Idir Ouali (born 21 May 1988) is a French 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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Belgian club

Olympic Charleroi Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

Club career

Ouali began his career in the junior ranks of amateur club ''SCO Roubaix 59'' in his native

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th centur ...

. At age 15, his math teacher at the time recommended that he try out for

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropo ...

's academy, ''Futurosport'', which was a short distance away across the Belgian border. Ouali took his advice and was admitted into the club shortly after.

Mouscron

Ouali progressed through the junior ranks of

RE Mouscron Royal Excelsior Mouscron was a Belgian football club from the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut. In December 2009 they were declared bankrupt and soon ceased to exist. A new club known as Royal Excel Mouscron was formed in March 2010 and plac ...

, and on 27 January 2007 he made his professional debut for the club in a league game against Gent. On 8 March 2008, Ouali started his first league game for the club against Brugge, scoring a goal in the 2–0 win. The following week, he started and scored again, this time against

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

. After scoring two goals in his first 2 starts for Mouscron, he was signed on 16 March 2008 to a two-year contract extension until 2010. On 14 September 2008, Ouali scored a hat-trick in a league game against

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It is the capital and larges ...

. On 22 December 2008, it was reported that Ouali was joining

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the mo ...

for a fee of €400,000. However, the transfer did not go through because of Mouscron's refusal to sell after the news of the transfer was leaked to the press before its completion. On 28 December 2009, Mouscron were kicked out of the Belgian First Division and relegated to the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

after facing financial difficulties and going into administration. All the first team players of the club became free agents and were free to sign with other clubs. On 1 January 2010, Ouali went on trial with

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

side FC Sochaux. However, on 7 January 2010, it was reported that Ouali was close to signing with another

side,

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

Le Mans

On 8 January 2010, Ouali signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Le Mans FC.

Dynamo Dresden

On 24 July 2012, Ouali signed a two-year contract with Dynamo Dresden. Despite the club's on-field struggles, finishing 16th and 17th in Ouali's two years at the club, he enjoyed a successful spell and reached good form. His pace caused problems for opposition defences as he established himself as an important first-team player.

SC Paderborn

Following Dynamo Dresden's relegation from the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

in the 2013–14 season, Ouali signed a three-year contract with

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

, and represented them in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

for the 2014–15 season. Paderborn were relegated to the

for the 2015–16 season.

Kortrijk

On 15 June 2016, Ouali joined Belgian club

Hatayspor

On 5 August 2019, Ouali signed a contract with Turkish club

Hatayspor Hatayspor Kulübü, known as Atakaş Hatayspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in Antakya, Hatay Province. History Hatayspor was founded on 23 July 1967. In July 2020, the team achieved promotion to ...

Return to Belgium

In September 2022, Ouali returned to Belgium and signed with the third-tier

Belgian National Division 1 The Belgian National Division 1, commonly referred to as simply Eerste Nationale (in Dutch) or Nationale 1 (in French) is a semi-professional and the third-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First ...

club

International career

In May 2013, Ouali was selected by Algeria national team coach Vahid Halilhodžić as a reserve player for a pair of 2014 World Cup qualifiers against

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

and Rwanda.

Career statistics

References

External links