Yahia

Antar Yahia (Arabic: عنتر يحيى‎, ʿAntar Yaḥyā) (born 21 March 1982 in Mulhouse) is a French-born Algerian professional footballer who currently plays as a defender for German Bundesliga club VfL Bochum and the Algerian national team. Yahia is a former French youth international having played for both the French Under-16 and Under-18's for a small period of time during 1998 up until 2000. Yahia was the first footballer to profit from the change in FIFA's rules on international eligibility as he had played as a French youth international. After his switch of national allegiance he was called up to the Algeria Under-23 side, scoring on his debut in a 1-0 win against Ghana in an Olympic Games qualifier on 2 January 2004. A few days later he was called up to a training camp held in Algiers in preparation of the 2004 African Nations Cup. Yahia alongside Karim Ziani and Faouzi Chaouchi is considered to be a national hero by many Algerians as he was the scorer of the goal that put them into their first World Cup finals since 1986 at the expense of bitter rivals Egypt, he struck in the 40th minute of the play-off by scoring a Marco van Basten-esque goal. Early life, Yahia was born in Mulhouse to Fatima Zohra and Boussaha Yahia, a welder by profession, both of Algerian, Chaoui descent. His parents emigrated to Alsace from Algeria from the village of Sedrata in the Aurès region of Algeria, which is located in the eastern part of the country. In 1985, as a child Yahia and his parents decided to move to Algeria as they found it difficult to cope in France. They lived in Algeria briefly before returning to France. He was introduced to the game at the age of 10, when he decided to visit his elder brothers who were playing football. He fell in love with the game and the rest was history. Yahia joined the junior team of Racing Club de Belfort, a club in his neighbourhood. He later joined FC Sochaux training centre three years later. Club career, At the age of 14 Yahia joined the football boarding school of FC Sochaux (France). SC Bastia: Yahia started his professional career at Corsican side SC Bastia after he returned from an unsuccessful time at Internazionale. After four successful years on Corsica, Yahia was transferred to OGC Nice. In the first season he played most of the games but at the end he became a substitute. So he decided to move on to another club. OGC Nice: Yahia signed a four-year contract in the summer of 2005 with Nice after the relegation of SC Bastia. VfL Bochum: In 2007 English club Leeds United and German side VfL Bochum were interested in Yahia. He did some training exercises at both clubs and both wanted to buy him. Yahia decided to move to the club from the Bundesliga. On January 30, 2007 he played his first Bundesliga match for VfL Bochum against Bayern Munich In a short period he became an important player at the club and has currently a safe place in the central defense. When the loan contract was expired VfL Bochum bought Yahia for 800.000 Euro. He has got a contract until 2011 at the club and earned on 4 January 2010 the Algerian Player of the Year 2009 award. When VfL Bochum were relegated at the end of the 2009-10 season, Yahia revealed that he would like to leave the club during the summer transfer window, following the World Cup declaring "Indeed, I have decided to leave Bochum" as "I can't play at a lower level". He mentioned that he was aware of interest from clubs in France, but will make his decision after the World Cup. On 13 October 2010, Yahia agreed a new contract with VfL Bochum that would keep him at the club until 30 June 2014. Statistics, As of 4 February 2010.Club performanceLeagueCupLeague CupTotal SeasonClubLeagueAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals FranceLeagueCoupe de FranceCoupe de la LigueTotal 2001-02 Bastia Ligue 1 6 0 2 0 1 0 9 0 2002-03 23 0 -- 1 0 24 0 2003-04 18 0 1 0 1 0 20 0 2004-05 31 2 1 0 1 0 33 2 2005-06 Nice 21 0 1 0 3 0 25 0 2006-07 9 0 1 0 1 0 11 0 GermanyLeagueDFB-PokalPremiere LigapokalTotal 2006-07 Bochum Bundesliga 16 1 0 0 -- 16 1 2007-08 33 2 2 0 -- 35 2 2008-09 24 1 2 0 -- 26 1 2008-09 Bochum II Regionalliga West 1 0 -- -- 1 0 2009-10 1 0 -- -- 1 0 2009-10 Bochum Bundesliga 18 1 2 0 -- 20 1 2010-11 2. Bundesliga 12 2 0 0 -- 12 2 TotalFrance108 2 6 0 8 0 122 2 Germany105 7 6 0 0 0 111 7 Career total2139120802339 International career, Yahia began his youth international career with France in 1998 as he was called up to participate in the UEFA European Under-16 Championship (Qualifying round). He made his debut on the 7th of October 1998 against Switzerland, with the final result being 3-3. This was his only appearance for the France-Under 16 as they were eliminated from the competition as they failed to qualify to the final tournament (group stage). Yahia was called up to play for the France-Under 18 squad in 2000, a time when the team was trying to qualify for the 2001 European Championship to be held in Finland in July 2001. Yahia played his first game alongside Nadir Belhadj against Germany which they won 4-2. In his second game the team had to win if they had any chance of qualifying for the European Championship, they failed to beat the