Djamel Belmadi

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Djamel Belmadi
Personal information
Full name	Djamel Belmadi
Date of birth	27 March 1976 (1976-03-27) (age 33)
Place of birth	Champigny-sur-Marne, France
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2003 2003 2003–2004 2004–2005 2005–2007 2007–2009	Paris St Germain FC Martigues Olympique de Marseille AS Cannes →Celta Vigo (loan) Olympique de Marseille →Manchester City (loan) Al-Ittihad Qatar Al-Kharitiyath Southampton Valenciennes	01 (0) 31 (8) 00 (0) 26 (6) 10 (0) 48 (9) 08 (0) 36 (3) 37 (2)
National team2
2001–2004	Algeria	20 (5)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:10, 27 June 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 20 June 2004. * Appearances (Goals)

Djamel Belmadi (Arabic: جامل بلماضي‎) (born 27 March 1976) is an Algerian football player, who signed for Valenciennes FC as a free agent at the expiry of his contract with Southampton.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 France and Spain 1.2 Manchester City 1.3 Southampton 2 International career 3 Honours 4 International goals 5 Victim of bank theft 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] France and Spain

He was born in Champigny-sur-Marne, France and started his career at Paris St Germain, making his debut in January 1996 against Gueugnon before spending a season at Martigues. He spent the 1997–98 season at Marseille, and then moved to Cannes for the 1998–99 season. In August 1999 he was signed again by Marseille but immediately went on loan to Spanish club Celta Vigo, where he counted Benni McCarthy of South Africa among his team-mates.

In January 2000, he returned to Marseille, eventually securing a regular place in the first team’s midfield in 2000–01. In January 2001, he made good use of a rare opportunity presented him to play in Marseille's attack, when Liberian maestro George Weah – who had been the main attacker – was away on international duty with the Lone Stars of Liberia. Belmadi seized the opportunity to score a vital goal for Marseille against fellow strugglers Toulouse to keep Marseille just outside the relegation zone.

On 14 April 2001, he scored the winning goal in Marseille's 2–1 victory over Sedan, before a near–60,000 crowd, giving Bernard Tapie's team a much needed lifeline out of relegation.

[edit] Manchester City

In January 2003, he had fallen out of favour at Marseille, now managed by Alain Perrin, who agreed to loan him to Kevin Keegan’s Manchester City after a successful trial. He joined ranks with fellow Algerian, Ali Benarbia.

He made his full debut for Manchester City on 29 January 2003 at Maine Road in a 4–1 victory against Fulham (alongside another recruit from the French league – David Sommeil).

In his brief time at Manchester City, he only made 2 starts and 6 substitute appearances, the last of which was in a 1–0 defeat against Southampton on 11 May 2003 in the final league game at Maine Road (when the only goal was scored by Michael Svensson.)

Although Kevin Keegan liked Belmadi’s style of play, he conceded that he could not afford another free spirit in a side already containing Eyal Berkovic and Ali Bernabia, so Belmadi returned to Marseille.

In August 2003, he was released by Marseille and played the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons in Qatar with Al-Ittihad and Al-Kharitiyath.

[edit] Southampton

In July 2005, after trials at Celtic, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland, he joined Southampton (now playing in the Football League Championship) for their pre-season tour of Scotland. Harry Redknapp initially gave Belmadi a one-month contract, and he made his debut on 6 August 2005 in a 0–0 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers. His contract was extended until the end of the 2005–06 season after impressive performances in his early games, including a goal against Crewe Alexandra on 27 August 2005. In January 2006 he picked up a thigh injury which put him out of the team until April.

He had, however, done enough to persuade Southampton, now managed by George Burley, to re-sign him for the 2006–07 season, but again this was blighted by injury problems, including a knee injury picked up in September which put him out until February. He picked up several other niggling injuries putting him out for long periods. When fit, there was no doubting Belmadi's ability and quality on the ball whether playing on the left or right of midfield. At his best, he could unpick defences with his passing and kept the ball well. Unfortunately, his injuries restricted him to 40 appearances in his two years at St Mary's. His contract with the Saints expired on 30 June 2007 and was not renewed as Southampton faced up to the financial realities of a third season in the Championship^[1].

After being released by Southampton, he returned to France and joined Valenciennes.

[edit] International career

He made his debut for Algeria on 9 July 2000 against Morocco.

He was part of the Algerian 2004 African Nations Cup team, who finished second in their group in the first round of competition before being defeated by Morocco in the quarter-finals.

He last played for Algeria in a World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe on 20 June 2004, having made 20 appearances scoring 5 goals.

[edit] Honours

• DZFoot d'Or : 2000, 2001^[2]

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	January 26, 2001	Stade 5 Juillet 1962, Algiers, Algeria	Namibia	1 – 0	1 – 0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	October 6, 2001	Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France	France	1 – 3	4 – 1	Friendly match
3.	October 11, 2002	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria	Chad	3 – 0	4 – 1	2004 African Cup of Nations (qualification)
4.	October 11, 2002	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria	Chad	4 – 0	4 – 1	2004 African Cup of Nations (qualification)
5.	February 12, 2003	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria	Belgium	3 – 1	1 – 3	Friendly match

[edit] Victim of bank theft

Whilst he was with Manchester City, he, along with players Daniel Van Buyten and Vicente Vuoso, was the victim of a theft by two bank workers. At the time Belmadi left Manchester City, he left £230,000 in an account with the Co-operative Bank. In total the bank workers stole more than £350,000 from the accounts of the three players.

In January 2006^[3][4], the bank workers, Paul Sherwood, a cashier, and Paul Hanley, his supervisor, were jailed for 32 months and 12 months respectively.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Djamel Belmadi career stats at Soccerbase
• Southampton Profile
• Sporting Heroes article re Manchester City career
• Sporting Heroes article re 2004 African Cup of Nations
• Career history, including International appearances