Mehdi Abeid ( ar, مهدي عبيد; born 6 August 1992) 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

midfielder 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 ...

for

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

club

Khor Fakkan Khor Fakkan ( ar, خَوْر فَكَّان, Khawr Fakkān) is a city and exclave of the Emirate of Sharjah, located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), facing the Gulf of Oman, and geographically surrounded by the Emirate of Fuja ...

and the Algeria national team.

Early life

Abeid was born in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, to Algerian parents from

Aïn Témouchent Aïn Témouchent ( ar, عين تموشنت) is a city in north western Algeria, it is the capital of Aïn Témouchent Province. Ain Temouchent is located 72 km south-west of Oran, a city with which it is closely associated, and 63 km w ...

, Algeria.

Club career

Lens

Abeid joined

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

in 2003 and was part of the academy team for eight years before he left to join

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

.Mehdi Abeid
FootballDatabase.eu, 27 September 2011.

Newcastle United

Abeid joined Newcastle United on 25 May 2011, signing a five-year contract. Following his transfer, he stated: : "After eight fantastic years at Lens, I have stagnated. I needed a change of air. I am not afraid to leave for abroad, I have had contact dating back some time and I visited the facilities there last week. I even trained with the reserve team. The leaders of the club told me about their plans and that they will rely on me for next season. For my part, I intend to give everything to develop in the Premier League. I already discussed things with

Cheick Tioté Cheick Ismaël Tioté (; 21 June 1986 – 5 June 2017) was an Ivorian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. After playing youth football for FC Bibo in his hometown of Yamoussoukro, he made his professional debut in 2005 ...

and they encouraged me and welcomed my signature". Abeid made his debut for Newcastle United in a pre-season friendly against

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, which was followed by a pitch invasion, which caused the game to be delayed for ten minutes. On 20 September 2011, Abeid made his official debut for the club as a starter against

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 ...

in the third round of the

2011–12 Football League Cup The 2011–12 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. Birmingham City w ...

. He scored his first goal in a 1–1 draw against Turkish side Fenerbahçe on 21 July 2012.

Loan to St Johnstone

On 31 January 2013, Abeid went on loan to

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

side

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

until the end of the season.

Loan to Panathinaikos

On 30 July 2013, Abeid signed a one-year loan deal with

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

. He scored his first goal in a match against

Veria Veria ( el, Βέροια or Βέρροια), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of I ...

. He went on to help his team achieve third place, three points behind runners-up PAOK. He contributed with seven goals and five assists in 28 appearances, being the team's second-highest goalscorer of the season. On 26 April 2014, he helped Panathinaikos win the

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 im ...

, their first since 2010. He then helped his team win the Greek play-offs for the Champions League by scoring two goals in four games.

Return to Newcastle United

On 1 November 2014, three years after he signed for the club, Abeid made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut for Newcastle United, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. He suffered a fractured toe while on international duty with

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

in mid-November.

Panathinaikos

On 18 August 2015, Abeid joined Panathinaikos for an undisclosed fee. His excellent performance during the season was a passport to be called up in Algeria squad ahead of

African Cup The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

qualifiers against

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

on 25 and 29 March 2016.

Dijon

On 30 August 2016, the second spell of Abeid with Panathinaikos was officially terminated, since the Algerian international central midfielder joined

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; literally "Dijon Football Gold Coast"), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in ...

. The 24-year-old former player of Newcastle United, who failed to repeat the impressive performances of 2013–14 season after his return to the Greens at summer of 2015 and was not in manager

Andrea Stramaccioni Andrea Stramaccioni (; born 9 January 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player who last managed Qatari club Al Gharafa. A football coach with experiences as a youth coach of Roma and Inter Milan, he was put in charge of first tea ...

's plans, signed a three-season contract with the french club, while Panathinaikos kept a percentage of his rights, in order to make some profit in case of a future transfer.

Nantes

In July 2019, Abeid joined Dijon's

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 ...

rivals

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, a ...

on a free transfer following the expiration of his Dijon contract. He reportedly agreed a three-year deal with Nantes.

Al-Nasr

In late January 2021, Abeid joined

club Al-Nasr for a fee of £1.35m.

International career

In 2009, Abeid was a member of the France national under-17 team at the

2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the eighth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship since it was renamed from the original under-16 event, in 2001. Germany hosted the championship, during 6 to 18 May 2009, in thir ...

in Germany. He played in all three of France's group games, starting two of them. He has also been capped at under-16 and under-18 level. In September 2011, Abeid said that he was considering an offer to switch allegiance and represent Algeria at under-23 level. On 30 September, sports daily Le Buteur announced that Abeid had spoken to Algeria's under-23 coach Azzedine Aït Djoudi and confirmed that he would be joining the team for a training camp in October. On 8 October, he started for the team in a friendly against

USM Alger Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger ( ar, الإتحاد الرياضي لمدينة الجزائر); known as USM Alger or simply USMA for short, is a football club based in the inner suburbs of Algiers. The club was founded in 1937 and its co ...

. On 13 November, he made his official debut as a starter in a 2–0 win against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. On 16 November, he was selected as part of Algeria's squad for the

2011 CAF U-23 Championship The 2011 African U-23 Championship was the first edition of the football tournament for players under 23 years. It was originally scheduled to be hosted by Egypt from 26 November to 10 December 2011. However, less than two months prior to the sta ...

in Morocco. In November 2014, Abeid received his first international call-up to the senior team for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against

and

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 ...

. A fractured toe ruled him out of selection for both games. In June 2015, he made his full international debut, coming on as a substitute for the last 5 minutes of a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Panathinaikos *

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 ...

Algeria *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

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 ...

References

External links

Profile
at the official

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Abeid, Mehdi Living people 1992 births Footballers from Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's under-23 international footballers Algeria men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Newcastle United F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Dijon FCO players FC Nantes players Al-Nasr SC (Dubai) players Khor Fakkan Club players Championnat National 2 players Scottish Premier League players Super League Greece players Premier League players Ligue 1 players UAE Pro League players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Algerian expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Algerian expatriate sportspeople in England Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Algerian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates French sportspeople of Algerian descent