Youcef Atal (; born 17 May 1996) is an Algerian 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

right-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 ...

for

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

club

Al Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club () is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the capital city Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the top level of Qatari football, the Qatar Stars League. Locally, it i ...

and the Algeria national team.

Club career

After beginning his professional career in his native Algeria with

Paradou AC Paradou Athletic Club (), known as Paradou AC or simply PAC for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1994 by members of the Hydra AC junior team, the club colours are blue and yellow. Their home stadium, A ...

, Atal was sent on loan to Belgian club

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 20 ...

in 2017. Despite a season in which he suffered a myriad of injuries, Kortrijk nevertheless decided to exercise the purchase option in the loan. Atal joined French club

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million 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 ...

in 2018, and started the opening match of the season. He scored his first goal for his new side in November, recorded a hat-trick in April, and ended his first season with six total goals. He underwent surgery in December 2019 to repair a

torn meniscus A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

. On 9 February 2024, Atal signed for Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Adana Demirspor Adana Demirspor Kulübü is a multi-sports club based in Adana, Turkey. The football department is the most popular department which relegated to TFF 1. Lig on 16 March 2025 after 4 seasons at the Super Lig. Founded by railway workers of Turk ...

until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. In September 2024,

Al-Sadd SC Al Sadd Sports Club () is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the capital city Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the top level of Qatari football, the Qatar Stars League. Locally, it i ...

of the

signed Atal to a two-year contract.

International career

On 1 June 2017, Atal was called up to the Algeria national team for the first time for a friendly match against

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 ...

and a

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

qualifier against

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

. In December 2023, he was named in Algeria's squad for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

Controversy

On 14 October 2023, amidst the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, Atal posted a video on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

of Palestinian preacher Mahmoud al-Hasanat asking God to "send

Jewish people Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

a dark day". He quickly removed the video after receiving criticism, notably from

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Christian Estrosi Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician and the Mayor of Nice since 2017, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2016. A former professional motorcyclist, he served as a government minister und ...

, who stated that unless Atal "denounces

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

terrorists, he no longer has a place at GC Nice. Atal subsequently published a message on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

apologizing for posting the video, and clarified his beliefs by stating that he "denounce all forms of violence". On 16 October, the Nice public prosecutor's office initiated a preliminary investigation into Atal on charges of "defending terrorism". Two days later, OGC Nice suspended Atal until further notice after the anti-Semitic post. On 25 October, he was suspended for seven matches by the

Ligue de Football Professionnel The (, ''Professional Football League''), commonly known as the LFP, is a French governing body that runs the major professional football leagues in France and Monaco. It was founded in 1944 and serves under the authority of the French Footba ...

for posting the message. On the 24 November, Atal was detained by French Police over the anti-Semitic posts. In January 2024, Atal was convicted of inciting religious hatred and given an eight-month

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

Career statistics

International

:''Algeria score listed first, score column indicates score after each Atal goal.''

Honours

Paradou AC *

Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 2 The Algerian Ligue 2, also called Ligue 2, formerly known as Ligue Professionnelle 2 and Championnat National 2, is the second highest division overall in the Algerian football league system. Administered by the Ligue Nationale du Football Amateur ...

: 2016–17 Nice *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Algeria *

Africa 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 ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Attal, Youcef Living people 1996 births People from Boghni Sportspeople from Tizi Ouzou Province Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Algeria men's international footballers Algerian men's footballers Algerian Ligue 2 players Belgian Third Division players Ligue 1 players Süper Lig players CR Belouizdad players JS Kabylie players Kabyle people Paradou AC players USM Alger players K.V. Kortrijk players OGC Nice players Adana Demirspor footballers Al Sadd SC players Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Algerian expatriate sportspeople in France Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Algerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Algerian sportsmen 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Antisemitism in France Antisemitism in Algeria 21st-century Algerian criminals Sportspeople convicted of crimes People convicted of speech crimes 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players