Fatima Tagnaout

Fatima Zahra Tagnaout (فاطمة الزهراء تاكناوت; born 20 January 1999) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Sevilla FC and the Morocco women's national team.

Early life
Originally from the Tata region, Tagnaout was born in Casablanca.

After having spent a long time around boys, and playing with the AJS club in Sidi Maârouf, she received offers to participate in detection days in Rabat where she quickly integrated into the AS FAR women's team.

Club career
Tagnaout has played for AS FAR in Morocco since she was 15. She has won 8 Championships and 6 Throne Cups.

Tagnaout played in the inaugural CAF Women's Champions League which took place in Egypt in 2021. She participated in all of the games. She recorded a goal in the third-place match and provided several assists throughout the tournament. She was named to the Team of the Tournament.

She was chosen by the CAF Awards Committee as a finalist for the African Club Player of the Year 2022 but did not win the award.

Morocco hosted the 2022 CAF Women's Champions League. AS FAR won the final match at the expense of the defending champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, with a score of 4-0. Tagnaout scored the first goal on a penalty kick and received a yellow card. Throughout the tournament, Tagnaout had three goals and three assists. She was named Best Player and to the Team of the Tournament.

On 14 November 2023, Tagnaout was nominated for the 2023 African Player of the Year and 2023 Interclub Player of the Year by CAF. A month later, she won the Women's Interclub Player of the Year award.

Morocco U-17
Tagnaout played for the Morocco U-17 women in the African qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Morocco U-20
Tagnaout played in a number of matches with the Morocco U-20 national team, including African qualifiers for the 2018 U-20 Women's World Cup. After eliminating Senegal in the first round, Morocco lost in the second round to Nigeria. The score was 1-5 and the only goal for Morocco was scored by Tagnaout.

She participated in December 2019 in a UNAF U-20 Tournament in Algeria where she played two matches against Burkina Faso and Algeria.

Senior team
Tagnaout has capped for Morocco at senior level. She was first called up to play for the national team in 2018. She registered her first two international goals on 31 January 2020 in a friendly against Tunesia. In September 2021, she participated in the Aisha Bukhari cup, during which she scored a goal against Cameroon in the 78th minute.

She was chosen by Reynald Pedros to play in the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations. She participated in all matches and was awarded the title of Woman of the Match for the match against Senegal. Morocco finished as runners-up.

She was selected as part of Morocco's 2023 Women's World Cup squad. She started all three games of the group stage.

Career statistics
International goals

Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first

Honours
AS FAR
 * Moroccan Women's Championship (8): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
 * Moroccan Women Throne Cup (7): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
 * UNAF Women's Club Tournament (1): 2021
 * CAF Women's Champions League (1): 2022; third place: 2021, 2023

Morocco
 * Women's Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 2022
 * UNAF Women's Tournament: 2020

Individual
 * Women's Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2022
 * CAF Women's Champions League Best Player: 2022
 * CAF Women's Champions League Team of the Tournament: 2021, 2022, 2023
 * IFFHS CAF Women's Team of The Year: 2022, 2023
 * CAF Women's Inter-Club Player of the Year: 2023
 * CAF Women's Team of the Year: 2023