter racing between the two factory Ducati machines -- their special Italian Renaissance livery flashing through Mugello's sweeping turns -- while Alex stayed on their tail.

HIGH-SPEED DRAMA

The crowd erupted when Bagnaia briefly snatched the lead from Marc after turn one but what followed was high-speed drama as they traded positions, occasionally making heart-stopping contact with each other.

Disaster nearly struck when Bagnaia, pushing his bike to the limit, touched Marc's rear tyre as he was forced to brake hard and surrender his position to Alex.

Fans in the grandstand witnessed a spectacular moment when all three riders thundered into turn one abreast, a three-wide gamble that saw Alex briefly seize control, drop to third on the brakes and then reclaim the lead moments later on the exit.

But Marc eventually broke free, leaving brother Alex to doggedly defend second position against a relentless Bagnaia.

However, the Italian did not have the late-race pace to catch up and he was soon forced to defend the final podium place, with Di Giannantonio looking to upstage his compatriot.

With two laps to go, Di Giannantonio made his move on turn seven as he squeezed past the twice champion and raced away to claim his first podium finish at Mugello.

"I knew that I had to risk a lot to take him but at the end, the last lap, I said, 'Okay, let's go for it,' and we've done it," Di Giannantonio said.

"My first podium in MotoGP Mugello, in front of this fantastic group of fans."