Badredine Bouanani (born 8 December 2004) is a 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 le ...

currently playing as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

on loan from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. Born in France, he plays for the Algeria national team.

Club career

Born in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

, France, Bouanani started his career with local side US Ronchin before joining

in 2011. Having progressed through the youth ranks, he was named by English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as one of the best players born in 2004 worldwide in October 2021. During his time with Lille, he was seen as the best player to come through their academy since

Eden Hazard Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Known for his creativity, dribbling, passing and vision, Hazard is considered o ...

. In April 2022, it was rumoured that Bouanani would sign for

when his contract with Lille expired. In July of the same year, he made the switch to Nice. On 31 January 2024, Bouanani signed for

until the end of the season.

International career

Bouanani has represented France at under-16, under-18 and under-19 level. He is Algerian by descent and, after scoring for the France under-18 team in a 3–2 win over

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, he caused controversy by stating "Je suis Algérien" (I am Algerian), despite deciding to represent France at youth level. Since this remark, he has opted to choose the Algerian national team and was called up to the main team in March 2023 He made his full debut for Algeria on 23 March 2023, and provided the assist for

Riyad Mahrez Riyad Karim Mahrez ( ar, رياض كريم محرز, Riyāḍ Karīm Maḥraz; born 21 February 1991) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger for club Manchester City F.C., Manches ...

’s winning goal in a 2–1 victory over

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesMediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

Gold medal:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouanani, Badredine 2004 births Living people Footballers from Lille Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent Men's association football forwards Championnat National 3 players Ligue 1 players Lille OSC players OGC Nice players FC Lorient players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for France Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2022 Mediterranean Games