Ali Benarbia ( ar, علي بن عربية; born 8 October 1968) is an Algerian former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
, he is a TV presenter for
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
Sports in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...
.
As a player he was a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
who notably spent time playing in
Ligue 1 and the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
between 1995 and 2003 playing with
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
,
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
,
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...
and
Manchester City. He also had spells with
Martigues
Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte.
A di ...
,
Al-Rayyan
Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...
and
Qatar SC
Qatar Sports Club ( ar, نادي قطر الرياضي) is a sports club based in Doha, Qatar. It is best known for its football team which competes in the Qatar Stars League. The club was founded in 1961 as a merger of two Qatari football clubs ...
. He was capped seven times by
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
between 2000 and 2001.
Benarbia is fondly remembered for his time at Manchester City, and was nicknamed "The Algerian Magician".
Early life
Ali Benarbia was born in
Oran, Algeria, with his family originating from
Sidi Bel Abbès
Sidi Bel Abbès ( ar, سيدي بلعباس), also called Bel Abbès, is the capital (2005 pop. 200,000)''Sidi Bel Abbes'', lexicorient.com (Encyclopaedia of the Orient), internet article. of the Sidi Bel Abbès wilaya (2005 pop. 590,000), Alger ...
. When he was only a year old, the family settled in south of France. It was not long before the young Ali started kicking a ball around on the streets.
Club career
Benarbia grabbed the attention of district side
ROC Narbonne at only 10 years and seven years later he signed for
FC Martigues
Football Club de Martigues, known as FC Martigues or just Martigues, is a French professional football club which plays in the Championnat National, the third level of football in France.
The club plays at the Stade Francis Turcan, which has a ...
. Encouraged by his father, Benarbia wanted to have a professional career in the game but knew that it would only come through hard-work. Playing in the youth team, Benarbia was quickly promoted to the first team in 1987 and went on to help the club into the French first division after winning the second division title in 1993. He was part of the side that was promoted to
Ligue 1 in 1993, operating as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
.
Monaco
After Martigues were relegated in 1995, Benarbia was signed by
AS Monaco
Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...
and two seasons later he helped the club to a league title. In season 1997–98, he was named Player of the Year in the France but still no call came from the French coach. Bénarbia had turned down several offers to play for his home country of Algeria, as he had always hoped to play for France. Benarbia also played in
Jean Tigana
Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former footballer and coach. He has played in midfield and managed professional football extensively throughout France, including 52 appearances and one goal for the France national football team ...
's talented Monaco side which famously put
Manchester United out of the
Champions League in 1998 on away goals after a 1–1 draw at
Old Trafford.
Bordeaux
After three seasons with AS Monaco, Benarbia moved to
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
for £1 million and helped the club, where
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
made his name to the league title. With Benarbia playing the best football of his career,
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...
tabled an offer of £2 million for the Algerian player only a month before the end of the season, the club accepted but the deal was kept quiet until Bordeaux had clinched the title.
Paris Saint-Germain
Benarbia was named captain of the PSG side, which featured Nigerian
Jay-Jay Okocha and later
Nicolas Anelka
Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional football manager and retired player who played as a forward. As a player, he regularly featured in his country's national team, often scoring at crucial moments. Known f ...
. The team failed to win anything, though they did manage to qualify for the second round of the
2000–01 UEFA Champions League
The 2000–01 UEFA Champions League was the 46th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the ninth since it was rebranded from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competiti ...
, finishing last in their group with
Deportivo de La Coruña
Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...
,
Galatasaray S.K. and
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...
.
Manchester City
Benarbia left France in 2001 and was signed on a free transfer by
Manchester City, whose manager
Kevin Keegan was familiar with him from when he scored two goals for Monaco against Keegan's
Newcastle United. He became a firm favourite amongst the supporters as City won the
First Division and promotion back to the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
, winning the club's player of the year award and being named in the select side for the Division. He was made captain the following season, although he found the pace of the Premier League harder and was much less influential in his second season. He played his final game in a City shirt in 2003 against
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Found ...
in a game to mark the opening of the
City of Manchester Stadium, before announcing his retirement.
Al-Rayyan
Only five days after this announcement, on 27 July 2003, Benarbia signed up to play for
Al-Rayyan
Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...
of Qatar. After two years with the club, he moved on to play for
Nadi Qatar before announcing his retirement a year later.
International career
Benarbia was first approached by the Algerian Football Federation in 1986.
In a rare interview with French website LeButeur published in 2009, Benarbia said that he never refused to play for Algeria.
He stated that he was unhappy with the lack of professionalism within the national team and wanted the Federation to provide assurances for professional footballers' safety. During the time of Benarbia's playing career, Algeria struggled with political situations such as the 1986 oil price collapse,
Black October and the
Algerian Civil War.
He made his début in a
2002 African Cup of Nations
The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. C ...
Group 4 qualifying game against
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...
in September 2000.
He represented Algeria a total of seven times, participating in; three World Cup qualifying games, two Africa Cup of Nations Cup qualifiers and two friendlies.
Honours
FC Martigues
*
Division 2:
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
Monaco
*
Division 1:
1996–97
*
Trophée des Champions
The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries.
His ...
:
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
Bordeaux
*
Division 1:
1998–99
Paris Saint-Germain
*
UEFA Intertoto Cup:
2001
Manchester City
*
Football League First Division:
2001–02
Individual
*
French Division 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
Player of the Year
Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award.
Association football
In association football, this award is he ...
: 1998–99
*
PFA Team of the Year First Division: 2001–02
*
Manchester City Player of the Year: 2001–02
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benarbia, Ali
1968 births
Living people
Footballers from Oran
Association football midfielders
Algerian footballers
Algeria international footballers
Algerian emigrants to France
Algerian expatriate footballers
Algerian expatriate sportspeople in France
Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in France
Expatriate footballers in Qatar
FC Martigues players
AS Monaco FC players
FC Girondins de Bordeaux players
Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. players
Qatar SC players
Ligue 1 players
Ligue 2 players
Premier League players
Qatar Stars League players