Youssef Benali (born 4 February 1995) is a French

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 winger.

Club career

Benali began his career at the

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club () is a French professional association football, football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Football in France, French football. Toulouse plays it ...

youth academy, where he most commonly played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 23 November 2014 against

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (; ), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC, is a French professional association football, football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie. The original club was ...

, replacing

Étienne Didot Étienne Didot (born 24 July 1983) is a French former professional footballer who primarily played as a centre midfielder. Didot made over 400 appearances in Ligue 1 playing for Stade Rennais F.C., Toulouse FC, and En Avant de Guingamp. Club c ...

after 81 minutes in a 2-0 away defeat. During his time at Toulouse, Benali appeared in four

matches and a single match in the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

. After falling out of contract with

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, he moved to Moroccan club

Chabab Rif Al Hoceima Chabab Rif Al-Hoceima, also referred to as CRA, is a Moroccan football club based in Al Hoceima Al Hoceima () is a city in the north of Morocco, on the northern edge of the Rif Mountains and on the Mediterranean coast. It is the capital city ...

on 29 August 2016 with a two-year deal. During the summer 2018, he moved to

Concarneau Concarneau (, meaning "Bay of Cornouaille") is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in Northwestern France. Concarneau is bordered to the west by the Baie ...

International career

Benali made five appearances for the France national U-16 team and one appearance for the France national U-18 team.

Personal life

Benali holds both French and Moroccan nationalities.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * 1995 births Living people French men's footballers Moroccan men's footballers French sportspeople of Moroccan descent Ligue 1 players Championnat National players Toulouse FC players US Concarneau players Chabab Rif Al Hoceima players Men's association football forwards 21st-century French sportsmen 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen {{France-footy-forward-1990s-stub