Sofyane Cherfa ( ar, سفيان شرفة; born 13 August 1984) is an Algerian 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, France, Cherfa played youth football with

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

, but only appeared for its

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

as a senior. After playing with

CS Louhans-Cuiseaux Louhans-Cuiseaux Football Club is a football club located in Louhans, France. History The club was founded in 1970 as ''Club Sportif Louhans Cuiseaux 71'' after the merger of ''Club Sportif Louhannais'' (founded in 1916) and ''Club de Cuiseaux'' ...

in the lower leagues he signed with

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 ...

club

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

in the summer of 2007, before going on to represent also in the competition

CS Sedan Ardennes Club Sportif Sedan Ardennes, commonly referred to as CS Sedan or simply Sedan (), is a French association football club based in Sedan. The club was formed in 1919 and plays its home matches at the Stade Louis Dugauguez located within the cit ...

and

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 ...

Omonia

In 2011, Cherfa joined

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia ("Harmony"; also trans ...

in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, after fellow league side

Ermis Aradippou FC Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Second Division. Ermis' greatest success came ...

did not have the financial means to complete the transfer. He scored his first goal as a professional on 29 October of that year in a 2–0 away win against

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia ( el, Ολυμπιακός Λευκωσίας, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a football club based in Nicosia, Cyprus and competes in the Cypriot First Division. The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the Cy ...

, and also contributed with six appearances in the season's

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

, which ended in conquest as in the previous year. In the 2012 summer

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, after being deemed surplus to requirements, Cherfa was loaned to

Panthrakikos F.C. Panthrakikos Football Club ( el, Α.Π.Σ. Πανθρακικός) is a Greek football club based in Komotini, Thrace in North Eastern Greece founded in 1963. The club competed in Super League Greece during the 2008–09 season for the first time. ...

from Greece. At the end of the campaign he returned to Omonia, who had just lost fellow stoppers Christos Karipidis and

Savo Pavićević Savo Pavićević (Cyrillic: Саво Павићевић, ; born 11 December 1980) is a Serbian-born Montenegro, Montenegrin retired Association football, football Defender (association football), defender. Club career Pavićević, after playing f ...

to other clubs, but Panthrakikos contested that the agreement ended sooner than it should have. After failing to negotiate a new contract with a smaller wage, due to Omonia's financial situation, Cherfa was made to train alone, and was eventually linked to

OFI Crete F.C. OFI Crete Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Όμιλος Φιλάθλων Ηρακλείου 1925, ''Club of Fans of Heraklion 1925''), is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, on the island of Crete. It is a par ...

even though the former stated it did not have the intention of releasing him. After the team failed to perform in their

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

campaign, both defensively and overall, a new round of talks started, and he eventually put pen to paper to a new three-year deal.

Later years

On 15 January 2016, four days after being released by Panthrakikos, Cherfa signed a two-year contract with

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

n club

CS Constantine Club Sportif Constantinois ( ar, النادي الرياضي القسنطيني), also known as CS Constantine or simply CSC for short, is an Algerian football club based in Constantine, Algeria. The club was founded in 1898, and its colours are ...

. Two years later, the

free agent 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 ...

agreed to a one-year deal at Italian amateurs Abano Calcio. Cherfa returned to the Cypriot top level on 27 July 2018, joining

Alki Oroklini Alki Oroklini is a Cypriot football club based in Oroklini. The team was founded as ''Omonia Oroklinis'' in 1979. Omonia had one participation in the Fourth Division. In 2014 the team changed their name to Alki Oroklini, when business man Andy L ...

for one season. On 18 August 2019, he joined

Akritas Chlorakas Akritas Chlorakas ( el, Ακρίτας Χλώρακας) is a Cypriot football club based in Chloraka, Paphos. The club was founded in 1971, and currently plays in the Cypriot First Division. Akritas' colours are green and white, and they play ...

International career

In April 2005, Cherfa was called up to the Algerian under-23 team for a mini training camp in France.

Personal life

Cherfa's younger brother,

Walid Waleed (), also spelt as Walid, Oualid, or Velid, is an Arabic-language masculine given name meaning ''newborn child''. Given name Waleed *Waleed Ali, Kuwaiti footballer *Waleed Aly, Egyptian-origin Australian journalist *Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibr ...

, was also a footballer. A defender, he too played most of his career in France.

Club statistics

Honours

Omonia *

: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cherfa, Sofyane 1984 births Living people French sportspeople of Algerian descent Footballers from Toulouse Algerian footballers French footballers Association football defenders Ligue 2 players Championnat National players AS Monaco FC players Louhans-Cuiseaux FC players Stade de Reims players CS Sedan Ardennes players LB Châteauroux players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players Alki Oroklini players Super League Greece players Panthrakikos F.C. players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players CS Constantine players Algerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Italy Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Greece