Excelsior Born in
Rotterdam, Netherlands, El Hamdaoui went through the youth academy of
Excelsior Rotterdam, where he played together with his youth friends
Robin van Persie and
Saïd Boutahar. In the
2001–02 season the player made his debut for the Rotterdam side under manager
Adrie Koster, scoring two goals in six appearances. El Hamdaoui played a total of 74 league matches for Excelsior, scoring 32 goals. Excelsior big brother
Feyenoord was also interested in signing the player, and El Hamdaoui trained a number of times with Feyenoord's first squad, but a transfer was never realised. He never made an appearance in the
Premier League.
Derby County In September 2005 El Hamdaoui joined
Derby County on loan. He made six appearances, scoring two goals before a dislocated shoulder forced the loan to be cut short. Derby continued to monitor his progress and in January 2006 he returned to
Pride Park for another loan spell. This too was to be disrupted due to injury, a groin problem forcing him to return to Tottenham in early March. This second loan deal was not cancelled, but after returning to duty with Derby in April, a further injury problem prematurely ended his season.
Willem II In June 2006, El Hamdaoui moved back to his native Netherlands to play for Willem II, due to a lack of opportunities at Spurs. On 19 August 2006, he marked his league debut for Willem II by scoring in their 2–1 victory against
FC Utrecht. After an impressive start scoring three goals in four matches he again suffered an injury which prevented him playing for nine months. El Hamdaoui only played seven competitive matches for the
Tilburg side, scoring three goals. In his second season at the Willem II, he left the club after two league matches to join
AZ.
AZ On 31 August 2007, El Hamdaoui signed with
AZ Alkmaar until 2011 as a replacement for
Danny Koevermans who left for
PSV Eindhoven. On 16 September 2007, he scored on his debut for AZ in a league match against
Sparta Rotterdam. By the end of his first season at AZ, he had scored 7 goals in 23 league matches. The
2008–09 season proved to be an excellent one for El Hamdaoui and AZ. He scored in the first game of the season against
NAC Breda, although AZ lost 2–1. By the winter break, he had scored 16 goals in 17 league matches, including a hattrick against his old club Willem II. At the winter break, AZ was leading the league table, and El Hamdaoui was leading the goal-scoring charts. By the end of the season, AZ had won the second championship in their history, and El Hamdaoui was the top scorer in the Eredivisie, with 23 goals in 31 matches, one more than Ajax's
Luis Suárez. He was also named the
Dutch Footballer of the Year. At the beginning of the
2009–10 season, there were a lot of changes at AZ. Manager
Louis van Gaal had departed the club to go to
FC Bayern Munich, and was replaced by
Ronald Koeman. Defending champions AZ had a bad start to the season, although El Hamdaoui still managed to score 9 goals in 11 matches by the winter break. AZ found themselves in eighth place with 28 points in 20 matches, 24 points behind leaders
PSV. Just before the winter break, Koeman was fired and veteran manager
Dick Advocaat was brought in to take over.
Russia manager Advocaat stated that he expected at least 15 or 16 goals from the player, El Hamdaoui stated ''"Advocaat knows what he's talking about, I think. It gives me confidence, I know what I can do."''
Ajax On 30 July 2010, El Hamdaoui signed a four-year deal with
Ajax, rejoining with his former Spurs manager
Martin Jol. El Hamdaoui marked his league début for Ajax with two goals against
Groningen on 8 August 2010. He scored a goal in the
play-off round second leg of the
2010–11 UEFA Champions League against
Dynamo Kyiv, helping Ajax win 2–1 on aggregate and ending a five-year drought from this competition. He scored his first Champions League goal with his new club, netting the opener against
Milan, with the game ending 1–1. During the
2010–11 season, El Hamdaoui fell out of favour with manager
Frank de Boer following a dispute. De Boer, discontent with his performance despite a goal, substituted El Hamdaoui at half-time in the semi-final of
KNVB Cup against
RKC Waalwijk. In August 2011 manager
Frank de Boer confirmed interest from
Premier League club
Blackburn Rovers for El Hamdaoui. As the season went on, more European clubs were reported to be interested in El Hamdaoui, including
Galatasaray and
Espanyol. At the end of the transfer window El Hamdaoui stayed at Ajax but did not play any part in the
2011–12 season due to his troubled relationship with De Boer. He played matches with
Jong Ajax and while he was listed in the squad registered for the Champions League group stages, along with
Ismaïl Aissati, who had been demoted to the second string at the beginning of the season as well, neither of them made any appearances or played any part in the competition.
Fiorentina In July 2012, El Hamdaoui finally left
Ajax and signed with
Fiorentina receiving the number 9 shirt and signing a three-year deal. On 11 November 2012 he scored his first goal in Italy in a 3–1 victory away to
Milan. On 14 December 2014, El Hamdaoui scored in his first appearance of the season coming on as a substitute in the 85th minute in a game against
Cesena. His contract with Fiorentina expired at the end of the 2014–15 season.
Loan to Málaga El Hamdaoui joined
La Liga club
Málaga on loan in August 2013. On 15 September 2013, he scored a
hat-trick against
Rayo Vallecano in a 5−0 home win. In December 2019 he was removed from first-team contention, which according to head coach
Bernd Schuster was due to weight issues.
Later career After having previously practiced with Excelsior, he began a trial at his former club AZ on 13 September 2015. There, he signed a contract for the remainder of the season on 20 October 2015. However, he left AZ again in January. In January 2016, El Hamdaoui signed with Qatari club
Umm Salal. Seven months later he joined
Al-Taawoun, the number four of the
Saudi Professional League in the previous season. After El Hamdaoui became a free agent in May 2017, he practiced at AZ to stay in shape. He practiced with
Jong FC Twente in January 2018. He played a friendly match with
Twente on 14 January and signed a six-month contract with the club three days later. He suffered relegation with the Eredivisie club at the end of the season. In September 2018, El Hamdaoui signed a contract with Excelsior until the end of the 2018–19 season. With that club, he was also relegated. In August 2019, El Hamdaoui continued his career with
Al-Kharaitiyat, who played in the second-tier of Qatar. In October 2020, he joined
DHSC, competing in the Dutch fifth tier
Hoofdklasse, after
Wesley Sneijder who was involved in the club, asked him to join. He made his debut for the club on 13 October in a 5–5 draw in the
KNVB District Cup to
VV Jonathan from
Zeist, also scoring a goal in the 49th minute. DHSC subsequently lost the penalty shootout. Ahead of the match, the amateur divisions had been suspended due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, making the match his first and last appearance for the club for a while. On 2 October 2021, he scored his first goal in the Hoofdklasse in a 3–1 loss to
ARC. El Hamdaoui left DHSC in June 2022, and initially joined
SteDoCo, before cancelling his contract in August 2022 to pursue a career as a
football agent for youth players of
AZ Alkmaar. ==International career==