Hocine Achiou

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Personal information
Hocine Achiou
Full name	Hocine Achiou
Date of birth	April 27, 1979 (1979-04-27) (age 29)
Place of birth	Alger, Algeria
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	USM Alger
Youth clubs
1990-96	ES Ben Aknoun
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996-2006 2006-2007 2007-	USM Alger FC Aarau USM Alger	? (?) 28 (4) ? (?)
National team²
2003-	Algeria	25 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of November 30, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of Juin 30, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Hocine Achiou (born April 27, 1979 in Alger, Algeria) is an Algerian footballer who is currently playing for USM Alger in the Algerian league.

[edit] Football career

Achiou started his playing career with ES Ben Aknoun before joining the junior ranks of USM Alger. He would eventually sign his first professional contract with the club. Achiou was an important member of the team's African Champions League run in 2003 and 2004. USM Alger made the final eight (group stage) in both those years and even made it to the semi-final in 2003 when they lost 3-2 on aggregate to eventual champions Enyimba FC.

He had numerous opportunities to join European clubs but the player could not agree on financial terms with the clubs. He had trials with Premiership-sides Fulham FC and Portsmouth FC and French clubs CS Sedan and FC Lorient. Hocine finally signed a one year deal with Swiss club FC Aarau in the summer of 2006. He scored a goal in his first league game against FC St. Gallen. In the summer of 2007, he left FC Aarau after just one season and immediately joined his former team USM Alger.

[edit] International Career

Achiou was part of the Algerian team that finished second in their group in the first round of the 2004 African Nations Cup behind Cameroun before being defeated by Morocco in the quarter-finals. Achiou had scored an important goal against Egypt in one of the group stage matches that was instrumental in helping Algeria reach the quarterfinals. Achiou also scored a goal against Zimbabwe which would be the difference in the tie-breaker against Egypt, and ultimately qualify Algeria to the quarter-finals. Achiou has 25 caps for the Algerian national team and has scored 3 goals.