Moussa Saïb (born 6 March 1969) is an Algerian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player. He is currently

unattached In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, after last managing

JS Kabylie Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (in ar, شبيبة القبائل), (Kabyle language, Kabyle: Ilemẓiyen inaddalen n leqbayel, Berber languages, In Tamazight: ⵉⵍⵎⵣⵢⵏ ⵉⵏⴰⴷⴰⵍⴻⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵇⵠⴰⵢⵍ), known as JS Kabyli ...

in the

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 career

Saïb started his football career with a club from the west of Algeria called (Jeunesse Sportive de Tiaret) then he moved to JSK and helped them to win the

African Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

in 1990. In 1992, he joined French club

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

for an undisclosed fee. In May 1997,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

coach

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

tried to buy him along with Swiss center back Murat Yakın in what would have been a "sensational" £7 million deal; however the deal did not succeed and Saib instead joined Spanish club

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

for £3 million. In 1998, he joined struggling English club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

for £2.3 million, thus becoming the first Algerian to play in the

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 ...

. He helped Tottenham avoid relegation by scoring the sixth goal in their penultimate game of the 1997–98 season against

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, which ended 6–2.

International career

He played as a midfielder and was captain of the Algerian national team in the early 1990s. the team won the 1990

African Nations 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 ...

Coaching career

On 18 August 2007, Saïb was appointed manager of Algerian team

. In June 2008, after steering the team to the Algerian league title, Saïb left to take charge of Saudi Arabian team Al-Watani. On 27 June 2011, he was appointed as manager of

for the second time. On 1 September 2011, JS Kabylie president

Mohand Chérif Hannachi Mohand Chérif Hannachi (2 April 1950 – 13 November 2020) was an Algerian football player and chairman of Algerian club JS Kabylie. He was the team chairman since his election in 1993. Hannachi died on 13 November 2020, in Algiers at the age ...

announced that Saïb was relieved from his duties as manager of the club.

Honours

As player

JS Kabylie *

: 1990 * Algerian League: 1990, 2004 *

Algerian Cup The Algerian Cup ( ar, كأس الجزائر) also known the Republic Cup ( ar, كأس الجمهورية), is a football competition in Algeria, pitting regional teams against each other. It was established in October 1962, three months after in ...

: 1992 * Algerian Super Cup: 1992 Auxerre * French League: 1996 *

French Cup The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professiona ...

: 1994, 1996 Lorient *

: 2002 Tottenham Hotspur *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 1999 Al Nassr *

FIFA Club World Championship The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

participation:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

International *

African 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 ...

: 1990 *

Afro-Asian Cup of Nations The Afro-Asian Cup of Nations, also called the AFC Asia/Africa Challenge Cup, was an intercontinental football competition endorsed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), contested between repr ...

: 1991 Individual *

DZFoot d'Or The DZFoot d'Or is a football award, created in 2000 by the Algerian football website DZFoot.com, the leading source of Algerian football news. The award is given annually to the Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthograph ...

: 2003 * Algerian Ballon d'Or: 2004Official Le Buteur Ballon d'Or website

As coach

JS Kabylie * Algerian League: 2008

References

External links

Article on Saib in ''Mehstg'' magazine
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saib, Moussa 1969 births Living people Kabyle people Association football midfielders Algerian footballers Algeria international footballers Algerian expatriate footballers Premier League players La Liga players Ligue 1 players AJ Auxerre players Valencia CF players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players AS Monaco FC players FC Lorient players Al Nassr FC players Dubai CSC players JS Kabylie players 1990 African Cup of Nations players 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players Algerian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Algerian expatriate sportspeople in France Algerian expatriate sportspeople in England Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco 2000 African Cup of Nations players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Monaco Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Algerian football managers JS Kabylie managers Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia People from Tissemsilt Province ASO Chlef managers JSM Tiaret players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Saudi Professional League players UAE Pro League players 21st-century Algerian people Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Saudi Professional League managers