El Arabi Hilal Soudani ( ar, العربي هلال سوداني; born 25 November 1987) is an 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 ...

who plays as a forward for Damac and the Algeria national team. Soudani made his international debut in 2010, and featured at the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, 2015 and

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editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, as well as the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. As of November 2019, he has won 52 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and scored 23 goals, making him Algeria's sixth-highest goalscorer in history.

Club career

ASO Chlef

Born in

Chlef Chlef ( ar, الشلف, Berber: Clef) is the capital of Chlef Province, Algeria. Located in the north of Algeria, west of the capital, Algiers, it was founded in 1843, as Orléansville, on the ruins of Roman ''Castellum Tingitanum''. In 1962, i ...

, Soudani began his career in the junior ranks of his hometown club

ASO Chlef Association Sportive Olympique de Chlef ( ar, الجمعية الرياضية أولمبي الشلف), known as ASO Chlef or simply ASO for short, is an Algerian football club based in Chlef, founded in 1947. The club colours are red and white. ...

. In May 2006, aged 19, he made his first team debut for the club as a substitute against

USM Annaba Union Sportive Médinat d'Annaba ( ar, الإتحاد الرياضي لمدينة عنابة), known as USM Annaba or simply USMAN for short, is an Algerian football club based in Annaba. It was founded in 1983 and its colours are red and white. ...

in the 28th round of the 2005–06 Algerian Championnat National, coming on for Samir Zaoui in the 72nd minute. In 2008, Soudani was chosen as the 2008 Young Player of the Year by DZFoot after scoring 11 goals in 24 games in the 2007–08 season. In June 2011, Soudani went on trial with French Ligue 2 club

Le Mans FC Le Mans Football Club (; commonly referred to as Le Mans FC, formerly referred as Le Muc) is a French association football club based in Le Mans. The club was founded in 1985 as a result of a merger under the name Le Mans Union Club 72. In 2010 ...

Vitória de Guimarães

On 8 August 2011, Soudani signed a three-year contract with Portuguese club

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

. The transfer fee was rumoured to be €800,000. On 25 August 2011, Soudani made his official debut for Vitória as a 66th-minute substitute in a

2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round This article details the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round. All times are CEST ( UTC+02:00). Round and draw dates All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Play-off round Teams Below are the 76 teams involved in the p ...

match against Atlético Madrid. On 16 October 2011, Soudani opened his scoring account for the club with a brace in the third round of the

2011–12 Taça de Portugal The 2011–12 Taça de Portugal (also known as the 2011–12 Taça de Portugal Millenium) was the 72nd season of the Taça de Portugal (English: ''Portuguese Cup''), the premier Portuguese football knockout competition, organized by the Portugu ...

against Moura Atlético Clube. After trailing 1–0, Soudani scored the equaliser in the 89th minute of the match to send the match to extra-time, before scoring the winner in the 117th minute. On 1 April 2012, he scored his first goal in the Primeira Liga in a 3–1 win against

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

. On 21 April, he scored a brace in a 3–2 win against

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

. On 26 May 2013, Soudani helped Vitória win their first ever

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

by beating Benfica 2–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, scoring the equalising goal in the 79th minute before Ricardo Pereira scored the winner two minutes later. The following day, he travelled to Croatia to complete a medical ahead of a transfer to

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

Dinamo Zagreb

On 27 May 2013, Soudani signed a four-year contract with Croatian champions

after the club paid a €900,000 transfer fee for his services. On 6 July 2013, Soudani won the

Croatian Supercup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the tw ...

with Dinamo against Hajduk Split, also making his debut for Dinamo in the match. He made his Croatian First Football League debut six days later, scoring in a 3–1 win over Osijek. He then scored twice and assisted another goal in Dinamo's 5-0 win over Fola Esch in

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 competi ...

qualifying. Soudani won the Croatian league championship, scoring 16 goals and finishing third in the Golden Boot race behind Dinamo teammates

Andrej Kramarić Andrej Kramarić (; born 19 June 1991) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Bundesliga club 1899 Hoffenheim and the Croatia national team. Kramarić started his football career in his hometo ...

(18) and Duje Čop (22). In the 2014–15 season, Soudani scored a hat-trick against

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

in the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was ...

group stage. He won his second league championship with Dinamo, scoring 11 goals and assisting 15 in the league, and won his first Croatian Cup. Soudani's Dinamo completed the league and cup double again in the 2015–16 season, however the player himself had a less successful season, battling injuries and form and finished with eight goals and four assists in the league. In the 2016–17 season, Soudani's 95th minute extra time goal against Red Bull Salzburg sent Dinamo through to the group stage of the

2016–17 UEFA Champions League The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pl ...

