Karim
Ziani
Karim Koceila Yanis Ziani (Arabic: كريم زياني) (born 17 August 1982) is an Algerian professional footballer who is playing for Al-Arabi SC (Qatar). He has the talent to play in many different positions in midfielder, but he is best known for being a playmaker.
Ziani is considered to be a national hero by many Algerians, as it was his cross that led to the goal that put them into their
first World Cup competition since 1986 at the expense of bitter rivals Egypt.[2] He has participated in two continental tournaments 2004 Africa
Cup of Nations and the 2010 Africa
Cup of Nations, the latter in which
Algeria finished fourth, and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Overall he has participated in sixty-two official games
for the Algerian
national team, in which he has
scored five goals.
Personal life
Ziani was
born in Sèvres, France, to an Algerian father
from Béjaïa and a
French mother. Ziani is married and has 2 children: a girl, Lina, and a boy,
Kaïs.[3] Ziani
has a twin sister by the name of Karima who is married to fellow Algerian
international Antar Yahia.[4]
Characteristics
Though
diminutive in stature, Ziani more than makes up for his lack of physicality
with his outstanding technique and never-say-die spirit.
Club career
Ziani began
his football career in 1995 with the junior side at Racing Club de Paris at the
age of 13.[5]
Troyes
In 1998, he
was spotted by scouts from Troyes, he was
subsequently brought into the youth academy from RC Paris. Whilst playing
for the youth team there was a significant amount of keen admirers interested
in him. A number of clubs such as Lens and Nantes were
very keen on him. In 2001, having spent three seasons playing with the youth
team and because of the level of interest, the president of Troyes offered Ziani a
five-year deal, which in turn was his first professional contract. With Ziani
agreeing to a five-year deal, he was immediately promoted to the senior squad
by Alain Perrin at the
age of 17 and was assigned the number 17 shirt. He made his professional debut
on 8 December 2001 against SC Bastia coming
on as a substitute, replacing David Hamed in the
seventy-second minute of the game. After making a few substitute appearances,
he made his first start on 3 March 2002 in a 1–0 loss to Lille playing
the full length of the game. He played a total of 8 games in the 2001–02
season. He became more of a regular in the 2002–03 season as he participated in
a total of 24 games. After subsequently spending two seasons playing for Troyes in Ligue 1, the club was
relegated to Ligue 2 at the
end of the 2002–03 season. Whilst in Ligue 2, during the
2003–04 season, Ziani played 28 games in total and scored his first
professional goal against FC Rouen, in the 9th
minute with the score ending 3–0. He spent the following season mostly on the
bench for Troyes and with interest from
other clubs being shown, Troyes had
decided to part ways with Ziani. Turkish club Rivaspor had made a bid but could
not negotiate a contract with Ziani, as Ziani had put in a condition which
Rivaspor rejected. Ziani revealed the condition merely as having Madjid Bougherra have a
trial with the club to display his qualities as they had both travelled to
Turkey and Ziani would have liked a compatriot with him at the club as he was
only 19 at the time. When Rivaspor rejected the condition, both Ziani and
Bougherra left Turkey together.[6]
Lorient
In the
summer of 2004, Ziani was loaned out to FC Lorient. In the
next two seasons he would become Lorient's top
player and would lead them to promotion toLigue 1. He was
voted as the top player in Ligue 2 for
the 2005–06 season.
Sochaux
In the
summer of 2006, he signed a three-year deal with FC Sochaux and
reunited with his first coach at Troyes Alain Perrin.
Olympique de Marseille
The
following summer, Ziani saw increasing attention from other French clubs,
namely Olympique de
Marseille. This interest culminated on 29 June 2007, when
news broke that Ziani had finalized his move to Marseille for a transfer fee of
$11 million. Karim scored his first goal with Marseille in a match against
Valenciennes. He has since then become a familiar face in Eric Gerets' starting
eleven.[7]
Wolfsburg
It was
announced on July the 7th 2009 that Karim Ziani had signed for €10 million
signing a four-year contract with the Bundesliga champions VfL Wolfsburg. Armin
Veh the Wolfsburg coach had been a keen admirer of the player and was delighted
to have obtained the player's services, in a statement released by the club's
website Armin Veh said
"I'm delighted we were able to sign Ziani, He fits in well with our team
and will help us achieve our goals".[8]
During
December 2010 and January 2011, a number of clubs showed interest in signing
Ziani, these were Newcastle United, Everton, Birmingham
City, AS Monacoand VfB Stuttgart.[9] On 14
January 2011, it was reported that Ziani had moved to Turkish high-flyers
Kayserispor on an initial six-month loan deal, with an option to sign him
permanently at the end of the season.[10]
On 8 July
2011, Wolfsburg and Ziani reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract.
El Jaish
On 20 July
2011, Ziani signed a three-year contract with Qatari club El Jaish.[11] On 18
September 2009, Ziani made his Qatar Stars League debut
for El Jaish as a starter in a league game against Al Khor.[12] Although
he failed to find the net in his first season, he finished the 2011–12 season
as the top assistant with 13 assists.[13]
International career
Ziani made
his debut for the Algerian
national team in 2003 when he was
called up by Belgian caretaker Georges Leekens for a
friendly against Belgium. He was a member of the Algerian 2004 African
Nations Cup team, who finished
second in their group in the first round of competition before being defeated
by Morocco in the quarter-finals. He was also named in the Team of the
Tournament at the 2004 African
Nations Cup. Karim Ziani scored his first
goal for Algeria against
Gambia with a penalty in a 2008 African
Nations Cup qualifier, Algeria won
1–0. Ziani then added two more goals to his tally in a 2010 World Cup against Liberia. Algeria won
the game 3–0. Ziani was also the artist of the recent Algerian team
performances during the final phase of the 2010 FIFA
World Cup qualification together with 2010 African
Cup of Nations.
Honours
·
Algerian Ballon d’Or (Ballon d’Or El Haddaf): 2006,
2007
·
Coupe de France: 2007 (FC Sochaux-Montbéliard)
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