Mohamed Chalali (born 4 April 1989) is an Algerian footballer. He plays for

FC Versailles 78 Football Club de Versailles 78 also known as FC Versailles or simply Versailles is a French semi-professional association football club based in the commune of Versailles, Île-de-France. The club was formed in 1989 as the result of a merger betw ...

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 ...

Personal

Chalali was born in

Montreuil-sous-Bois Montreuil (), sometimes unofficially referred to as Montreuil-sous-Bois (), is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris in Seine-Saint-Denis. With a population of 109,914 as of 2018, Montreuil is ...

, Paris, to Algerian parents. His family is originally from the village of Ighil Ouantar, in the Seddouk District of Béjaïa.

Club career

France

Chalali began his career with CA Romainville before he was scouted in summer 2003 from Le Havre AC. He made his

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

debut on 2 November 2007, coming on as a substitute against

EA Guingamp En Avant Guingamp (, en, Forward Guingamp), commonly referred to as EA Guingamp, EAG, or simply Guingamp (), is a professional football club based in the commune of Guingamp in France's Brittany region. The club was founded in 1912 and play in ...

. On 15 July 2009 he agreed a contract with

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 ...

Greece

On 23 August 2010, Chalali signed a three-year contract with Greek club

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

, joining them on a free transfer from Châteauroux. He made 12 league appearances for the club, 5 of which were as substitute.

Scotland

The 2011 Greek riots motivated Chalali to seek a move abroad, and former

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

defender and fellow Algerian

Majid Bougherra Madjid Bougherra ( ar, مجيد بوقرة, lit=, links=, translit=; born 7 October 1982) is an Algerian football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the manager of the Algeria A' national team. Bougherra began his p ...

recommended that he consider playing in Scotland. On 23 August 2011, Chalali signed for

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' ...

club Aberdeen. He had been recommended to Aberdeen manager Craig Brown by former

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

colleague Youl Mawene, and had impressed during a trial earlier in the same month. Brown said Chalali had been the most impressive of all the trialists at the club in the 2011 summer transfer window, including Icelandic international Kari Arnason and former Dutch under-21 Maceo Rigters. On the same day, despite having gone without sleep the previous evening to return to Greece to retrieve transfer-related paperwork, Chalali made his debut for Aberdeen as a second-half substitute in a

2011–12 Scottish League Cup The 2011–12 Scottish League Cup was the 66th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition, the Scottish League Cup, also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup for sponsorship reasons. It was won by Kilmarn ...

win against

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. He was assigned squad number 18 for the 2011–12 Scottish Premier League season, and made his league debut, also as a substitute, in a 2–0 defeat away to Rangers on 28 August 2011. He made his first start for the club in an Aberdeenshire Cup semi-final fixture against

Deveronvale Deveronvale Football Club are a senior association football club currently playing the Highland Football League in Scotland. They were founded in 1938 and play their football at the Princess Royal Park in the town of Banff, (formerly Banffshir ...

the following day. He scored his first goals for the club on 13 September 2011 in a testimonial match against Highland League side

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

, where he got a double and created another in a 6–0 victory. His first league start came in a 2–2 draw against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

on 17 September 2011. He scored his first league goal for Aberdeen at Tannadice against Dundee United, scoring the equaliser to make it 1–1, in a game which Aberdeen went on to win 2–1. In the same week he scored his second competitive goal for Aberdeen, in a 4–0 win in the Scottish Cup against Forfar. Near the end of the 2011–12 season, Chalali was advised that his contract with Aberdeen would not be extended.

Algeria

On 10 August 2012, Chalali signed a two-year contract with

Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 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 ...

club ES Sétif.

International career

Chalali has three caps with the Algerian Under 20 National Team. On 12 October 2010, Chalali made his debut for the Algerian Under-23 National Team in a 1–0 friendly win over Qatar. He went on to become captain of the U-23 side. In August 2011, he informed Aberdeen that he was likely to feature in 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 ...

, a tournament that also serves as the qualification process for the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, and that he had ambitions to represent the full national side in the qualifiers for the

2012 African Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football ( ...

. On 16 November 2011, he was selected as part of Algeria's squad for the 2011 CAF U-23 Championship in Morocco.EN U23 : Les 21 joueurs sélectionnés
DZFoot, 16 November 2011.

References

External links

Mohamed Chalali profile at Aberdeen F. C.

LFP Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalali, Mohamed Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's under-23 international footballers Le Havre AC players 1989 births French people of Kabyle descent Ligue 2 players Living people Panionios F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Super League Greece players Scottish Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland ES Sétif players Ligue 1 players Kabyle people Algeria men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards LB Châteauroux players AC Boulogne-Billancourt players FC Versailles 78 players Algeria men's international footballers Algerian expatriates in Greece Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players JS Kabylie players JSM Béjaïa players US Lusitanos Saint-Maur players