Karim Ziani (Arabic: كريم زياني‎) (born 17 August 1982 in Sèvres, Hauts-de-Seine) is an Algerian footballer who plays for VfL Wolfsburg in Bundesliga. He has the talent to play in different positions, although he is best known for being a midfielder.

[edit] Personal life

Ziani was born to an Algerian father, originally from Bejaia in the Kabylie region of Algeria, and a french mother.^[1]

His best friend is Zidane

[edit] International career

Ziani made his debut for the Algerian national team in 2003 when he was called up by Belgian caretaker Georges 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. Karim Ziani scored his first goal for Algeria against Gambia with a penalty in a 2008 African Nations Cup qualifier, Algeria won 1-0. Ziani then added two more goals to his tally in a 2010 World Cup against Liberia. Algeria won the game 3-0. Ziani was also the artist of the recent Algerian team performances during the final phase of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification together with 2010 African Cup of Nations. Algeria made three important victories; firstly at home with the score of 3-1 against the African champion Egypt, then won away against Zambia with the score of 0-2 while finally winning at home 3-1 against Rwanda

[edit] Club career

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 two 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 two 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 2005–06 season.

In the summer of 2006, he signed a three-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 $11 million. Karim scored his first goal with Marseille in a match against Valenciennes. He has since then become a familiar face in Eric Gerets' starting eleven.^[2]

On July 7th 2009, Ziani signed four-year deal with Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg for a transfer fee of about €7 million.^[3]

[edit] Honours

• Member of 2004 African Nations Cup Top 11 team^[4]
• DZFoot d'Or: 2004, 2005, 2006^[5]
• Top player in Ligue 2: 2005/2006 (FC Lorient)
• Algerian Ballon d’Or (Ballon d’Or El Haddaf): 2006, 2007
• Coupe de France: 2007 (FC Sochaux-Montbéliard)

[edit] Career

Season	Club	Country	Championship		National cup		European cup		International
			Played	Goals	Played	Goals	Played	Goals	Played	Goals
1995–2001	RC Paris	France	Youth team training						0	0
2001–02	Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (L1)	France	8	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
2002–03	Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (L1)	France	24	0	2	0	0	0	2	0
2003–04	Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (L2)	France	28	1	2	0	0	0	10	0
2004–05	Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (L2)	France	3	100	0	0	0	0	1	0
2004–05	FC Lorient (L2)	France	24	1	0	0	0	0	6	0
2005–06	FC Lorient (L2)	France	37	7	2	0	0	0	2	0
2006–07	Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (L1)	France	30	8	8	1	0	0	7	1
2007–08	Olympique de Marseille (L1)	France	21àç-	3	2	0	3 + 1	0	3	2

Last updated September 29, 2007

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Karim Ziani

• Video report of Karim Ziani (2006–07 season) on video.lequipe.fr (French)
• Karim Ziani French league stats at lfp.fr (French)
• Karim Ziani FIFA competition record