Essaïd Belkalem ( ar, سعيد بلقالم, lit=, translit=, links=; born 1 January 1989) is a former Algerian 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 played as a defender.

Club career

In 2008, Belkalem was promoted to the

JS Kabylie Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (in ar, شبيبة القبائل), (Kabyle language, Kabyle: Ilemẓiyen inaddalen n leqbayel, Berber languages, In Tamazight: ⵉⵍⵎⵣⵢⵏ ⵉⵏⴰⴷⴰⵍⴻⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵇⵠⴰⵢⵍ), known as JS Kabyli ...

senior team from the club's junior ranks. In the 2009–2010 season, Belkalem made 20 appearances, scoring one goal. On 18 July 2010, Belkalem scored JS Kabylie's only goal in the win over Egyptian club

Ismaily Ismaily Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الإسماعيلي الرياضي) is an Egyptian professional football club, established on 20 March 1921 as El Nahda Sporting Club ( ar, جمعية نهضة الشباب المصري ) ( Egyptian pronunci ...

in the group stage of the

2010 CAF Champions League The 2010 CAF Champions League was the 46th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 14th edition under the current CAF Champions League format. The winner, TP Mazembe q ...

with a header in the 75th minute. In February 2013, with his contract expiring in June, Belkalem said that he would be leaving JS Kabylie at the end of the season to join a European club.

Granada

In June 2013, with his contract with JS Kabylie expired, it was announced that Belkalem had signed a five-year contract with Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

, joining them on a free transfer.

Watford

Belkalem signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

on a season-long loan on 12 August 2013. He wore the number 5 shirt. He made his debut for Watford in their 2–0

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

victory over

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

on 28 August 2013, playing the full 90 minutes. His league debut came in a 1–1 draw at home to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on 14 September 2013. Watford exercised the right to make Belkalem's move a permanent one following the expiry of his loan, joining on an undisclosed deal in June 2014. On 10 August 2016, Belkalem was released from his contract at Watford, after playing 10 times in three years.

Trabzonspor (loan)

After moving to Watford permanently in the summer of 2014, Belkalem made the move to Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

on a season-long loan deal linking up with former Algeria coach

Vahid Halilhodžić Vahid Halilhodžić (; born 15 October 1952) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the most controversially successful Bosnian football managers, due to his successful tenure in coaching various na ...

. Having made 16 appearances in the league, eight in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, scoring three goals, Belkalem finalised his loan spell at Trabzonspor on 2 June 2015.

JS Kabylie

On 15 January 2018, after six months without a contract, Belkalem returned to his former club

International career

In 2007, Belkalem was called up to the Algerian U20 national team for the first edition of the ''Mediterranean Trophy'' held in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In 2008, he started in a

2009 African Youth Championship The 2009 African Youth Championship is a football tournament for under 20 players. It was held in Rwanda from 18 January until 1 February 2009. It also served as qualification for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Qualification Preliminary round ...

qualifier against Mauritania. In August 2009, Belkalem received his first call-up to the Algeria Under-23 national team for a week-long training camp in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. In 2010, he was called up to the Algeria A' national team for a qualifier against Libya. On 12 May 2012, Belkalem was called up for the first time to the Algeria national team for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualifiers against

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

and

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, and the return leg of the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

qualifier against

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

. On 9 September, he made his debut for the team as a starter in the first leg of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations second round qualifier against

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

. Belkalem played the entire match as Algeria went on to win 1–0. On 31 May 2014, Belkalem played an

International Friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, he scored his first international goal, he scored the first goal of the match between his team

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

against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and Algeria won the match by the score of 3–1. Belkalem was later included in Algeria's squad for the

, helping them to the Round of 16 for the first time.

Honours

In 2009, Belkalem was chosen as the third best young talent in the

Algerian Championnat National The Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 ( ar, الرابطة الجزائرية المحترفة الأولى لكرة القدم); known as Championnat National de Première Division or Ligue 1 for short, and formerly known as the Championnat Natio ...

behind

Abderahmane Hachoud Abderahmane Hachoud ( ar, عبد الرحمن حشود; born July 2, 1988, in El Attaf) is an Algerian professional football player who plays for ES Ben Aknoun. Club career Hachoud began his career as a forward in the junior ranks of MC Alger, ...

and

Youcef Ghazali Youcef Ghazli (born July 29, July in London, England) ( ar, يوسف غزالي) is an Algerian footballer striker. He currently plays for CR Belouizdad in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1. Honours * Won the Algerian First Division once wit ...

in a vote conducted by DZFoot.Espoir DZfoot 2009 : Hachoud n'a pas fini d'étonner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belkalem, Essaid 1989 births Living people People from Mekla Kabyle people Algerian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Algeria men's international footballers Algeria men's A' international footballers Algeria men's youth international footballers Algeria men's under-23 international footballers 2011 African Nations Championship players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players English Football League players Süper Lig players Ligue 2 players JS Kabylie players Granada CF footballers Watford F.C. players Trabzonspor footballers US Orléans players Algerian expatriate men's footballers Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Algerian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Algerian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey