Adel Taarabt was born on 24 May 1989 in Taza, Morocco, and grew up in France, where he was formed at Lens. He moved to England with Tottenham Hotspur in 2007 and made his name at Queens Park Rangers, winning promotion to the Premier League and being named Championship Player of the Year, with subsequent loans at Fulham and AC Milan.

He joined Benfica in 2015, but a difficult period followed, including a loan to Genoa and then a spell out of the first-team picture in which he played for Benfica B. He returned to the senior side in March 2019 and rebuilt his career as a deeper-lying creative midfielder. On 24 October 2020 he renewed his contract until 2023. In 2020/21 he was a regular in Jorge Jesus's midfield, one of the side's main sources of control and passing. In 2021/22 his involvement was more limited, with injuries and squad changes reducing his playing time.

He left Benfica in September 2022 for Al Nasr in the United Arab Emirates, and later played for Sharjah. He is a Morocco international.