Mohamed Bradja (born 16 November 1969) is a 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 ...

. Born in France, at international level he represented Algeria, participating at the

2002 African Cup of Nations The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (Confederation of African Football, CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000 African Cup of Nations, 2000, th ...

Club career

Born in

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

, Bradja began playing football at his hometown club. Due to the lack of stability after the bankruptcy of Troyes Aube Football, he left in 1986 to join

US Valenciennes Valenciennes Football Club (; commonly known as Valenciennes or USVA) is a French association football club based in Valenciennes. The club was founded in 1913 and currently play in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Valenciennes play ...

as a trainee. After two seasons, failing to win a professional contract, Bradja returned to Troyes and to the newly created Troyes AC, at regional level. He helped the club in achieving promotions from National 2 to

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 ...

in only six years. He gained a professional contract with the club, and, three years after, secured the promotion of the club to the French top flight,

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

, for the first time in almost 20 years. Even if he played less during the next seasons, he kept his place in the first team. With Troyes, he also played European football, winning the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

in 2001 by beating

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He ended his career at the end of the 2002–03 season, when Troyes finished bottom of the Ligue 1 and were relegated to

. He also captained the team on several occasions. He was nicknamed "Momo".

International career

Bradja represented Algeria at international level. He played in a 4–1 loss against France. In 2002, he participated at the

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 ...

. In total, he made ten appearances.

Coaching career

One of the longest servants of the club, he was offered several roles in the technical staff after his retirement. He was a scout for the club, before being appointed first-team coach during the management of Ludovic Batelli. He was once again assistant manager after the comeback of

Jean-Marc Furlan Jean-Marc Furlan (born 20 November 1957) is a French football manager and former player who played as a defender. Club career Born in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Furlan started his career at Bordeaux, where he signed his first professional contract i ...

in 2010. In December 2015, he became interim manager after Furlan's dismissal.

Honours

Troyes *

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

References

External links

* * *
Biography at Troyes AC official site
* Living people 1969 births Footballers from Grand Est Sportspeople from Troyes Association football central defenders French footballers Algerian footballers Algeria international footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent 2002 African Cup of Nations players ES Troyes AC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Algerian football managers French football managers ES Troyes AC managers {{Algeria-footy-defender-stub