Karim Aït-Fana ( ar, كاريم ايت-فانا; born 25 February 1989) 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
striker
Striker or The Strikers may refer to:
People
*A participant in a strike action
*A participant in a hunger strike
*Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant
*Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America
People wi ...
. Having represented his birth country of France at various youth levels, he made three appearances for the
Morocco national team.
Aït-Fana can play in a variety of attacking positions, which include playing
in the hole
This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries.
...
, as a winger, and in the
attacking midfield
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
position. Aït-Fana's father is from
Azrou and his mother is from
Meknes.
Club career
Montpellier
Aït-Fana was born in Limoges and began his career playing for his local club, Air Limoges. At the age of thirteen, he was selected to attend the Centre fédéral de préformation de
Châteauroux, a regional youth academy that is comparable to that of the
Clairefontaine academy, in order to receive further training. While training at Châteauroux during the week, he played with hometown club Limoges FC on the weekends. After spending two years at the academy, he joined
Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
.
Aït-Fana made his professional football debut on 12 May 2006, the final match day of the
2005–06 season, coming on as a late-match substitute playing nine minutes in a 1–0 loss to
Le Havre. The
following season, his playing time increased to 13 matches. He also scored his first goal during this season on 27 April 2007 against
LB Châteauroux
La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (), commonly referred to as La Berrichonne or simply Châteauroux, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Châteauroux. The football team is a part of a sports club that consists of seve ...
in a 3–1 defeat. Aït-Fana's role in the team was greatly expanded for the
2007–08 season as he appeared in 37 total matches. He scored his only two goals for the season in the final league match of the season against
FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin
Football Club Libourne, formerly known as AS Libourne or Libourne Saint-Seurin-sur-L'Isle, is a French football team from the town of Libourne in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The club plays in the Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of French football. ...
, which Montpellier won 5–0.
Montpellier earned promotion to Ligue 1 following the club's successful campaign during the
2008–09 season with Aït-Fana having an influential role. He scored a career-high six goals during the campaign including the winner against
Guingamp late in the season with the club in the midst of a promotion battle. Due to his successful season, Aït-Fana was given a contract extension with the club until the year 2012. In his first season with Montpellier in Ligue 1, Aït-Fana was a revelation in the team, which reached as high as second position in the league. He has scored impressive goals against
Sochaux,
Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
,
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
, and
Marseille. Montpellier went undefeated in the five league matches Aït-Fana has scored in.
In Montpellier's last home game of the
2011–12 campaign, Aït-Fana scored a last minute goal in a 1–0 win over
Lille after coming off the bench.
Nîmes Olympique
Consolat GS
In early January 2018, Aït-Fana left
Championnat National side
GS Consolat
GS may stand for:
Businesses and organizations
* Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest global investment banks
* Global Star Software, a former Canadian video game publisher
* GS (Swedish union), a trade union in Sweden
* GS Group, a Korea ...
.
Wydad Casablanca
In late January, Aït-Fana joined reigning
African champions Wydad AC, agreeing a 1.5-year deal.
In August 2018 he revealed that few days after signing the contract, he learned that his contract was not certified for an administrative history and he then went back to France.
Gallia Lucciana
In January 2019, Aït-Fana joined Gallia Club Lucciana in the
Championnat National 3
The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...
.
International career
Aït-Fana has been active on the
international youth circuit for
France. He has earned limited caps with the under-16s, under-17s, under-18s, and the under U-19 squad. After not representing France for over a year and a half, it was speculated that he would follow in the footsteps on fellow French-born Moroccan
Marouane Chamakh and play for
Morocco, his country of origin.
However, on 1 October 2009, he was called up to the
France under-21 team by coach
Erick Mombaerts
Erick Mombaerts (born 21 April 1955) is a French Association football, football manager and former player.
Playing career
Mombaerts is a youth product of INF Vichy. He went on to play for US Nœux-les-Mines, Nœux-les-Mines and Montluçon Footb ...
for their
matches against
Malta on 9 October and
Belgium on 13 October. He made his debut in the Malta match appearing as a substitute in the 76th minute. Despite being on the pitch for mere seconds, he scored France's second goal of the match ensuring them a 2–0 victory.
Aït-Fana made his debut with the national team of Morocco in a friendly match against Senegal held on 25 May in Marrakech.
Personal life
Aït-Fana is
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
.
Career statistics
Club
Honours
Montpellier
*
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 ...
:
2011–12
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ait-Fana, Karim
Living people
1989 births
French Muslims
Moroccan Muslims
Sportspeople from Limoges
Men's association football midfielders
French men's footballers
Moroccan men's footballers
Naturalized citizens of France
French sportspeople of Moroccan descent
Montpellier HSC players
Nîmes Olympique players
Athlético Marseille players
Wydad AC players
Ligue 1 players
Ligue 2 players
Championnat National players
Footballers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine