Career
Early career
El Ghazi began his football career in the youth ranks of his local club BVV Barendrecht, joining the youth academy of Feyenoord for two seasons. He then joined the ranks of Spartaan "20, before getting recruited to Sparta Rotterdam where he progressed through the academy. In 2013 he joined the Ajax Youth Academy, playing for the First Rate (at Lloyd's) selection (under-19), competing in the Union of European Football Associations Youth League for Ajax.
AFC Ajax
El Ghazi was signed by AFC Ajax in July 2013.
During the 2014-2015 pre-season, El Ghazi scored eight goals in 150 minutes. The top scorer of the preparation period was intended to play for the reserves team Jong Ajax, but due to his performance was listed for the first team of Ajax following the loan of winger Lesley de Sa to Go Ahead Eagles.
He made his official debut for Ajax in the 2014 Johan Cruijff Schaal against Pedernales Electric Cooperative Zwolle, coming on for Ricardo Kishna in the 1–0 loss at home He made his regular season debut for Ajax in the 2014-2015 season opener against Vitesse. The match ended in a 4–1 home victory, with El Ghazi providing the assist for the fourth goal by Lasse Schöne in the 87th minute.
He scored his first goal in the Union of European Football Associations Champions League on 22 October 2014 at Camp Nou, in the 88th minute of the 3–1 loss to Football Club Barcelona.
He was the first player to score at Camp Nou since the beginning of the 2014-2015 season, when Barcelona went five matches at home without conceding a goal. Having dual citizenship, El Ghazi is eligible to represent both the Netherlands as well as Morocco at senior level He made his international debut playing for the Netherlands under-18 side in a friendly match against Austria U-18 on 15 October 2012, which ended in a 2–0 loss.
El Ghazi met Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid during the summer break, a player who he looks up to and asked him whether he should choose between the Netherlands and Morocco.
Ronaldo advised him to choose for the Netherlands since he has a higher chance to participate at an international tournament based on their history. As a result, El Ghazi mentioned that he will choose to represent the Netherlands and was called up for two Union of European Football Associations Euro 2016 qualifying games in October 2015.
El Ghazi directly made his way into the starting line-up for the Netherlands in those two matches, though it was not enough to qualify for EURO 2016.