Abdel Slem Billel Omrani (; born 2 June 1993) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. A product of the

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 ...

academy, Omrani made his

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 ...

debut for the club in 2011. He amassed ten games for the first team and had a loan stint at Arles-Avignon, before moving to Romania with

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

in 2016. In the latter country, Omrani won seven domestic trophies and was named the league's Foreign Player of the Year in 2019. He moved to rivals FCSB on a free transfer in 2022. Born in France, Omrani represented the nation at under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels. In June 2022, he switched his allegiance to

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

by making his full debut in a 2–1 friendly win over

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Club career

Early career / Marseille

Omrani joined the youth system of

in 2007, after spells with two amateur clubs in the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

area. On 19 March 2011, he agreed to a three-year professional contract with the

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (), known for sponsorship reasons as the Orange Vélodrome since June 2016, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, and has ...

side. Omrani was subsequently promoted to the senior squad by manager

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been managing the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, Engl ...

for the 2011–12 season, being assigned the number 25 shirt. He made his senior debut by coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute for

Alou Diarra Alou Diarra (born 15 July 1981) is a French former professional association football, footballer. He was a List of France international footballers, France international from 2004 until 2012. As of the 2022–23 season, he is the manager of ES T ...

in a 1–1

draw with Brest, on 2 October 2011.

CFR Cluj

Omrani moved abroad for the first time by signing a contract with Romanian team

in September 2016. On the 17th that month, he recorded his debut and scored in a 5–0

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

thrashing of

Voluntari Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest. The population ...

. During the following season, Omrani totalled nine goals from 31 appearances in all competitions as "the White-Burgundies" won the national championship. On 8 July 2018, amid rumours regarding a transfer to title contenders

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football le ...

, CFR announced that he penned down a three-year contract extension. Six days later, Omrani obtained the

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

from which Emmanuel Culio scored the only goal of the

2018 Supercupa României The 2018 Supercupa României was the 20th edition of the Supercupa României, the annual super cup in Romania. The game was contested by the winners of the previous season's 2017–18 Liga I, Liga I and 2017–18 Cupa României, Cupa României co ...

win over Universitatea Craiova. In 2019, Omrani was linked with a move to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

after netting against them twice in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, but nothing came of it. That year, he was handed the Foreign Player of the Year award by the ''

Gazeta Sporturilor Gazeta Sporturilor () is a Romanian sports website, originally founded in 1924 as a daily newspaper. It was the third-oldest daily newspaper in Europe, with 99 years of uninterrupted publication, before issuing its last edition on 31 October 2023. ...

'' daily. Omrani left

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in the summer of 2022, after aiding the team in winning five national titles and two supercups during his six-year stint.

FCSB

On 13 September 2022, Omrani continued in Romania and its Liga I by signing a one-year contract with the option of another two years for FCSB. He scored his first goal on 11 December, in a 2–0 away league win over Chindia Târgoviște. Omrani made 22 appearances and only netted two goals, and the club chose not to renew his deal at the end of the campaign.

Petrolul Ploiești

On 28 September 2023, Omrani moved to fellow Liga I club Petrolul Ploiești as a free agent. He made his debut on 31 October, in a 2–0 away win over Chindia Târgoviște in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

Wisła Kraków

After terminating his deal with Petrolul Ploiești on 18 January 2024, Omrani was a free agent for over a month before joining Polish

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system, ...

on 26 February, on a deal until the end of the season. As reported by Polish media, he would earn a total wage of approximately €10,000 for his stay at Wisła. He made his first appearance as a late substitute in a 3–2 away league loss to

Chrobry Głogów Chrobry Głogów () is a Polish football club based in Głogów, Poland. It was founded in 1946. The team's official colors are blue, orange, black and green. Chrobry currently competes in I liga, the second tier of Polish league football. The cl ...

on 30 March. He was omitted from the squad for the 2023–24 Polish Cup final on 2 May, which saw Wisła win 2–1 over

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league s ...

. Shortly after, manager

Albert Rudé Albert Rudé Rull (born 18 September 1987) is a Spanish professional football manager who is currently in charge of Danish 1st Division club Kolding IF. Coaching career Born in Ripoll, Girona, Catalonia, Rudé began his career training amateur ...

stated Omrani was unlikely to feature for the rest of the season for disciplinary reasons. He left the club on 4 June 2024, upon the expiration of his contract.

International career

France

Omrani is a former France youth international, having represented the country at under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels. With the under-17 side, he played at the 2010 UEFA European Championship.

Algeria

Omrani was also eligible to represent

, and in October 2011 was called up to the under-23 team to participate in the friendly matches ahead of the 2011 CAF Championship. However, the report of the call-up was deemed erroneous due to a misunderstanding between the team's coach and the Algerian media; the latter assumed the coach was calling up Omrani, when he was in fact calling up another French-born player who was also featuring for Marseille. In February 2013, Omrani was invited by the Algeria under-20 national team coach Jean-Marc Nobilo to be a member of the squad for the 2013 African Championship, but declined the offer. In May 2022, he received his first call-up to the Algeria senior team for the 2023 AFCON qualification matches 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 ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. He made his debut on 12 June, coming on for

Rachid Ghezzal Rachid Ghezzal (; born 9 May 1992) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Çaykur Rizespor. Born in France, he represents the Algeria national football team. He began his career at Lyon, where ...

in the 71st minute of a 2–1 friendly win against

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Personal life

Omrani's elder brother Abdelhakim also played professional football in Romania for

Dunărea Călărași Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See a ...

, and his elder sister Yasmina was an international

heptathlete A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

.Abdelhakim Omrani : « Mon choix est déjà fait, c’est l’Algérie ! »
. ''La Gazette Du Fennec''. Retrieved on 2013-07-02.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Marseille *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: 2011–12 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Marseille B * CFA 2 — Group Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur-Corsica:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

CFR Cluj *

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 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 ...

, 2021–22 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

; runner-up:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Wisła Kraków *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 2023–24 Individual *''

'' Foreign Player of the Year in Romania: 2019

References

External links

* * *
Marseille official profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omrani, Billel 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Forbach Footballers from Moselle (department) French sportspeople of Algerian descent French men's footballers Algerian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Liga I players I liga players Olympique de Marseille players AC Arlésien players CFR Cluj players FCSB players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Wisła Kraków players FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players France men's youth international footballers Algeria men's international footballers French expatriate men's footballers Algerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania French expatriate sportspeople in Romania Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Poland French expatriate sportspeople in Poland Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Poland 21st-century French sportsmen