Revealed during his team's relegation, the right winger knew how to stand out. Despite remarkable performances, he still shines in the second division. Far from complaining, he savors every moment. He told AD: “I know I can play in the Eredivisie with my fingers in my nose. […] But I won't sign somewhere just to sign. FC Volendam is the club where I spent the most time as a professional footballer. Here I feel trust, warmth, appreciation, and enjoyment. […] »
Volendam represents much more than just a club to him. It has been a refuge since the end of 2021 and the club that supported him through the ordeal. It was he himself who consulted, alerted by persistent pain: “ […] I had a big blockage in my back, and I felt like something was really wrong. Finally, I ordered an MRI myself, and it turned out that I had a five-centimeter tumor in my spinal cord. »
Read: Moroccan player Bilal Ould-Chikh operated on for a tumor
The announcement was a shock. Football then took a back seat. “The feeling you have at that moment, I can't describe it. […] Football becomes totally insignificant. » Then, the emergency operation: “Everything went so quickly […] I was lucky enough to be taken care of by the “Ferrari of surgeons”. »
After a gradual convalescence, he returned to the field. “At first I was wondering: how am I going to recover from this? […] There, we say to ourselves: I can still play. We don't believe it. “, he remembers. Today he is back, liberated and grateful. The illness has transformed his outlook on things: “I see everything as a bonus now. […] I'm so grateful […] ».
Too strong for D2, he aims to climb the Eredivisie with Volendam: “Everyone wants to move up. To be a champion, even. […] If we don't do this, it will be a collective failure. » A departure is not excluded, but above all he wants to finish the season in style. “ […] Finishing here with promotion, and preferably a championship title, would be the pinnacle. »
Bilal Ould-Chikh learned a valuable lesson from this ordeal: live in the present moment. “I don’t look too far ahead anymore. It's no use. […] I live day by day and enjoy every moment. »
