Ali Benarbia - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Ali Benarbia

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Born
1968 (56 years old)

Birth Place
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Oran, Algeria

Position
Attacking Midfield

Status

Ethnicity

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Height
171 cm

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Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

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Ali Benarbia (Arabic: علي بن عربية; born 8 October 1968) is an Algerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, he is a TV presenter for Al Jazeera Sports in Doha.

As a player he was a midfielder who notably spent time playing in Ligue 1 and the Premier League between 1995 and 2003 playing with Monaco, Bordeaux, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City. He also had spells with Martigues, Al-Rayyan and Qatar SC. He was capped seven times by Algeria between 2000 and 2001.

Benarbia is fondly remembered for his time at Manchester City, and was nicknamed "The Algerian Magician".

Ali Benarbia was born in Oran, Algeria, with his family originating from Sidi Bel Abbès. When he was only a year old, the family settled in south of France. It was not long before the young Ali started kicking a ball around on the streets.

Benarbia was first approached by the Algerian Football Federation in 1986. In a rare interview with French website LeButeur published in 2009, Benarbia said that he never refused to play for Algeria. He stated that he was unhappy with the lack of professionalism within the national team and wanted the Federation to provide assurances for professional footballers' safety. During the time of Benarbia's playing career, Algeria struggled with political situations such as the 1986 oil price collapse, Black October and the Algerian Civil War.

He made his début in a 2002 African Cup of Nations Group 4 qualifying game against Burkina Faso in September 2000. He represented Algeria a total of seven times, participating in; three World Cup qualifying games, two Africa Cup of Nations Cup qualifiers and two friendlies.