After spending his whole career in France, Morocco's striker Youssouf Hadji will take a new challenge as he signed a two-year contract with Qatari side Al-Arabi on Sunday.

The 32-year old striker held a meeting with the club's official on Sunday night that ended with the former Nancy, Bastia and Stade Rennais player inking the deal.

Hadji is set to be officially presented in a news conference in the next few days before joining the team's pre-season camp in Germany on 2nd of July.

"After consulting some friends, I preferred to join Al-Arabi in spite of having some European offers. It is a vastly popular club with big ambitions and I hope I would contribute to its success," Hadji told Qatari Sports Channel "Al-Dawry wa Al-Kaas" (the league and cup) after signing the contracts.

Hadji started his professional career at Nancy in 1998 then joined Bastia in 2003, Stade Rennais 2005 before returning to Nancy in January 2007. After playing there for five years he spent the last season at Stade Rennais scoring 8 goals in 33 games in all competitions.

At the end of his contract, Hadji was seeking a long-term deal but he couldn't find such an arrangement in Europe so he switched for the Gulf.

The younger brother of Morocco's legendary striker Moustapha has been a permanent feature for the Atlas Lions scoring 20 goals in 60 appearances since his debut in 2003. However, Coach Eric Gerets dropped him from his squad since Morocco's first round exit in the Africa Cup of Nations 2012.

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