Ali Benarbia is an Algerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, he is a TV presenter for Al Jazeera Sports in Doha.
17 Facts About Ali Benarbia
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Ali Benarbia had spells with Martigues, Al-Rayyan and Qatar SC.
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Ali Benarbia was capped seven times by Algeria between 2000 and 2001.
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Ali Benarbia was born in Oran, Algeria, with his family originating from Sidi Bel Abbes.
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Ali Benarbia grabbed the attention of district side ROC Narbonne at only 10 years and seven years later he signed for FC Martigues.
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Ali Benarbia was part of the side that was promoted to Ligue 1 in 1993, operating as a midfielder.
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Ali Benarbia had turned down several offers to play for his home country of Algeria, as he had always hoped to play for France.
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Ali Benarbia was named captain of the PSG side, which featured Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha and later Nicolas Anelka.
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Ali Benarbia left France in 2001 and was signed on a free transfer by Manchester City, whose manager Kevin Keegan was familiar with him from when he scored two goals for Monaco against Keegan's Newcastle United.
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Ali Benarbia became a firm favourite amongst the supporters as City won the First Division and promotion back to the Premier League, winning the club's player of the year award and being named in the select side for the Division.
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Ali Benarbia 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.
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Ali Benarbia 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.
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Only five days after this announcement, on 27 July 2003, Ali Benarbia signed up to play for Al-Rayyan of Qatar.
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Ali Benarbia was first approached by the Algerian Football Federation in 1986.
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Ali Benarbia 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.
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Ali Benarbia made his debut in a 2002 African Cup of Nations Group 4 qualifying game against Burkina Faso in September 2000.
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Ali Benarbia represented Algeria a total of seven times, participating in; three World Cup qualifying games, two Africa Cup of Nations Cup qualifiers and two friendlies.