Netherlands and by doing so they were unable to qualify, the final score against the Netherlands was 2-1. The France-Under 18 side finished bottom of Group 9, which consisted of France, Germany and the Netherlands. Yahia was the first footballer to profit from the change in FIFA's rules on international eligibility when he made his debut for Algeria in an Olympic Games qualifier against Ghana. He managed to score the only goal of the 1-0 win over Ghana with a 19th minute header for the Algerian under-23 side in Blida.Saâdane promoted Yahia to the senior national team after his impressive performance on his debut for Algeria's under-23 side in the Olympic qualifier against Ghana for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Yahia started his senior international career on the 15th of January 2004 against Mali in a friendly in preparation for the 2004 African Cup of Nations hosted in Tunisia. During this continental competition Yahia played a part in all the group games including the 2-1 victory over Egypt and the 1-1 draw against Cameroon, the team progressed from group C alongside Cameroon to the quarter final where Algeria lost to Morocco 3-1 in extra time. In November 2009, the Algerian team flew out to Cairo for the final world cup qualifier game, when travelling from the airport to the hotel the coach came under attack as Egyptians hurled rocks at the bus, shattering windows and showering the players and staff with broken glass several players were reported to be injured Yahia was understandably furious when they finally arrived to the hotel and said the following "They struck our bus with large bricks," said a distraught Antar Yahia. "Players have open head wounds with blood. We were lying down in the bus. All the windows were broken. It makes you fear for your life. As long as our lives are not assured we're afraid to play this match." Yahia then went on to say that the security guards dispatched for the team did nothing in response to the attacks. "They let them do it. You can't launch five kilo rocks from 50 meters. They let them do it and watched. It's shameful. In our home game we welcomed them with flowers," he continued. The game was not cancelled and went a head as planned, Yahia had played the whole game but it just wasn't meant to be as Egypt scored a second goal in the final minutes of the game the final result was 2-0 to Egypt which meant they had the same goal difference and points. So a tie-breaker had to be played in Omdurman, Sudan. On the 18th of November 2009 Yahia scored in the 40th minute giving Algeria a 1-0 lead against the Pharaohs, in the 67th minute Yahia went off injured but the only goal scored in the play off by Yahia against Egypt was enough to secure Algeria's place in the 2010 World Cup. In December 2009, Yahia was selected by Saâdane to play in the 2010 African Cup of Nations hosted in Angola, but due to an injury Yahia did not play any of the group games. During Algeria's 2010 FIFA World Cup first round match against the United States, Yahia was ejected in the final minutes of the game after receiving his second yellow card of the match. National team statistics, Algeria national team YearAppsGoals 2004 13 0 2005 3 2 2006 4 0 2007 6 1 2008 8 2 2009 6 1 2010 8 0 Total486 International goals: Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.Goal #DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition 1 19 June 2005 Stade Ahmed Zabana, Oran (Algeria) Zimbabwe 1-0 2-2 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) 2 5 June 2007 Camp Nou, Barcelona (Spain) Argentina 1-1 3-4 Friendly match 3 20 June 2008 Stade Mustapha Tchaker, Blida (Algeria) Gambia 1-0 1-0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) 4 5 September 2008 Stade Mustapha Tchaker, Blida (Algeria) Senegal 3-1 3-2 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) 5 18 November 2009 Al Merreikh Stadium, Omdurman (Sudan) Egypt 1-0 1-0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) U23 International goal #DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition 1. 2 January 2004 Stade Mustapha Tchaker, Blida, Algeria Ghana U23 1-0 1-0 2004 Olympics football tournament qualification Famous quotes, Commenting on his goal against Essam El-Hadary in his famous game in Sudan; Algeria - Egypt: " I aimed low, he caught it, I shot it up high, he caught it... I hit it where the devil couldn't catch it." Honours, On Saturday the 16th of January 2010 in Luanda, Angola Yahia was presented the award of best Arab player of 2009 by winning a poll created by the Arab television channel MBC. One million people participated in the poll, Yahia gained the majority of the votes due to his astonishing performance and goal against Egypt in the World Cup play-off match with 48% outperforming his competitors respectively, Egyptian Mohamed Aboutrika came second, with 20.25% of votes while Algerian Rafik Saifi gained 11% and was placed third overall in the poll. The award handing over ceremony was held in the place of the Algerian delegation residence; in Continental Hotel, in the presence of all players and staff. Individual: Best Arab Player: 2009

Source: Wikipedia

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