43 Facts About Antar Yahia

Anther Yahia is a French-born Algerian retired professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Antar Yahia is a former French youth international having earned caps for both the under-16 and under-18 youth teams for a brief period of time.

Antar Yahia was the first footballer to profit from the 2004 change in FIFA eligibility rules as he had played as a French youth international.

At international level, Antar Yahia played for the Algeria national team prior to his retirement from international football on 1 May 2012.

Antar Yahia is considered a national hero by many Algerians, as he was the scorer of the goal that put them into their first World Cup finals since 1986, at the expense of bitter rivals Egypt.

Antar Yahia struck in the 40th minute of the play-off by scoring a Marco van Basten-esque goal.

Antar Yahia participated in two continental tournaments 2004 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, the latter in which Algeria finished fourth, and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Antar Yahia captained the team during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, holding the position from June 2010 to May 2012.

Antar Yahia was born in Mulhouse, France, to Fatima Zohra and Boussaha Antar Yahia, a welder by profession, both of Algerian, Chaoui descent.

Antar Yahia's parents emigrated to Alsace from the village of Sedrata in the Aures region in eastern Algeria.

In 1985, Antar Yahia's parents decided to move the family back to Algeria as they found it difficult to cope with life in France.

Antar Yahia is married to Karima Ziani who is the twin sister of fellow French-Algerian football player Karim Ziani.

Antar Yahia was introduced to the game at the age of 10, when he decided to visit his elder brothers who were playing football.

Antar Yahia fell in love with the game and joined the junior team of Racing Club de Belfort, a club in his neighbourhood.

Antar Yahia later joined the FC Sochaux-Montbeliard training centre three years later.

Antar Yahia is Muslim and observes fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan he speaks Arabic, French, German, Italian, English and Spanish.

Antar Yahia began playing football for the Racing Club de Belfort youth team before joining the Sochaux youth academy at the age of fourteen.

However, in 2000, at the age of eighteen Antar Yahia wanted to sign a professional contract, but his wish was denied by the then Sochaux leaders.

Antar Yahia decided to leave Sochaux opting to join Internazionale's youth academy.

Antar Yahia started his professional career when he was loaned out by Internazionale in 2001 to Corsican side SC Bastia.

Antar Yahia made his senior debut on 16 January 2002 against Lyon, replacing Cedric Uras in the 43rd minute.

Antar Yahia signed a four-year contract in the summer of 2005 with OGC Nice after the relegation of SC Bastia.

Antar Yahia did some training exercises at both clubs and both wanted to buy him.

Antar Yahia decided to move to the club from the Bundesliga.

Antar Yahia agreed a contract until 2011 with the club and earned on 4 January 2010 the Algerian Player of the Year 2009 award.

In January 2010 in Luanda, Angola, Antar Yahia was presented the award of Arab player of the Year 2009 after winning a poll created by the Arab television channel MBC.

Antar Yahia mentioned that he was aware of interest from clubs in France, but would make his decision after the World Cup.

On 13 October 2010, Antar Yahia agreed a new contract with VfL Bochum that would keep him at the club until 30 June 2014.

On 17 July 2011, despite still having three years remaining on his contract with Bochum, Antar Yahia agreed to join Saudi club Al Nassr.

On 1 August 2011, the move was made official with Antar Yahia signing a two-year contract with the club.

On 25 January 2012, Antar Yahia returned to Germany and signed and a two-year and a half contract with Bundesliga side 1.

On 14 January 2013, Antar Yahia signed a one-year and a half contract with Tunisian club Esperance Sportive de Tunis.

On 28 January 2014, Antar Yahia joined the Greek side Platanias FC on a four-month deal.

Six months later, Antar Yahia made his return in France, signing a two-year contract with Ligue 2 team Angers SCO on 11 June 2014.

Antar Yahia began his youth international career with France in 1998 as he was called up to participate in the UEFA European Under-16 Championship.

Antar Yahia was called up to play for the France-Under 18 squad in 2000, a time when the team was trying to qualify for the 2001 European Championship to be held in Finland in July 2001.

Antar Yahia was the first footballer to profit from the change in FIFA's rules on international eligibility when he made his debut for Algeria in an Olympic Games qualifier against Ghana.

Antar Yahia started his senior international career on 15 January 2004 against Mali in a friendly in preparation for the 2004 African Cup of Nations hosted in Tunisia.

In December 2009, Antar Yahia was selected by Saadane to play in the 2010 African Cup of Nations hosted in Angola, but due to an injury Antar Yahia did not play any of the group games.

On 27 December 2016, it was confirmed, that Antar Yahia would retire and continue at Orleans working as sporting director.

Antar Yahia left the club officially on 22 November 2019 after a mutual agreement.

On 1 May 2020, Antar Yahia was appointed sporting director of USM Alger.

Antar Yahia was close to getting sacked at the end of the year, due to the team's bad results.