Karim ZianiHe is an Algerian football player. He plays as a midfielder.
Karim Ziani (born August 17, 1982 in Sèvres, France) is an Algerian football player who is currently playing for Olympique de Marseille in Ligue 1. His father originally comes from Bejaia in the Kabylie region of Algeria while his mother is of French origin.
Ziani made his debut for the Algerian national team in 2003 when he was called up by Belgian caretaker George Leekens for a friendly against Belgium. He was a member of the Algerian 2004 African Nations Cup team, who finished second in their group in the first round of competition before being defeated by Morocco in the quarter-finals. He was also named as the best player at his position in the 2004 African Nations Cup.
Ziani started his playing career in the junior ranks at RC Paris where he was spotted by scouts from Troyes. Ziani spent three seasons playing with Troyes' junior team before joining the first team. He subsequently spent 2 seasons playing in Ligue 1 before Troyes were relegated to Ligue 2. He spent the next season mostly on the bench for Troyes and in the summer of 2004 was loaned out to FC Lorient. In the next 2 seasons he would become Lorient's top player and would lead them to promotion to Ligue 1. He was voted as the top player in Ligue 2 for the 2005-2006 season.
In the summer of 2006, he signed a 3-year deal with FC Sochaux and reunited with his first coach at Troyes Alain Perrin.
The following summer, Ziani saw increasing attention from other French clubs, namely Olympique de Marseille. This interest culminated on 29 June 2007, when news broke that Ziani had finalized his move to Marseille for a transfer fee of USD $11 million.
Marseille17 August 1982
Source: Wikipedia
