Ali Benouna
Ali Benouna (born July 23, 1907 or May 16, 1908 in Ech Cheliff , † 1980 ) was an Algerian - French football player . He was the first player of Algerian nationality to appear for the French national team.
Club career
Benouna grew up at the beginning of the 20th century in Algeria, which was then ruled by France and was declared part of the French national territory. He belonged to the Muslim-Arab majority of the population and not one of the privileged settlers of European descent, but was still allowed to join the FC Sète club in metropolitan France in 1930 ; thus he was one of the first Algerians to take this step. With Sète, the 175 centimeter tall striker qualified for Division 1 , which was introduced as a national professional league in 1932 and thus established professional football in France. On September 11, 1932 and thus the first day of play, he made his debut in the 3-0 success of his team against the EAC Roubaix in the new league and was one of the founders. At a time when substitutions and substitutions were not possible, he was firmly set in the first team and did not miss a single game during the 1932/33 season. Despite his role as a regular in the storm, Benouna never had great success as a scorer at any point in his career, which meant that this task was assigned to teammates in the then usual five-man storm, and never scored more than six goals this season. Nevertheless, he remained an integral part of the team at Sète and became French champion with this in 1934. At the same time, they made it to the national cup final and the Algerian-born offensive player was on the field when this title was won by a 2-1 win against Olympique Marseille .
After 1934 he could not build on the previous successes with Sète, but remained a regular player at a club that continued to occupy top places in the table in the elite class of French football. In 1936, after six years in Sète, he moved to league rivals Stade Rennes . Although he immediately made the leap into the first team, he was released on December 1 of the same year and found himself with the second division US Boulogne . In the summer of 1937 he returned to Rennes, where he fought unsuccessfully to return to the first division with the now relegated club during the 1937/38 season. However, he personally succeeded in this when he signed with RC Roubaix in 1938 . At the club from northern France he was one of the top performers, but could not avert relegation in 1939. In the same year, regular game operations came to a standstill with the outbreak of World War II and Benouna ended his professional career after 135 first division games with 23 goals and 35 second division games with seven goals.
National team
As a Muslim Algerian, Benouna was a French citizen - but without full civil rights - and was therefore eligible to play for the French national team. On February 9, 1936, in a 3-0 defeat in a friendly against Czechoslovakia, he ran for the first time and became the first Algerian to make it into the French selection. Only Abdelkader Ben Bouali managed to do the same before the Second World War. After his first assignment, Benouna posted his second appointment to the national team on March 8, 1936 in a 3-0 win against Belgium , which also remained his last.
Individual evidence
- ^ Algerians in the French National Team , rsssf.com
- ↑ Football: Ali Benouna , footballdatabase.eu
- ↑ Ali BENOUNA , fff.fr
- ↑ Ali Benouna - fiche de stats du joueur de football , pari-et-gagne.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Benouna, Ali |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Algerian-French soccer player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1907 or 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ech Cheliff , Algeria |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1980 |