Djamel Belmadi

Djamel Belmadi

Personal information
Full name	Djamel Belmadi
Date of birth	27 March 1976 (1976-03-27) (age 35)
Place of birth	Champigny-sur-Marne, France
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Lekhwiya SC (head coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1996	Paris Saint-Germain	1	(0)
1996–1997	Martigues	31	(8)
1997–1998	Marseille	0	(0)
1998–1999	Cannes	26	(6)
1999–2000	→Celta Vigo (loan)	10	(0)
2000–2003	Marseille	48	(9)
2003	→Manchester City (loan)	8	(0)
2003–2004	Al-Ittihad
2004–2005	Al-Kharitiyath
2005–2007	Southampton	36	(3)
2007–2009	Valenciennes	37	(2)
National team
2000–2004	Algeria	20	(5)
Teams managed
2010–	Lekhwiya
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Djamel Belmadi (Arabic: جامل بلماضي‎; born 27 March 1976) is a retired Algerian footballer and current head coach of Qatar Stars League club Lekhwiya SC.^[1]

Club career

France and Spain

Born in Champigny-sur-Marne, France, Belmadi started his career at Paris Saint-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, Belmadi 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.

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.

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.^[2]

Valenciennes

After being released by Southampton, he returned to France and joined Valenciennes. He retired from football in 2009.

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.

National team statistics

^[3]

Algeria national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2000	2	0
2001	6	2
2002	1	2
2003	3	1
2004	8	0
Total	20	5

International goals

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

Managerial career

In the summer of 2010, Belmadi was appointed as the head coach of newly promoted Qatar Stars League club Lekhwiya.^[4] In his first season with the club, he led them to the 2010–11 Qatar Stars League title, for the first time in the clubs history. He also led them to the final of the 2010 Sheikh Jassem Cup, where they lost to Al-Arabi.

Bank theft incident

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,^[5][6] the bank workers, Paul Sherwood, a cashier, and Paul Hanley, his supervisor, were jailed for 32 months and 12 months respectively.

Honours

Individual

• DZFoot d'Or: 2

2000, 2001^[7]

Managerial

Lekhwiya

• Qatar Stars League (1): 2010–11

References

1. ^ Quand Djamel Belmadi retrouve Baky Koné – Marseille – Football.fr
2. ^ "Belmadi leaves". saintsfc.co.uk. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=8583. Retrieved 25 May 2007. 
3. ^ http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=125
4. ^ Verts : Bons débuts de Belmadi à la tête de Lekhwiya
5. ^ "Two bankers admit theft from City players". news.lifestyle.co.uk. http://news.lifestyle.co.uk/uknews/83907-uknews.htm. Retrieved 25 May 2007. 
6. ^ "Jail after thefts from football stars". thescotsman.com. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=154092006. Retrieved 25 May 2007. 
7. ^ "Belmadi pour une grande première (in French)". lebuteur.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070129041422/http://www.lebuteur.com/ballondor/bo2001.htm. Retrieved 25 May 2007. 

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

Persondata
Name	Belmadi, Djamel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 March 1976
Place of birth	Champigny-sur-Marne, France
Date of death
Place of death