. Despite finishing second in the league behind Rijeka — the first time Dinamo had not won the league in 10 seasons — Soudani achieved a career-best 17 goals in the league.

Nottingham Forest

On 29 June 2018, Soudani joined English club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on a three-year contract for an undisclosed transfer fee. In the opening four matches of the season, Soudani scored twice before he injured his knee. In October, Soudani then incurred a serious injury to his leg which kept him out of play for the remainder of Nottingham's season.

Olympiacos

On 18 June 2019, Soudani joined Greek club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

on a permanent transfer. By mid-November 2019, despite not being in manager Pedro Martins' plans at the beginning of the season, he had made his way into the starting 11 with a series of good performances. In 532 minutes of play, he scored five goals and contributed one assist and was the team's leading scorer in Super League Greece. On 20 February 2020, in a 1–0 victory against Atromitos, Soudani sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury which was forecast to keep him out of action for at least six months. On 25 January 2021, after being deemed surplus to requirements by Martins, he was released by mutual consent, six months before the official expiry of his contract.

International career

In February 2011, Soudani was selected by head coach

Abdelhak Benchikha Abdelhak Benchikha (born November 22, 1963) is an Algerian football manager, currently in charge of Mouloudia Oujda. Personal Benchikha was born on November 22, 1963, in the Soustara neighborhood of Algiers.

as part of the Algerian A' national team for the

2011 African Nations Championship The 2011 African Nations Championship was the second edition of the African Nations Championship tournament. Each participating nation was represented mostly by players who play in their respective local divisions. The competition was hosted in ...

in Sudan. In the opening group stage match, against

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

, Soudani started and scored a goal in the 61st minute as Algeria won 2–0. In the second group match, against

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

, Soudani scored a brace with goals in the 71st and 90th minute of the match in a 2–2 draw. Despite not scoring in the remainder of the competition, Soudani finished as one of the top scorers in the competition with three goals. On 14 May 2011, Soudani was called-up by

to the Algeria national team for the first time for a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. On 4 June 2011, he made his debut as a substitute for

Rafik Djebbour Rafik Zoheir Djebbour (Arabic: رفيق جبور; born 8 March 1984) is a retired professional footballer who played as striker and winger. Born in France, he represented Algeria at international level. Club career Auxerre Born in Grenoble, F ...

in the 79th minute of the match.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Soudani goal.'' ;Algeria A'

Honours

ASO Chlef * Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1:

2010–11 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. ...

Vitória Guimarães *

Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18 * Croatian Cup: 2015,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

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 Unit ...

Croatian Super Cup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...

Olympiacos * Super League Greece: 2019–20 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

: 2019–20 Algeria *

FIFA Arab Cup The FIFA Arab Cup ( ar, كأس العرب, translit=Kaʾs al-ʿArab), or simply Arab Cup, is an international association football competition which has been organized by FIFA since 2021, and is contested by the senior men's national teams of ...

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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Individual * Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 Footballer of the Year:

* DZFoot Young Player of the Year: 2008 *

DZFoot d'Or The DZFoot d'Or is a football award, created in 2000 by the Algerian football website DZFoot.com, the leading source of Algerian football news. The award is given annually to the Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthograph ...

: 2013 *

Football Oscar The Football Oscar ( hr, Nogometni Oscar) is an annual football award given by the Croatian Association Football Union and Sportske novosti since 2013. In the 2017 edition the award was renamed as Trophy Footballer ( hr, Trofej Nogometaš). It is aw ...

: Best Prva HNL player 2018 * Football Oscar Team Of The Year: 2014, 2017, 2018 *

Prva HNL Player of the Year (Tportal) The Prva HNL Player of the Year award ( hr, Najbolji igrač Prve HNL) is an annual association football award given by the Croatian web portal Tportal.hr. It is awarded to the best football player who plays in the Prva HNL (or "1. HNL"), Croatian t ...

: 2017 *

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship (french: Championnat d'Afrique des Nations; abbreviated as CHAN), known as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsorship purposes, is a biennial African national association football tourname ...

top scorer: 2011 (three goals) * Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 top scorer:

(18 goals) * Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers Top scorer:

(seven goals) * Croatian First Football League top scorer: 2017–18 (17 goals) * Croatian First_Football League top assists: 2014-15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soudani, Hillal 1987 births Living people People from Chlef Algerian footballers Association football forwards Association football wingers Algeria international footballers Algeria A' international footballers 2011 African Nations Championship players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Primeira Liga players Croatian Football League players English Football League players Super League Greece players Saudi Professional League players ASO Chlef players Vitória S.C. players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players Al-Fateh SC players Damac FC players Algerian expatriate footballers Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Croatia Algerian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia 21st-century Algerian people