Karim Benyamina ( ar, كريم بن يمينة; born 18 December 1981) is a former 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

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 ...

. Born in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, he represented the Algeria national team twice internationally.

Club career

Union Berlin

On 26 September 2009, Benyamina scored a goal in a league game against

Rot Weiss Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated ...

becoming the top scorer in the history of

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Union Berlin () or Union Berlin, is a professional German football club in Köpenick, Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweid ...

with 78 goals in 161 matches in all competitions. On 7 April 2011, Benyamina announced that he would be leaving Union Berlin at the end of the season, after being at the club for six years. He is the all-time top scorer in the club's history with 87 goals in all competitions, with his number 22 jersey retired until someone breaks his goal scoring record.

FSV Frankfurt

On 27 May 2011, Benyamina signed a two-year contract with

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

International career

On 30 October 2010, Benyamina was called up to the Algeria national team 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.

for a friendly against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. On 17 November 2010, he made his debut for Algeria as a starter against Luxembourg before being subbed off in the 80th minute. In doing so, he became the first German-born player to play for Algeria.

Personal life

Karim's younger brother Soufian is also a professional footballer, currently playing for Greifswalder FC.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benyamina, Karim 1981 births Living people German people of Algerian descent Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's international footballers 1. FC Union Berlin players SV Babelsberg 03 players Berliner AK 07 players FSV Frankfurt players Karlsruher SC players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Men's association football forwards FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin players Footballers from Dresden