Steeve Olivier Elana (born 11 July 1980) is a French 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

FC Martigues Football Club de Martigues, known as FC Martigues or just Martigues, is a French professional football club based in Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône. It competes in Championnat National from 2025–26, the third level of football in France, having ...

. Born in metropolitan France, he represented the Martinique national team.

Club career

Elana previously played for

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of Football in Franc ...

in the French

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 ...

. He became first choice goalkeeper for Lille after the departure of Mickaël Landreau. However, he was displaced in 2013–14 by the Nigerian international

Vincent Enyeama Vincent Enyeama (; born 29 August 1982) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Despite his below-average height for a goalkeeper, he is popularly regarded as one of the greatest African goalkeepers of all time ...

International career

Born in France, Elana is of Martiniquais and Guinean descent. In March 2019, 38-year-old Elana was called up to the Guinea national team, having previously played internationally for

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

which is a non-FIFA member. He was unable to get a Guinean passport, as he was not able to confirm the Guinean village his grandparents came from.

References

1980 births Living people Footballers from Aubervilliers French men's footballers Martiniquais men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers ASOA Valence players Stade Malherbe Caen players Stade Brestois 29 players US Marseille Endoume players Lille OSC players Gazélec Ajaccio players Tours FC players SO Cholet players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Martinique men's international footballers Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Guinean descent French people of Martiniquais descent 21st-century French sportsmen {{Martinique-footy-bio-stub