Zineddine Belaïd (; born 20 March 1999) is an Algerian 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Algeria national team.

Club career

On 31 May 2018, Zinedine Belaïd signed his first professional contract with

NA Hussein Dey Nasr Athlétique de Hussein Dey (), known as NA Hussein Dey or NAHD for short, is an Algerian professional football club based in Hussein Dey, Algiers. The club was founded in 1947 and its colours are red and yellow. Their home stadium, 20 Aug ...

and played his first match at the professional level on 20 January 2019 in the

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 ...

against

Al-Ahly Benghazi Al Ahly Sports Cultural and Social Club (), known as Al Ahly SCSC, is a Libyan sports club based in Benghazi. Al Ahly has its roots in a political party, the Omar al Mukhtar society. History Al-Ahly SC Libya was made a professional football c ...

of Libya. In his first season, Belaid only played three matches. In his second season Belaid became a key piece in the team and on 30 October 2019, Belaid scored the first goal in his football career against

JS Saoura Jeunesse Sportive de la Saoura (), known simply as JS Saoura or JSS for short, is an Algerian football club founded in the town of Méridja in the Béchar Province. They take their name from the Saoura valley of southwestern Algeria. The club w ...

which led him to a 1–0 victory. On 11 October 2020, Belaïd signed a four-year contract with

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 ...

. Belaïd became a key player in the team and got the captain's armband, Belaïd is in the sights of Al-Arabi SC winners of this season's

Emir of Qatar Cup Emir of Qatar Cup (), also known as the Emir Cup, but changed to Amir Cup starting in 2019, is an association football tournament played every season by all first and second division teams in Qatar. The tournament is played in a knockout system, ...

, The coach

Younes Ali Younes Ali Rahmati (; born 3 January 1983) is a Qatari football coach and a former player who is the currently head coach of Qatar Stars League club Al-Rayyan. He played as a midfielder and was a member of the Qatar national football team. Ali ...

would already be delighted to see the native of the city of Isser in his ranks. Indeed, the coach would have watched the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup final between USMA and

Young Africans Young Africans Sports Club (commonly referred to as Yanga) is a Tanzanian professional football club based at Jangwani ward of Ilala District in Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. Founded in 1935, the club plays their home games at the 60,000-c ...

, He would then have given the green light to the management of the Qatari club to try this summer. On 3 June 2023, Belaïd won the first title in his football career by winning the

2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup The 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup (officially the 2022–23 TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th edition of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ...

after defeating

of Tanzania. On 17 August 2023, Belaïd has finally extended her contract for two years. Many clubs contacted USM Alger captain during this transfer period, as the Belgian club

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

made an official offer for the player, but the latter rejected it in the end. On 15 September 2023, Belaïd led USM Alger to win the

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup, known as TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was f ...

against

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

by scoring the only goal in the match, winning the second title in three months. Despite renewing his contract with USMA, Belaïd still has ambitions to professionalize in Europe. On 23 June 2024, Zineddine Belaïd met with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of USM Alger Athmane Sehbane, where he agreed that he would officially leave. The team’s management finally agreed not to put obstacles in the way of the player’s ambition and in a way that preserves the rights of the club. The agreement was finally concluded to fulfill the desire of Belaïd to join the Belgian club

and signed his exit paper.

International career

In June 2021, Zineddine Belaïd was called up by

Madjid Bougherra Madjid Bougherra (; born 7 October 1982) is a football manager and former footballer who played as a centre-back. He is the manager of the Algeria A'. Bougherra began his professional career with French club Gueugnon before having spells wit ...

for the first time to the Algeria A' national team against

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

to inaugurate the new stadium in Oran in 5–1 victory. On 2 January 2023, Belaïd was selected for the 28-man squad to participate in the

2022 African Nations Championship The 2022 African Nations Championship, known as the 2022 CHAN for short and the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes, was the 7th edition of the biennial association football tournament organ ...

. Belaïd played all the matches reaching the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, settling for runner-up after the defeat against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. On 30 May 2023 the FAF publish the list of

Djamel Belmadi Djamel Belmadi (; born 25 March 1976) is a professional football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Qatar Stars League side Al-Duhail. Born in France, he represented Algeria internationally between 2000 and 2004. As a pl ...

for the two matches of the month of June, Where is called Belaïd for the first time and his first match was against

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

in the

Africa Cup of Nations qualification Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. On 29 December 2023, Belaïd was named by

to Algeria's 26-man squad for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

USM Alger *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belaid, Zineddine 1999 births Living people People from Thénia Sportspeople from Boumerdès Province Kabyle people Algerian men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Algeria men's international footballers Algeria men's A' international footballers Algeria men's youth international footballers 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 African Nations Championship players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Belgian Pro League players NA Hussein Dey players USM Alger players Sint-Truidense V.V. players 21st-century Algerian sportsmen Algerian expatriate men's footballers Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Algeria men's under-23 international footballers