Karim Ziani

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Karim Ziani
Personal information
Date of birth	August 17, 1982
Place of birth	Mulhouse, France
Height	169 cm / 5' 6"
Position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	FC Sochaux
Number	8
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
2001-2004 2004-2006 2006-	Troyes AC FC Lorient FC Sochaux	63 (1) 61 (8) 14 (5)
National team**
2003 -	Algeria	23 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of November, 23, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of November, 23, 2006.

Karim Ziani (Arabic: كريم زياني‎) (born August 17, 1982 in Sèvres, France) is an Algerian football player who is currently playing for FC Sochaux in Ligue 1. His family originally comes from Bejaia in the Kabylie region of Algeria.

[edit] International Career

Ziani made his debut for the Algerian national team in 2003 when he was called up by Belgian caretaker George Leekens for a friendly against Belgium. He was a member of the Algerian 2004 African Nations Cup team, who finished second in their group in the first round of competition before being defeated by Morocco in the quarter-finals. He was also named as the best player at his position in the 2004 African Nations Cup.

[edit] Club career

Ziani started his playing career in the junior ranks at RC Paris where he was spotted by scouts from Troyes. Ziani spent three seasons playing with Troyes' junior team before joining the first team. He subsequently spent 2 seasons playing in Ligue 1 before Troyes were relegated to Ligue 2. He spent the next season mostly on the bench for Troyes and in the summer of 2004 was loaned out to FC Lorient. In the next 2 seasons he would become Lorient's top player and would lead them to promotion to Ligue 1. He was voted as the top player in Ligue 2 for the 2005-2006 season.

In the summer of 2006, he signed a 3-year deal with FC Sochaux and reunited with his first coach at Troyes Alain Perrin.

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard - Current Squad
1 Gavanon | 2 Afolabi | 3 Tošić | 5 Leroy | 6 Potillon | 7 Pitau | 8 Ziani | 9 Dagano | 10 Mezague | 11 Brunel | 12 Isabey | 13 Bréchet | 14 Lonfat | 15 Santos | 16 Richert | 17 Quercia | 18 N'Daw | 19 Séne | 20 Zerara | 21 Le Tallec | 23 El Bounadi | 24 Birsa | 26 Erding | 27 Daf | 28 Pichot | 29 Zaïri | 30 Deichelbohrer | Manager: Perrin