Youcef Touati (29 March 1989 – 16 March 2017) was an Algerian 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

Club career

Youth career

Born in Saint-Denis, Touati began his career bouncing around the junior ranks of several different clubs: ''ES Paris'', Red Star 93,

CS Sedan 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 ci ...

and

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade Ch ...

. In 2005, at age 16, he joined the

Amiens SC Amiens Sporting Club (; commonly referred to as Amiens SC or simply Amiens) is a French association football club based in the northern city of Amiens in the Hauts-de-France region. The club was formed in 1901 and play in Ligue 2, the second d ...

academy where he stayed for two years. In 2007, the club offered Touati a professional trainee contract but, on the advice of his agent, he declined it to go join Spanish side

Villareal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, t ...

. However, he was unable to sign with Villareal since the club was not willing to pay Amiens for the transfer. Touati finally returned to Amiens four months later, this time to sign with the city's other team,

AC Amiens Athlétic Club Amiens is a French association football club founded in 1977. They are based in Amiens, Picardie, located in northern France, north of Paris. They are currently playing in the Championnat National 3 the fifth tier of the French f ...

Pacy VEF

At the beginning of the 2008 season, Touati signed a contract with

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

side Pacy Vallée-d'Eure. However,

claimed that the player was still under contract with the club, forcing him to sit out the first four months of the season. The clubs finally reached an agreement in December 2008 allowing Touati to feature for Pacy. He made 18 appearances for the club in the 2008–09 season, scoring one goal.

Dijon

On 6 July 2009, Touati signed a three-year contract 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 ...

side

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; literally "Dijon Football Gold Coast"), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in ...

. On 7 August 2009, he made his debut for the club starting in a league match against

Angers SCO Angers Sporting Club de l'Ouest, commonly referred to as Angers SCO or simply Angers (), is a French professional football club based in Angers in Pays de la Loire in western France. The club was founded in 1919 and plays in Ligue 1, the fir ...

Cannes

On 9 September 2010, Touati was loaned out to

side

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 3, ...

until the end of the season.

International career

On 14 September 2009, Touati received his first call up to the Algerian Under-23 National Team for a 10-day training camp in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. On 9 February 2011, he played his first match for the team, a 3–2 win over

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

in a friendly in Sidi Moussa. However, after the game, head coach Azzedine Aït Djoudi said that Touati would be dropped from the team after showing a lack of motivation.

Death

After a traffic accident at the

A1 autoroute The A1 Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute du Nord (the Northern Motorway), is the busiest of France's autoroutes. With a length of , it connects Paris with the northern city of Lille. It is managed by the Société des Autoroutes du Nord et d ...

on 6 March 2017, Touati's death was announced by various sources, including one of his previous clubs. However, it was announced by his family on 9 March 2017 that he survived the accident, being instead in a deep

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

according to an official statement released by his family. Touati eventually died on 16 March. He was 27.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Touati, Youcef 1989 births 2017 deaths Sportspeople from Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis Association football midfielders Algerian footballers Algeria under-23 international footballers French footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent Dijon FCO players Pacy Ménilles RC players AS Cannes players Red Star F.C. players FC Istres players Tours FC players SAS Épinal players FC Chambly Oise players MO Béjaïa players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Footballers from Seine-Saint-Denis