Ali Bouafia

Ali Bouafia (Arabic علي بوعافية; * August 5, 1964 in Mulhouse, France ) is a former Algerian football player. He completed seven games for the Algerian national team.

Club career

Bouafia began his career at FC Mulhouse in his hometown. It quickly became apparent that he had his greatest skills on the position of the playmaker, while his striker qualities were in need of improvement. Under coach Raymond Domenech, therefore, he established himself as an attacking midfielder. He could play in the foreground and moved in 1987 to Olympique Marseille in the first division in the second division. The competition was there with players like Alain Giresse and Allofs extremely hard. Accordingly, he was only twelve stakes and moved the following year to the then second division club Olympique Lyon, where his former coach Raymond Domenech was also executed changes. Now he became a regular player and formed together with Aziz Bouderbala and Roberto Cabañas the offensive. Only a year later reached the summit. In 1992, he joined the newly promoted Premiership Racing Strasbourg.

His speed earned him the nickname at this time Mouche (French for "Fly "). In 1995 he succeeded to the club of entry into the Cup final, where he came on in the 72nd minute. Bouafia moved in the same year relegated FC Sochaux. There he played a good first season, but was plagued in the following season injury problems. Then in 1997 he left the club and went to Lorient. With fifteen gates he played a major role in the rise in the first division. Despite good performances he was unwanted in Lorient and in 1999 for U.S. Créteil to the second division, which he left after only half a year. His last stop was EA Guingamp. With a goal against Lorient he succeeded there revenge for his expulsion. In 2000, he ended his career with nearly 36 years. Henceforth, he was until 2002 Director of Sport at his last club. In 2009 he was hired as a scout at AS Monaco.

National

His unofficial debut Bouafia in February 1987 in a friendly game of Algerians against FC Nantes. He officially debuted on March 13, 1988 with an African Cup of Nations match against the Ivory Coast. In the tournament, he reached the third place with his team. In the African Cup of 1992 he came again to use. There, however, the team was eliminated in the group stage. On January 17, he graduated with the group match against the Republic of Congo, his last game for the national team. In his seven missions, he managed not to score.