Mohamed Bradja (born 16 November 1969) 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 ...

who played as a centre-back. Born in France, at international level he represented

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, participating at the 2002 African Cup of Nations.

Club career

Born in

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

, Bradja began playing football at his hometown club. Due to the lack of stability after the bankruptcy of Troyes Aube Football, he left in 1986 to join

US Valenciennes Valenciennes Football Club (; commonly known as Valenciennes or USVA) is a French association football club based in Valenciennes. The club was founded in 1913 and currently play in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Valenciennes pla ...

as a trainee. After two seasons, failing to win a professional contract, Bradja returned to Troyes and to the newly created

Troyes AC Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a French association football club, based in Troyes, who play in Ligue 1, the highest level of France's football league system, and plays its home matches at the ...

, at regional level. He helped the club in achieving promotions from National 2 to

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 ...

in only six years. He gained a professional contract with the club, and, three years after, secured the promotion of the club to the French top flight,

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 ...

, for the first time in almost 20 years. Even if he played less during the next seasons, he kept his place in the first team. With Troyes, he also played European football, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2001 by beating Newcastle United. He ended his career at the end of the 2002–03 season, when Troyes finished bottom of the Ligue 1 and were relegated to

. He also captained the team on several occasions. He was nicknamed "Momo".

International career

Bradja represented

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at international level. He played in a 4–1 loss against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In 2002, he participated at the African Cup of Nations. In total, he made ten appearances.

Coaching career

One of the longest servants of the club, he was offered several roles in the technical staff after his retirement. He was a scout for the club, before being appointed first-team coach during the management of

Ludovic Batelli Ludovic Batelli (born 24 May 1963 in Lens, Pas-de-Calais) is a French football manager and former professional goalkeeper who manages SC Toulon. Under his management, the France national under-19 team won their 9th European U-19 title, defeating ...

. He was once again assistant manager after the comeback of

Jean-Marc Furlan Jean-Marc Furlan (born 20 November 1957) is a French football manager and former player who played as a defender. Club career Born in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Furlan started his career at Bordeaux, where he signed his first professional contract i ...

in 2010. In December 2015, he became interim manager after Furlan's dismissal.

Honours

Troyes * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001

References

External links

* * *
Biography at Troyes AC official site
* Living people 1969 births Footballers from Grand Est Sportspeople from Troyes Association football central defenders French footballers Algerian footballers Algeria international footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent 2002 African Cup of Nations players ES Troyes AC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Algerian football managers French football managers ES Troyes AC managers {{Algeria-footy-defender-stub