Idriss Saadi (; born 8 February 1992) is a former 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 played as a striker. Born in France, he played for the Algeria national team.

Club career

Saint-Étienne

Saadi started his professional career at

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, making his professional debut on 28 August 2010 in a league match against

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

in a 3–1 victory. During his time at Saint-Étienne, Saadi had loan spells at

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 ...

and

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 ...

Clermont Foot

In January 2014, Saadi joined

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 ...

side Clermont, where he impressed with 20 goals in 42 games.

Cardiff City

On 31 August 2015, Saadi joined

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 Cardiff City for an undisclosed fee. Manager Russell Slade stated that the club had been scouting Saadi for several months and described him as ''strong, powerful and technically good''. Due to an injury picked up the previous season, Saadi didn't make his debut till 7 November 2015, in a 2–0 win over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, where he had lasted 13 minutes before suffering another injury ruling him out for another 6 weeks. He made just one more substitute appearance during his first season at the

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium () is a stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City and the Wales national football team, Wales national team. Following expansion of the Ninian S ...

, during a 2–1 defeat to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

on 9 April.

Loan to Kortrijk

In July 2016, Saadi joined Belgian side

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

on loan. He made his debut in a 1–1 draw with Gent and went on to score his first and second goal against Club Brugge on 20 August.

Strasbourg

On 21 July 2017, Saadi joined

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

for an undisclosed fee.

CR Belouizdad

On 5 July 2022, Saadi joined CR Belouizdad.

Retirement

On 1 January 2025, Saadi announced his retirement.

International career

Saadi is a former youth international for France. He debuted for 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 a friendly 1–0 win over

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

on 6 June 2017.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saadi, Idriss 1992 births Living people Footballers from Valence, Drôme French sportspeople of Algerian descent Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards AS Saint-Étienne players Stade de Reims players Gazélec Ajaccio players Clermont Foot players Cardiff City F.C. players K.V. Kortrijk players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Andrézieux-Bouthéon FC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players English Football League players Belgian Pro League players Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Wales Expatriate men's footballers in Wales Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Wales 21st-century French sportsmen