Andy Delort (; born 9 October 1991) 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 striker for French club

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, on loan from

Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 (), known as Championnat National de Première Division or Ligue 1 for short, and formerly known as the Championnat National 1, is the Algerian professional league for association football clubs. It is the co ...

club

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger (), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home stadium, Ali La Pointe Stadium, has a capacit ...

, and the Algeria national team. Born in France, Delort was a France under-20 youth international before representing Algeria at senior level. He has also played for the France beach soccer team.

Career

Early career

Delort was born in Sète, France, to a father of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

descent, and a mother of Algerian descent. He started his career at

Sète Sète (; , ), also historically spelled ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises'' (fem ...

. He joined

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

in 2008, having finished top scorer at France U19 league level with 30 goals. After coming through Ajaccio's youth ranks, he attracted interest from

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 ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. After enjoying a trial at Borussia Dortmund, playing in the reserve team with

Mario Götze Mario Götze (; born 3 June 1992) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays for club Eintracht Frankfurt. Although his favoured position is that of an attacking or central midfielder, he has also played as a Winger (f ...

and

Shinji Kagawa Shinji Kagawa (, ''Kagawa Shinji'' ; born 17 March 1989) is a Japanese professional footballer and football manager who plays as a midfielder. He is widely regarded as one of the best Japanese players of all time. Kagawa became the first midfie ...

, Dortmund offered him a contract. However, he chose to join

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

because of manager

Jean-Michel Cavalli Jean-Michel Cavalli (born 13 July 1957) is a French and Corsican football manager and former player who is the manager of Kosovo Superleague club Prishtina. Playing career Cavalli started his playing career at the now-defunct Gazélec Ajaccio ...

, claiming "a player who leapfrogs, burns his wings". Delort played his first game of

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 ...

for Nîmes on 30 August 2009, coming on as a 53rd-minute substitute against

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

. During the season, he was rarely used in the first team making only three substitute appearances.

Ajaccio and loan to Metz

Delort re-joined his original club, AC Ajaccio, in June 2010. He scored his first two goals at professional level on 15 September 2010 against Le Havre in the French League Cup, before achieving his first goals in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

on 12 November 2010. His first Ligue 2 goals contributed to victories against

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

on 17 December 2010 and against

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 ...

. He signed his first professional contract for three and a half years with AC Ajaccio on 28 January 2011. On 11 March 2011, he was one of the players involved in a mass brawl when he was replaced in the match against

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

. As a result of the incident, several players were given suspensions; both Delort and his teammate Carl Medjani received four-match bans. He earned promotion to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

with AC Ajaccio during the 2010–11 season, after finishing 2nd in the league. On 31 January 2012, Delort signed a six-month loan deal with Ligue 2 club Metz, where he scored 1 goal in 13 appearances. He returned to AC Ajaccio for the 2012–13 season, and scored his first goal in Ligue 1 on 27 April 2013 in a 2–1 win over

. In that season, he made 16 appearances in Ligue 1. In the same season, he scored 12 goals in 16 appearances for the club's reserve team.

Tours

In the summer of 2013, Delort joined Ligue 2 side

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

. He finished the 2013–14 season as joint top scorer in Ligue 2, scoring 24 goals in 36 matches and was named in the Ligue 2

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award * Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year * IRB International Sevens Team of the Year * IRB International Team of the Year * J.League Team of ...

, as well as receiving a nomination for the Ligue 2

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

, eventually finishing runner-up to Metz's Diafra Sakho for the award.

Wigan Athletic

On deadline day of the summer 2014 transfer window, Delort signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

for a fee reported to be under £3 million. He was given the number 49 shirt. Delort struggled at Wigan and amassed only 11 league appearances for the club, failing to score in any of them. In an interview with ''Hat Trick'', he admitted that he had struggled to settle at Wigan following his sudden upheaval from France.

Return to Tours on loan

Having not been able to settle well in England, Delort re-joined Tours on loan until the end of the season on transfer deadline day in the summer of 2015. In doing so, he opted to take a 50% pay cut in order to obtain regular playing time again.

Caen

Delort completed a transfer to

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

on 2 July 2015. In his debut with Caen, he scored his first goal in a 1–0 defeat of

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

on 8 August 2015. At the start of the following season, Delort refused to attend training during a protracted transfer saga with

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

side

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

Tigres UANL

On 2 September 2016, Delort's transfer to Tigres was officially announced becoming the second French player to join the team after

André-Pierre Gignac André-Pierre Christian Gignac (born 5 December 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward. Gignac began his career in his home Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône, playi ...

