Merouane Abdouni (born March 27, 1981) is a retired Algerian

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

who played for

USM El Harrach Union Sportive de la Médina d'El Harrach (), known as USM El Harrach or simply USMH for short, is an Algerian Association football, football club based in El Harrach, a suburb of Algiers. The club was founded in 1935 as Union Sportive Musulmane ...

USM Alger Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger (); known as USM Alger or simply USMA for short, is a Association football, football club based in the inner suburbs of Algiers. The club was founded in 1937 and its colours are red and black. Their home sta ...

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger (), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home stadium, Ali La Pointe Stadium, has a capacit ...

and

USM Blida Union Sportive Madinat Blida (), known as USM Blida or simply USMB, is a football club based in Blida, Algeria. They play in the Inter-Régions Division, the third tier of Algerian football. Founded in 1932, they have played their home games at ...

Biography

Abdouni began his playing career at

and made his first team debut in the 1999–2000 in the Algerian second division. That same season, he helped the team gain promotion to the top flight, although they would get relegated just one year later. He stayed another season before signing with

in the summer of 2002. With USM Alger, he played a key role in the team's 2003 African Champions League run, where the team was eliminated in the semi-finals to eventual champions

Enyimba FC Enyimba Football Club, commonly known as Enyimba, is a Nigerian professional football club based in the city of Aba, Abia State which plays in the Nigerian Professional Football League. Their name means ''People's Elephant'' in Igbo language an ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. He also helped the team win the Algerian league twice (2003 and 2005) and the

Algerian Cup The Algerian Cup () also known the Republic Cup (), is a football competition in Algeria, pitting regional teams against each other. It was established in October 1962, three months after independence, and has been played yearly since then apart ...

twice (2003 and 2004). He was voted as the top goalkeeper in the 2004–05 season by sports daily ''El Heddaf (Le Buteur)'' and was selected in the ''DZFoot.com'' Team of the Season. He received all 4 of his call-ups to the Algerian national team during his spell with USM Alger. In the summer of 2005, he joined crosstown rivals

and became the target of chants by USM Alger fans during the capital derby «El Classico». He helped the team win back to back Algerian Cups in 2006 and 2007, both times defeating his former team USM Alger in the final. On May 17, 2007, in a

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

game against

Kwara United Kwara United Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Ilorin. They play in the top division in Nigerian football, the Nigeria Professional football League having gained promotion in 2017 from the Nigeria National League. Their home s ...

of Nigeria, he received a red card from the referee and then assaulted the referee as well as match officials. He subsequently received a 3-year ban from the

CAF CAF or caf may refer to: Armed forces *Canadian Armed Forces (Canadian Forces), the Canadian Air Force, Army, and Navy *Canadian Air Force, now the Royal Canadian Air Force *Republic of China Air Force, the air force of the Republic of China (Tai ...

, a decision upheld by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, disallowing him from playing in any competition (domestic or international). The ban was later reduced to 2 years.CAF : Lourdes sanctions contre le MCA - Football algérien
Although unable to participate in any games, he signed with USM Alger at the beginning of the 2007 season. In April 2012, he joined

Åsane Fotball Åsane Fotball is a Norwegian football club based in Åsane. The club currently competing in 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system, in which they have been participating since their promotion in 2019 2. divisjon. Th ...

on a trial. He is set to sign a permanent deal with the Norwegian second division club.

National team statistics

Honours

* Won the Algerian league twice with

in 2003 and 2005 * Won the

four times ** Two times with

in 2003 and 2004 ** Two times with

in 2006 and 2007 * Won the

Algerian Super Cup The Algerian Super Cup () is an Algerian football competition, held as a game between the reigning champions of the Algerian League and the Algerian Cup. The first edition was held in 1981 and then again in 1992, 1994 and 1995 before being scrapp ...

once with

in 2006

References

External links

*
USM-Alger.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdouni, Merouane 1981 births Living people People from Bordj El Kiffan Men's association football goalkeepers Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's international footballers USM Alger players USM El Harrach players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Algeria men's under-23 international footballers MC Alger players Algeria men's youth international footballers Algerian Ligue 2 players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Algeria 21st-century Algerian sportsmen 20th-century Algerian people