FC
Martigues (France), AS Monaco FC (France), FC Girondins de
Bordeaux (France), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Manchester City
FC (England), Al-Rayyan (Qatar), Nadi Qatar (Qatar)
Honours
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Biography
Ali
Benarbia (born October 8, 1968 in Oran, Algeria) is an Algerian
footballer, who came to France at a young age and began his
career at FC Martigues in 1987. He was part of the side that was
promoted to Ligue 1 in 1993, operating as a midfielder.
Benarbia joined AS Monaco FC in 1997 and then moved to FC
Girondins de Bordeaux in 1998. At Bordeaux, Benarbia won the
championship in the 1998-9 season and was crowned player of the
year in France. Surprisingly he was sold to Paris Saint-Germain
after this triumph, although he failed to capture the same form
there.
Benarbia left France in 2001 and signed for Manchester City F.C.
on a free transfer. He became a firm favourite amongst the
supporters as City won the Football League First Division and
promotion back to the Premiership, winning the club's player of
the year award and being named in the select side for the
Division. He was made captain the following season, although he
found the pace of the Premier League harder and was much less
influential in his second season. He played his final game in a
City shirt in 2003 against FC Barcelona in a game to mark the
opening of the City of Manchester Stadium, before announcing his
retirement.
Only five days after this announcement, on July 27, Benarbia
signed up to play for Al-Rayyan of Qatar. After two years with
the club, he moved on to play for Nadi Qatar.
Benarbia, a French citizen, had initially wanted to represent
France internationally, although eventually he gave up and
accepted the call up to the Algerian national side, making his
debut at the 2002 African Cup of Nations in a Group 4 game
against Burkina Faso. He has since represented his country a
number of times.
