Boualem Khoukhi ( ar, بوعلام خوخي; born 9 July 1990) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Al Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the ...

in the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotio ...

. Born in Algeria, he is naturalized to represent the Qatar national team.

Club career

Youth career

A pure product of the

JSM Chéraga Jeunesse Sportive Madinet Chéraga ( ar, الشبيبة الرياضية لمدينة الشراقة), known as JSM Chéraga or JSMC for short, is an Algerian football club based in Chéraga, Algiers, Algeria. The club was founded in 1940 and its ...

junior ranks, Khoukhi made his debut for the senior team in the 2009–10 season. He struggled in his first season, but his career was soon revived when

Farid Zemiti Farid Zemiti (born 4 January 1961) is an Algerian football manager. References

1961 births Living people Algerian men's footballers NA Hussein Dey players Algerian football managers NA Hussein Dey managers MC Alger managers RC Arbaâ ma ...

was hired as the head coach of the club. He became integrated into the first team, playing alongside future Algeria international

Islam Slimani Islam Slimani ( ar, إسلام سليماني; born 18 June 1988) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Brest and the Algeria national team. Slimani began his career in his homeland with JSM Chéraga and C ...

, and many Algerian clubs were alleged to be interested in the services of Khoukhi, including

USM El Harrach Union Sportive de la Médina d'El Harrach ( ar, الإتحاد الرياضي لمدينة الحراش), known as USM El Harrach or simply USMH for short, is an Algerian football club based in El Harrach, Algiers. The club was founded in 1935 ...

. He soon received an offer from

Al Shamal Al Shamal ( ar, ٱلشَّمَال, Ash Shamāl) is a municipality in the state of Qatar. Its seat is called ''Madinat ash Shamal'' and it is considered to be one of the major cities in Qatar, although the population is barely over 8,000. The se ...

in Qatar, which he accepted. However, after landing in Qatar, Al Arabi head coach

Uli Stielike Ulrich "Uli" Stielike (born 15 November 1954) is a German former footballer and manager. Usually a central midfielder or sweeper, Stielike was well known for his stamina and footballing intelligence.Radnedge, Keir. (2004). The Complete Encyclope ...

believed Khoukhi had exceptional potential and offered him a trial at the club. He accepted the trial and was offered a contract deal shortly after.

Al Arabi (2009–2017)

Khoukhi soon earned a starting spot in Al Arabi's first team after his initial arrival in November 2009. On 5 September 2010, he started for Al Arabi in the final of the

2010 Sheikh Jassem Cup The 2010 Sheikh Jassim Cup was the 32nd edition of the league cup competition for football teams from Qatar. Umm-Salal were the defending champions. Round One Groups 14 clubs were drawn into 4 groups of 4 or 5 teams. The winners qualify for the ...

against

Lekhwiya Al-Duhail Sports Club ( ar, نادي الدحيل الرياضي), formerly Lekhwiya SC, is a Qatari sports club, best known for its football team, which plays in the Qatar Stars League. The club is based in the Duhail district in the city ...

, with Al Arabi winning 1–0. He received a loan offer from Saudi club Al Ittihad on 10 January 2014 after his performances in the WAFF Championship. He also received a transfer offer from Japanese side

Júbilo Iwata is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...

, a club coached by former Al Arabi coach

Péricles Chamusca Péricles Raimundo Oliveira Chamusca (born 29 September 1965) is a Brazilian Association football, football Coach (sport), manager who is the current manager of Saudi club Al Taawoun FC, Al-Taawoun. Early and personal life Chamusca and his broth ...

. These offers came after reports that Khoukhi was planning to leave Al Arabi. Shortly after allegations of planning to move to another club, he silenced the rumors by signing a contract renewal with Al Arabi.

Al Sadd (2017–present)

In July 2017, Khoukhi joined

. In July 2019,

Al-Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari multisports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Al Rayyan. It is best known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. It was estab ...

announced signing him on a four-year deal but Al Sadd denied the transfer.

International career

Algeria

Khoukhi was born and raised in Algeria. On 9 November 2010, Khoukhi was called up for the first time to the Algeria under–23 national team for a pair of friendlies against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. The

Qatar Football Association The Qatar Football Association ( ar, الاتحاد القطري لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Qaṭariyy li-Kurat al-Qadam) is the governing body of football in Qatar. President Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al-Thani is currently ...

attempted to naturalize Khoukhi shortly after he arrived in Qatar, however, he refused and said that he would not be naturalized for any amount of money. He stated his desire was to play with the Algeria senior national team. Subsequently, he received Qatari citizenship in order to assist in his club's foreign player quota.

Qatar

Despite his call up to Algeria's Olympic team, he was called up to the Qatar B team on 13 November 2013 by compatriot

Djamel Belmadi Djamel Belmadi ( ar, جمال بلماضي; born 25 March 1976) is a professional football coach and former player who manages the Algeria national team. As a player he was midfielder who had spells in Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain, Marse ...

. When questioned about Khoukhi's call-up to the squad, Belmadi said that Khoukhi was naturalized prior to his call-up in order for his team, Al Arabi, to overcome the foreign player quota. Belmadi stated he was surprised when the QFA revealed Khoukhi was eligible to be called up to the Qatar national team. He made his official debut for the team on 25 December in the 2014 WAFF Championship in a 1–0 win against

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. In the next match on 31 December 2013 against Saudi Arabia, who were fielding their Olympic squad, Khoukhi scored a brace and attained an assist to give his team a 4–1 win. On 4 January 2014, Khoukhi helped Qatar, once again, netting a brace against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

to send Qatar to the finals. In the final of the

2014 WAFF Championship The 2013 West Asian Football Federation Championship (marketed as Qatar 2013) was the 8th WAFF Championship, an international tournament for member nations of the West Asian Football Federation. The tournament was hosted by Qatar from 25 December ...

, Khoukhi scored another brace defeating Jordan 2–0. This would bring his final goal tally to six thus becoming the tournament's top goalscorer and being lauded by the

as one of the key-men to Qatar's

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

campaign in the future.https://www.facebook.com/theafcasiancup/posts/624246230956452:0?stream_ref=1 In their opening match of 2019 Copa America Khouki scored in Qatar's 2–2 draw with Paraguay.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Qatar's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

; Al-Arabi *

Sheikh Jassem Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup ( ar, كأس الشيخ جاسم) is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held i ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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 ...

;

Al-Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd (Qatar), Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, whic ...

: 2018–19,

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 ...

Qatar Cup The Qatar Cup is a tournament in men's football. It is played by the top 4 teams of the Qatar Stars League after each season. In 2013, the tournament was renamed Qatar Cup. Previous winners Top-Performing Clubs References External links ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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 ...

Emir of Qatar Cup Emir of Qatar Cup ( ar, كأس أمير قطر), also known as the Emir Cup, but changed to Amir Cup starting in 2019, is an association football tournament played every season by 18 first and second division teams. The most successful is Al Sad ...

Sheikh Jassim Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup ( ar, كأس الشيخ جاسم) is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held i ...

International

; Qatar B *

WAFF Championship The West Asian Football Federation Championship (), or simply WAFF Championship, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the g ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

;Qatar *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Gulf Cup of Nations The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nat ...

Individual

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

Qatar Stars League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khoukhi, Boualem 1990 births Living people Qatari footballers Qatar international footballers Algerian footballers Algerian emigrants to Qatar Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Al Sadd SC players People from Bou Ismaïl Naturalised citizens of Qatar Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar JSM Chéraga players Qatar Stars League players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Association football wingers AFC Asian Cup-winning players 2019 Copa América players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players FIFA Century Club