Mohamed Bradja (born 16 November 1969) is a

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, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who is the assistant head coach of

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 ...

club

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

. A

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, he spent his entire playing career with Troyes. Born in France, he represented

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 ...

at international level, participating at the

2002 African Cup of Nations The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Ca ...

Club career

Born in

, Bradja began playing football at his hometown club. Due to the lack of stability after the bankruptcy of Troyes Aube Football, he left in 1986 to join US Valenciennes as a trainee. After two seasons, failing to win a professional contract, Bradja returned to Troyes and to the newly created

Troyes AC Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a football in France, French professional association football club based in Troyes that competes in Ligue 2. It plays its home matches at the Stade de l'Aube. Foun ...

, at regional level. He helped the club in achieving promotions from National 2 to

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 ...

in only six years. He gained a professional contract with the club, and, three years after, secured the promotion of the club to the French top flight,

, for the first time in almost 20 years. Even if he played less during the next seasons, he kept his place in the first team. With Troyes, he also played European football, winning the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

in 2001 by beating

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. He ended his career at the end of the 2002–03 season, when Troyes finished bottom of the Ligue 1 and were relegated to

. He also captained the team on several occasions. He was nicknamed "Momo".

International career

Bradja represented

at international level. He played in a 4–1 loss against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 2002, he participated at the

African 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 ...

. In total, he made ten appearances.

Coaching career

One of the longest servants of the club, he was offered several roles in the technical staff after his retirement. He was a scout for the club, before being appointed first-team coach during the management of Ludovic Batelli. He was once again assistant manager after the comeback of Jean-Marc Furlan in 2010. In December 2015, he became interim manager after Furlan's dismissal.

Honours

Troyes *

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

References

External links

* * *
Biography at Troyes AC official site
* Living people 1969 births Footballers from Troyes Men's association football central defenders French men's footballers Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's international footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent 2002 African Cup of Nations players ES Troyes AC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Algerian football managers French football managers ES Troyes AC managers 20th-century French sportsmen {{Algeria-footy-defender-stub