Sid Ali «Alilou» Yahia-Chérif, (born January 4, 1985) is an Algerian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who is currently playing for

RC Kouba Raed Chabab Kouba (), known as RC Kouba or simply RCK for short, is an Algerian football club based in Kouba, a district of Algiers. The club was founded in 1945 and its colours are green and white. Their home stadium, Mohamed Benhaddad Stadium ...

Club career

Growing up in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

, Yahia-Chérif began playing on the streets and in neighborhood tournaments. He played briefly for two local sides: ''ES Kouba'' and ''ES Ben Aknoun''. In 2003, at age 18, he signed with the

junior team, quickly making his mark at the club, and just two years later, he was promoted to the senior side. In the 2007/2008 season, Yahia-Chérif helped the club win promotion to the top flight. However, they would be relegated the following season with Yahia-Chérif leaving the club at the end of the 2008/2009 season.

JS Kabylie

In the summer of 2009, he was linked with a move to a number of French clubs including

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

FC Istres Istres Football Club (; commonly referred to as simply Istres) is a French association football club based in Istres. The club was formed in 1920 and currently play their home matches at the Stade Parsemain in Fos-sur-Mer, a commune in the A ...

and

Stade Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1931 and plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of football in France. Reims plays home matches at the Stade Auguste Delaune. Reims is one of the mos ...

. However, Yahia-Chérif chose to stay close to home, signing a three-year contract with

JS Kabylie Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (Kabyle grammar, Kabyle: Ilemẓiyen inaddalen n leqvayel; Berber languages, Tamazight: ⵉⵍⵎⵣⵢⵏ ⵉⵏⴰⴷⴰⵍⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵇⵠⴰⵢⵍ; ), known as JS Kabylie or simply JSK, is an Algerian profession ...

. In his first season with the club, he made 31 league appearances, scoring 10 goals, as JS Kabylie finished third in the domestic league. He also played a role in the teams run to the semi-finals of the

2010 CAF Champions League The 2010 CAF Champions League was the 46th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 14th edition under the current CAF Champions League format. The winner, TP Mazembe q ...

. In the first round of the competition, he scored the only goal in the return leg against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

n side

Club Africain Club Africain (), known as CA for short, is a Tunisian professional football club based in Tunis. The club was founded in 1920 and its colours are red and white. Their home stadium, Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, has a capacity of 60,000 spectators. ...

as JS Kabylie won 1-0 and advanced 2–1 on aggregate. In his second season, he made just 10 league appearances and failed to find the back of the net. However, on May 1, 2011, he started in the 2011 Algerian Cup Final, as JS Kabylie went on to win 1–0 against

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 ...

, to win its first

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 ...

since 1994.

FC Istres

On 6 July 2011, Yahia-Chérif signed a three-year contract with French

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

side

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location I ...

International career

On April 17, 2008, he was called up to the Algerian A' National Team for a qualifier against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

for the

2009 African Championship of Nations The 2009 African Nations Championship, also known as CHAN 2009 for short, was the inaugural edition of the biennial association football tournament organized by CAF featuring national teams consisting of players playing in their respective loca ...

. He was the only player in the squad playing in the second division.Sélection féminine 2006
/ref> He has also been capped for

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

at the Under-23 level.

Honours

* Won the

once with

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

* Won the

once with

CR Belouizdad Chabab Riadhi Belouizdad (); known as CR Belouizdad or simply CRB for short, is an Algerian professional football club based in Algiers, Algeria, that plays in the Ligue Professionnelle 1, the top flight of Algerian football. The club has com ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yahia-Cherif, Sid Ali 1985 births Algerian men's footballers Living people Kabyle people Footballers from Algiers Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Ligue 2 players Algeria men's A' international footballers RC Kouba players Istres FC players JS Kabylie players MC Alger players JS Saoura players Expatriate men's footballers in France Algeria men's under-23 international footballers 2011 African Nations Championship players Algerian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards 21st-century Algerian sportsmen