. He signed a four-year contract while the transfer fee paid to Caen was reported as €8 million. On 22 October 2016, he scored his first goal in Liga MX with Tigres, against

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

at the

Estadio Olímpico Universitario University Olympic Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium located inside Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City. It was built in 1952 and at that time was the largest stadium in Mexico. This stadium has a capacity ...

in a 3–1 victory. He spent less than six months at the club, however, scoring 3 goals in 14 appearances, before returning to France to join

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

Toulouse

On 26 January 2017, Delort returned to France, joining Toulouse on a reported four-year contract and for a reported transfer fee of €6 million. He scored on his debut for the club on 2 February, netting the opening goal in a 4–0 win over

, and repeated the feat in his next two appearances against

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

and

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

Montpellier

On 24 July 2018, Delort was loaned to Montpellier until the end of the 2018–19 season with an option to buy. On 12 June 2019, Delort signed permanently with Montpellier. There, he scored a total of 41 goals across all competitions, beating

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (; born 30 September 1986) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Giroud began his senior club career ...

's record and became the 3rd best striker of Montpellier in the 21st century.

Nice

On 28 August 2021, Delort signed with fellow Ligue 1 side

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

Nantes

On 30 January 2023, Delort moved to fellow French club

, initially on a six-month loan with an obligation to buy. He scored his first two goals with Nantes during a

quarter finals against

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

on 1 March 2023.

Umm Salal

On 7 July 2023, Delort officially signed for Qatari club

Umm Salal Umm Salal (; also spelled Umm Slal) is a municipalities of Qatar, municipality in the State of Qatar. Historic landmarks such as the Barzan Tower are located in Umm Salal.The municipal headquarters is located in Umm Salal Ali, about 10 km ...

on a two-year contract with an option for a one-year extension. The transfer fee of the deal was estimated to be €2.5 million. On 12 February 2024, he terminated his contract with Umm Salal.

MC Alger

On 11 September 2024, Delort signed with Algerian club

on a two-year contract with an option for a one-year extension.

Return to Montpellier

On 29 January 2025, Delort returned to Montpellier on loan until the end of the 2024–25 season with an option to buy.

International career

Delort played in the

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

team managed by

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French former professional footballer who is currently an actor. In his football career Eric Cantona was a physically strong, hard-working and tenacious player. He combined technical skill a ...

in 2009. During an amateur tournament in Sète, he was spotted by Laurent Castro, who asked him to play in the qualification for the 2009 World Cup. He scored five goals in the qualifiers. In 2011, he was selected by France Under 20s team by

Francis Smerecki Francis Smerecki (25 July 1949 – 7 June 2018) was a French 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, foot ...

to play against the United States on 17 May 2011. He was then called to participate in the 2011 Toulon Tournament in June with the France team, but had to pull out of the squad having suffered an injury in a league game. Of Algerian nationality through his mother, Delort expressed an interest in representing the

Algeria national football team The Algeria national football team () represents Algeria in men's international Association football, football, and is governed by the Algerian Football Federation. The team plays their home matches at the Stade du 5 Juillet, 5 July Stadium in ...

in April 2019. On 13 June 2019, the Algerian federation announced Delort's inclusion in its final 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 made his debut three days later in a friendly against Mali, coming on as a substitute for

Yacine Brahimi Yacine Nasreddine Brahimi (; born 8 February 1990) is a professional footballer who plays for and captains the Qatari club Al-Gharafa and the Algeria national team. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is described as "technica ...

in the 75th minute and scoring the winning goal 5 minutes later in a 3–2 victory. In October 2021, Delort was not called up to the national team for the recent World Cup qualifiers. Coach Djamel Belmadi revealed at a press conference that Delort himself refused the call-up because he wanted to concentrate on his club career, having recently signed with OGC Nice. Delort confirmed this and said he wanted to take a break from the national team for a year.

Personal life

Delort has two children, a son and a daughter. In January 2021, he received the medal of his hometown, Sète from the hands of the mayor François Commeinhes.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first.''

Honours

Tigres UANL *

: Apertura 2016 Nice *

runner-up: 2021–22 Algeria *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual *

Top Goalscorer: 2013–14; 24 goals * UNFP Ligue 2

: 2013–14 * UNFP Ligue 2 Player of the Month:

March 2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the most widespread outbreak of the Ebola virus in human history, resulting in 28,646 confirmed infections and 11,323 confirmed death ...

* UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: November 2020

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delort, Andy 1991 births Living people Footballers from Sète Men's association football forwards Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers French people of Romani descent French expatriate men's footballers 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players English Football League players Liga MX players Qatar Stars League players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Nîmes Olympique players AC Ajaccio players FC Metz players Tours FC players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Stade Malherbe Caen players Tigres UANL footballers Toulouse FC players Montpellier HSC players OGC Nice players FC Nantes players Umm Salal SC players MC Alger players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Algeria French beach soccer players Algerian expatriate sportspeople in England Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Mexico French expatriate sportspeople in Qatar French expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Algerian people of French descent 21st-century French sportsmen