Abdel Slem Billel Omrani ( ar, عبد السلام بلال عمراني; born 2 June 1993) 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 ...

who plays 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

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

club FCSB. A product of the

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

academy, Omrani made his

Ligue 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 ...

debut for the club in 2011. He amassed ten games for the first team and had a loan stint at Arles-Avignon, before moving to Romania with CFR Cluj in 2016. In the latter country, Omrani won seven domestic trophies and was named the league's Foreign Player of the Year in 2019. He moved to rivals FCSB on a free transfer in 2022. Born in France, Omrani represented the nation at under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels. In June 2022, he switched his allegiance to

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

by making his full debut in a 2–1

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

win over

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Club career

Early career / Marseille

Omrani joined the youth system of

in 2007, after spells with two amateur clubs in the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

area. On 19 March 2011, he agreed to a three-year professional contract with the

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...

side. Omrani was subsequently promoted to the senior squad by manager Didier Deschamps for the 2011–12 season, being assigned the number 25 shirt. He made his senior debut by coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute for

Alou Diarra Alou Diarra (born 15 July 1981) is a French former professional footballer. He was a France international from 2004 until 2012. As of the 2022–23 season, he is the manager of Troyes' under-19 side in the Championnat National U19. He primari ...

in a 1–1

draw with

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

, on 2 October 2011.

CFR Cluj

Omrani moved abroad for the first time by signing a contract with Romanian team CFR Cluj in September 2016. On the 17th that month, he recorded his debut and scored in a 5–0

thrashing of Voluntari. Omrani totalled nine goals from 31 appearances in all competitions during the following season, as "the White-Burgundies" won the national championship. On 8 July 2018, amid rumours regarding a transfer to title contenders FCSB, CFR announced that he penned down a three-year contract extension. Six days later, Omrani obtained the

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

from which

Emmanuel Culio Juan Emmanuel Culio (born 30 August 1983) is an Argentine former professional footballer. He is one of the most successful foreign players who had ever played in Liga I in Romania. In this regard, he had won 6 championships, all with CFR Cluj. ...

scored the only goal of the

2018 Supercupa României The 2018 Supercupa României was the 20th edition of the Supercupa României, the annual super cup in Romania. The game was contested by the winners of the previous season's Liga I and Cupa României competitions, CFR Cluj and Universitatea Crai ...

win over Universitatea Craiova. In 2019, Omrani was linked with a move to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

after netting against them twice in the third qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, but nothing came of it. That year, he was handed the Foreign Player of the Year award by the ''

Gazeta Sporturilor ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' ( en, The Sports Gazette) is a daily Romanian newspaper, and the country's largest and most read sports-related publication. It is owned by Ringier Sportal S.R.L—a joint venture of Ringier Romania S.R.L. and the Bulgarian ...

'' daily. Omrani left

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in the summer of 2022, after aiding the team in winning five national titles and two supercups during his six-year stint.

FCSB

On 13 September 2022, Omrani continued in Romania and its Liga I by signing a one-year contract with the option of another two years with FCSB.

International career

France

Omrani is a former France youth international, having represented the country at under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels. With the under-17 side, he played at the 2010 UEFA European Championship.

Algeria

Omrani was also eligible to represent

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

, and in October 2011 was called up to the under-23 team to participate in the

matches ahead of the 2011 CAF Championship. However, the report of the call-up was deemed erroneous due to a misunderstanding between the team's coach and the Algerian media; the latter assumed the coach was calling up Omrani, when he was in fact calling up another French-born player who was also featuring for Marseille. In February 2013, Omrani was invited by the Algeria under-20 national team coach

Jean-Marc Nobilo Jean Marc Nobilo (born 27 July 1960) is a French football coach. Nobilo first started his career as a player at amateur level (French 3rd division). After a brief coaching career at SC Hazebrouck, he became a coach on the Reunion Island at ...

to be a member of the squad for the 2013 African Championship, but declined the offer. In May 2022, he received his first call-up to the Algeria senior team for the 2023 AFCON qualification matches against

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. He made his debut on 12 June, coming on for

Rachid Ghezzal Rachid Ghezzal ( ar, رشيد غزال; born 9 May 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş and the Algeria national team. He began his career at Lyon, where he made his debut in October 2012. H ...

in the 71st minute of a 2–1

win against

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 coun ...

Personal life

Omrani's elder brother Abdelhakim also played professional football in Romania for

Dunărea Călărași Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See ...

, and his elder sister

Yasmina Yasmin is usually a feminine given name, sometimes also a surname. Variant forms and spellings include Yasemin, Yasmeen, Yasmina, Yasmine, and Yassmin. Etymology ''Yasmin'' () is the Persian name for the flowering plant jasmine, from whi ...

was an international heptathlete.Abdelhakim Omrani : « Mon choix est déjà fait, c’est l’Algérie ! »
. ''La Gazette Du Fennec''. Retrieved on 2013-07-02.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Marseille *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

: 2011–12 * Trophée des Champions:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Marseille B * CFA 2 — Group Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur-Corsica:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

CFR Cluj *

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

; runner-up:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual *''

'' Foreign Player of the Year in Romania: 2019

References

External links

* * *
Marseille official profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omrani, Billel 1993 births Living people People from Forbach Sportspeople from Moselle (department) Footballers from Grand Est French sportspeople of Algerian descent French footballers Algerian footballers Citizens of Algeria through descent Association football forwards Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Olympique de Marseille players AC Arlésien players Liga I players CFR Cluj players FC Steaua București players France youth international footballers Algeria international footballers French expatriate footballers Algerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Romania French expatriate sportspeople in Romania Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Romania