59 Facts About Ben Arfa

Hatem Ben Arfa is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder.

Ben Arfa's career started in the Ile-de-France region, where he trained at Boulogne-Billancourt and Versailles.

Ben Arfa spent three years there before leaving for Lyon, where he won four Ligue 1 titles.

Ben Arfa spent four years at Newcastle, with a loan spell at Hull City in his final season at the club.

Ben Arfa signed for Nice in January 2015 but was unable to make his debut until August, having already represented Newcastle United Reserves and Hull City the previous season.

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Ben Arfa scored 17 goals in 32 league appearances for Nice, attracting the interest of several European clubs, and signed for Paris Saint-Germain on 1 July 2016.

Ben Arfa then went on to play for Valladolid and Bordeaux before joining Lille in 2022.

Ben Arfa is a former French youth international and has played at all levels for France.

Ben Arfa was called up to the senior team for the first time in October 2007 for a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against the Faroe Islands.

Ben Arfa was born into a family with a football history.

Ben Arfa's father was the former Tunisian international footballer Kamel Ben Arfa.

Already labeled a prodigy at the age of 15, Ben Arfa joined Lyon, a club that had just won its first ever Ligue 1 championship.

Ben Arfa made his UEFA Champions League debut in a group stage match against Manchester United coming on as a substitute for Sidney Govou.

Ben Arfa scored two goals in each match with both results being in favor of Lyon.

Ben Arfa was presented to the media and had his first training session with the club the same day.

Ben Arfa scored his first goal for Les Marseillais in that match.

Ben Arfa continued in form scoring six times in his first 11 matches.

Ben Arfa drew the ire of manager Eric Gerets after his refusal to leave the bench to warm up.

Ben Arfa later said he was injured much to the chagrin of Gerets, but later apologized for the incident to the media and Gerets himself.

Controversy surfaced again when, on 8 October 2009, Ben Arfa was fined €10,000 by the club for missing a training session.

Ben Arfa blamed the absence on airport delays as he was in Tunisia visiting family members during the international break.

On 10 January 2010, Ben Arfa scored his first goal of the season against amateur club Trelissac in the Coupe de France.

Later that month, Ben Arfa scored an away goal in the first leg of the club's UEFA Europa League tie against Danish club Copenhagen.

Five days later, Ben Arfa's agent declared that Newcastle were indeed interested in the player, along with German clubs Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen, Turkish club Galatasaray, and Italian club AC Milan.

Similar to his actions in leaving Lyon, Ben Arfa responded to the statement by telling the French sports newspaper L'Equipe that he would not be returning to La Commanderie, Marseille's training facility, and would not play with the team for the remainder of the season.

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Ben Arfa stated that his relationship with Deschamps had turned sour and was beyond repair.

Ben Arfa confirmed his intentions by travelling to Newcastle upon Tyne, without authorization, with hopes that Newcastle and Marseille would come to an agreement.

On 27 August 2010, Ben Arfa agreed to personal terms with Newcastle and, the following day, the club confirmed that it had signed Ben Arfa on a season-long loan.

Ben Arfa spent most of his rehabilitation in his home city of Paris recuperating at the Clairefontaine academy.

Ben Arfa participated fully in warm-ups with the first-team, but spent the majority of the training session doing light training and fitness work.

Ben Arfa made his return to the team on 15 July 2011 in a match against Conference National club Darlington.

Ben Arfa made his season debut in the match against Nottingham Forest appearing as a substitute.

On 7 January 2012, Ben Arfa scored Newcastle's opening goal in its FA Cup third round tie against Blackburn Rovers.

Two months later, Ben Arfa scored the opener in Newcastle's away league match against Arsenal.

In December 2014 Ben Arfa unexpectedly left England, with Hull manager Steve Bruce later admitting he did not know where the player was and that his career with Hull appeared to be over.

Ben Arfa would be ineligible to play for the club, due to a rule that a player can only play for two clubs in a single season, having already played for both Newcastle United Reserves and Hull City.

Ben Arfa made his debut for Nice against Monaco in Nice's opening Ligue 1 match of the season on 8 August 2015 at the Allianz Riviera.

On 1 July 2016, amidst reported interest from all over Europe after a season in which he scored 18 goals in 37 matches for Nice, Ben Arfa signed for Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year deal, after his contract ran out at Nice.

On 27 April 2019, Ben Arfa won the Coupe de France as Rennes defeated his former club Paris Saint-Germain in the final on penalties.

On 28 January 2020, Ben Arfa signed with La Liga club Real Valladolid on a six-month contract.

Ben Arfa chose the number 3 jersey, an uncommon shirt number for an attacker, and explained his choice by stating that "on the shirt, it looks pretty".

On 7 October 2020, Ben Arfa joined Ligue 1 side Bordeaux on a one-year contract.

Ben Arfa enjoyed a "good start to the season", scoring two goals and providing five assists in 2020 with Bordeaux.

Ben Arfa had a deteriorating relationship with manager Jean-Louis Gasset.

On 26 May 2021, sporting director Alain Roche confirmed that Ben Arfa would be leaving the club at the end of his contract.

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Ben Arfa stated that the option for a further year included in Ben Arfa's deal was "conditioned upon sporting criteria" that were not met.

On 19 January 2022, Ben Arfa joined reigning Ligue 1 champions Lille on a six-month contract.

Ben Arfa had reportedly criticised the way the team was set up, and told Gourvennec that "this isn't Guingamp", a team he formerly coached.

Ben Arfa later insulted Gourvennec and Lille president Olivier Letang in an Instagram story, calling them "twisted", a word used by Gourvennec earlier in the day.

Ben Arfa made his debut with the team at the 2003 edition of the Aegean Cup in Turkey.

Ben Arfa appeared in all five matches and scored goals against Northern Ireland, Turkey and Portugal.

Ben Arfa appeared in the final three matches of the season for the team to bring his appearance total to four.

Ben Arfa only made one competitive appearance with the under-21 team, appearing in a 2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification match against Romania.

Ben Arfa was called up to the senior team for the first time on 10 October 2007 by Raymond Domenech to replace the injured Louis Saha and played in the Euro 2008 qualifying matches against the Faroe Islands and Lithuania.

Ben Arfa was omitted from Domenech's final 23-man Euro 2008 squad on 28 May.

On 25 February 2010, after a long period without a call-up, Ben Arfa returned to the team, alongside teammates Steve Mandanda and Benoit Cheyrou, after being called up for France's friendly match with Spain on 3 March.

Ben Arfa made his return to the team in the match appearing as a half-time substitute for Moussa Sissoko.

On 12 May 2016, Ben Arfa was named on the standby list for France's UEFA Euro 2016 squad.

Ben Arfa was born in the Paris suburb of Clamart and was raised in Chatenay-Malabry.