Essaïd Belkalem

Essaïd Belkalem was born on the 1^st January 1989. He is a footballer from Algeria. He plays the role of a defender for the club Watford in the English Championship on loan from his main club, Granada. He is a member of the Algerian national team.

source of picture: en.africatopsports.com

Club Career

In the year 2008, Belkalem was handed promotion to the senior team of JS Kabylie for the junior ranks of the club.

In the 2009/10 season, he played the total of 20 matches for the club and scored a goal for them. On the 18^th July 2010, he scored JS Kabylie’s one and only goal in the match that was played against Ismaily , an Egyptian club in the group stage of the 2010 CAF Champions League; his goal came in the 75^th minute of the match with a powerful header.

In February 2013, with his contract finishing at the end of the season, he publicized that he would like to leave the club to play for a European club at the end of the season.

In June of the year 2013, with the contract he had having expired, it was pronounced that Belkalem had made a 5-year deal with the Spanish La Liga club, Granada; he joined the team on a free transfer.

He signed for the English championship side, Watford on a season-long loan on the 12^th August 2013. He played his first match for the club on the 28^th August 2013, in a match that was played against Bournemouth and the match finished 2-0 in favor of his club; he played for the entire 90 minutes of the game. He played his first league match for the club in a match that finished 1-1 at home with Charlton Athletic on the 14^th September 2013.

International Career

In the year 2007, he was given an invitation to play with the Algerian national team for the first edition of the Mediterranean Trophy that was held in Sicily, Italy. In the year 2008, he began in a 2009 African Youth championship qualifying match that was played against Mauritania. In august 2009, he got an invitation to be a part of the U-23 national team of the country for a week long training camp in Algiers. In the year 2010, he was given an invitation to be a part of the Algeria A national team for the qualifying game that was played against Libya.

On the 12^th May 2012, Belkalem was given an invitation for the first time to be part of the senior team of the country for the 2014 FIFA World cup qualifying matches that was played against Mali and Rwanda and in the return leg of the match that was played against Gambia in the 2013 African Cup of Nations. He played his first match for the national team of the country in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations second round qualifying match that was played against Libya; he started the gane and played for the entire 90 minutes as his country went on to win the game 1-0.

Honours

In the year 2009, he was selected as the third young talent in the Algerian Championnat National behind the following players, Abderahmane Hachoud and Youcef Ghazali; it was done in a vote that was organized by DZFoot.