Zahir Belounis (born 15 February 1980) is a French-Algerian football player who plays as a striker. The refusal of authorities in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

, where he was playing football, to grant him an

exit visa A visa (from the Latin ''charta visa'', meaning "paper that has been seen") is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on ...

after a pay dispute, brought him to wider attention.

Career

Belounis played as a striker for lower league French and Swiss clubs before moving to Qatar in 2007. He played for the

El Jaish SC El-Jaish Sports Club ( ar, نادي الجيش الرياضي) was a Qatari multi-sports club from 2011 to 2017, based in the Al-Duhail area of Doha. The association football team played in the Qatar Stars League. The team won the Qatargas Le ...

. He was in a dispute over unpaid wages from 2010 but because in Qatar, the employer has control over exit visas under the

Kafala system The kafala system (also spelled "kefala system"; ar, نظام الكفالة, niẓām al-kafāla; meaning "sponsorship system") is a system used to monitor migrant laborers, working primarily in the construction and domestic sectors in Gulf ...

, he was unable to leave the country. Belounis threatened to go on hunger strike to draw attention to his cause and in 2013, he wrote an

open letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first ...

ambassadors

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

and Pep Guardiola to garner support. FIFA declined to take up his case as Belounis had appealed via the Qatari authorities and not through FIFA. After 19 months he was granted an exit visa and left Qatar to return to France. Belounis admitted that during his time awaiting an exit visa he had planned to leave Qatar illegally, considered suicide and had turned to alcohol to help him cope with his situation. The case drew attention to Qatari employment laws and their interaction with their hosting of the

References

External links

*http://www.fifpro.org/news/news_details/2413 {{DEFAULTSORT:Belounis, Zahir 1980 births Qatar Stars League players Living people French men's footballers Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar French expatriate men's footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent Sportspeople from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés FC Saint-Lô Manche players Footballers from Val-de-Marne