Ismaël Bennacer (Arabic: إسماعيل بن ناصر, romanized: ʼIsmāʻīl bin Nāṣir; born 1 December 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club AC Milan. Born in France, he represents the Algeria national team.
At club level, Bennacer has represented teams in France, England and Italy throughout his career. At international level, he made his senior debut for Algeria in 2016, and has since represented his nation at three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations; he was a member of the team that won the 2019 edition, and was named the player of the tournament.
Although he had previously represented France at youth level, on 31 July 2016, the Algerian Football Federation announced that Bennacer had opted to switch his international allegiance and represent Algeria internationally. He debuted for the Algeria national team in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier, a 6–0 win over Lesotho. Bennacer was called up on 11 January 2017 to Algeria's squad for the African Cup of Nations of 2017 to replace Saphir Taïder, who suffered an injury in training.
At the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Bennacer helped Algeria to their first title in 29 years, finishing the competition as the joint-top assist provider, alongside Franck Kessié, with three assists, including one for Baghdad Bounedjah's match-winning goal against Senegal in the final on 19 July. He was later voted both the "Best Young Player" and the "Best Player" of the tournament.
Bennacer was born in Arles, France to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother.
Season Stats
1 appearances in the current 2024-2025 Season
Italian Serie A 2021-2022 Milan | Africa Cup of Nations 2019 Algeria |
UEFA Champions League Player Of The Match 2022-09-14 |
2014-2015 |
2015-2017 |
2017-2019 |
2017 (Loan) |
2019-2024 |
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