Youssef Aït Bennasser (born 7 July 1996) is a 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Samsunspor Samsunspor Kulübü, officially known as Samsunspor Football Club Joint Stock Company, or as Reeder Samsunspor due to sponsorship agreements, is a Turkey, Turkish Football club (association football), professional football club that competes in t ...

. Born in France, he represents

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 ...

at international level.

Club career

Nancy

Aït Bennasser is a youth exponent from

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), known as AS Nancy Lorraine, and more commonly as Nancy, is a French football club founded in 1967 and based in Nancy, Grand Est. The club plays its home matches at the Stade Marcel Picot located in Tomb ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 3 August 2015 against

Tours FC Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), was a football club based in Tours, France. Formed in 1919, the club adopted the name Tours FC in 1951 after several other name changes. The club was dissolved on 26 February 2025 d ...

. He scored the first senior goal of his career on 28 November 2015 as Nancy beat

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

3–1 in a home of

Stade Marcel Picot The Stade Marcel Picot is a stadium located in Tomblaine, France, near the city of Nancy, France, Nancy. Built in 1926, it is used by Ligue 2 association football, football team AS Nancy Lorraine, Nancy. The stadium was completely rebuilt and i ...

victory.

Monaco and loans

On 25 June 2016, Aït Bennasser was announced at

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 ...

, signing a five year contract with the club. After joining Monaco, he was immediately loaned back to Nancy. On 16 August 2017, Aït Bennasser was announced at

Stade Malherbe Caen Stade Malherbe Caen (; commonly known as SM Caen, Malherbe, or simply Caen) is a Football in France, French professional football team, based in the city of Caen in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, that competes in the Championnat Na ...

on a one year loan, with no option to buy. On 31 January 2019, the last day of the 2018–19 winter transfer window, Aït Bennasser departed Monaco on loan for the third time, joining the club's league rivals

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

on loan until the end of the season. On 23 September 2019, Aït Bennasser was announced at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

on a one year loan, with a mandatory purchase after 15 starts.

Adanaspor

The Moroccan midfielder signed a two-year contract with Turkish club

Adanaspor Adanaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Adana; currently, they play in the TFF First League. The club was founded in 1954 by middle-class merchants and artisans in response to their perceived ali ...

, which is in the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

International career

Despite being born and raised in France, in March 2016, Aït Bennasser joined the

Royal Moroccan Football Federation The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (; Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵜⴰⴳⵍⴷⴰⵏⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⵖⵔⴰⴱⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵜⵡⵊⴰ ⵏ ⵓⴹⴰⵔ) is the governing body of football in Morocco. It was established in 1956. It beca ...

, being called up by

Hervé Renard Hervé Jean-Marie Roger Renard (born 30 September 1968) is a French professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Saudi Arabia. Renard has previously been the manager of Zambia national team, with whom he won the 2012 ...

. He played two matches for the

Morocco national under-17 football team The Morocco national under-17 football team is the national under-17 football team of Morocco and is controlled by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation. The team competes in the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations, UNAF U-17 Tournament, Arab Cup U-17 a ...

in 2013. On 4 January 2017, Aït Bennasser was called up to the Morocco squad for the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

. He made his debut for the senior Morocco national team in a friendly 0–0 tie with

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. In May 2018 he was named in Morocco's 23-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

in Russia. On 27 May 2019, Aït Bennasser was called up to the provisional Morocco squad for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

. He would make the final cut on 11 June 2019.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ait Bennasser, Youssef 1996 births Living people 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Adanaspor footballers AS Monaco FC players AS Nancy Lorraine players AS Saint-Étienne players Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Footballers from Meurthe-et-Moselle Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey French sportspeople of Moroccan descent Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Men's association football midfielders Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Moroccan men's footballers 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen Morocco men's international footballers People from Toul Stade Malherbe Caen players TFF 1. Lig players 21st-century French sportsmen