Stéphane Ziani (born 9 December 1971) is a French 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 defensive midfielder with scoring ability. Following his career as a player, he managed

FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin Football Club Libourne, formerly known as AS Libourne or Libourne Saint-Seurin-sur-L'Isle, is a French football team from the town of Libourne in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The club plays in the Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of French football. ...

(2008) and Fujairah SC (2016).

Club career

A product of

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 ...

's renowned youth system, Ziani was a key member for hometown squad from an early age, having represented the side on two separate stints: from 1991 to 94 and from 2000 to 2004. As a holding midfielder, he scored 11

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

goals for RC Lens in 1997–98 for his first national championship, also achieved in 2001 with Nantes (the latter of which he contributed 31 appearances). With Nantes he also won the

2001 Trophée des Champions The 2001 Trophée des Champions was a football match held at Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg on July 19, 2001, that saw 2000–01 Division 1 champions FC Nantes defeat 2000–01 Coupe de France winners RC Strasbourg 4-1. Match details S ...

. Ziani retired in 2006, having also represented SC Bastia, Stade Rennais F.C.,

FC Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde (de ...

, Deportivo de La Coruña,

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the S ...

and AC Ajaccio.

Managerial career

On 11 December 2008, he was sacked as manager by

Personal

Ziani's father is of

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

n origin, hailing from the Kabyle city of Bejaia.

References

External links

* * Living people 1971 births Kabyle people French people of Kabyle descent Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers FC Nantes players SC Bastia players Stade Rennais F.C. players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players RC Lens players Deportivo de La Coruña players La Liga players Servette FC players Swiss Super League players AC Ajaccio players Ligue 1 players French football managers Footballers from Nantes French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland French expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland {{france-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub