Antar Yahia

Antar Yahia was born on the 21^st March 1982. He is an Algerian international football player who is currently playing the role of a centre back for Platanians in the Superleague Greece.

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Early Life

Antar Yahia was born in Mulhouse, France to the family of Fatima Zohra and Boussaha Yahia, who is a welder by profession from Algeria. His parents moved to Alsace from the village of Sedrata in the Aures Region in the eastern part of the country, Algeria. In the year 1985, Antar Yahia’s parents made up their minds to move back to their country as they found it hard with the life in France. They lived in Algerian shortly before going back to France.

Antar Yahia in married to Karima Ziani who is the twin sister of a fellow Algerian football player called Karim Ziani.

Antar Yahia started playing football at the age of 10, when he paid his elder brothers who were playing football a visit. He loved the game and the rest of it was just about history.

Antar Yahia joined the junior team of Racing Club de Belfort, a club that is in his neighborhood. Later he went on to join FC Sochaux training center after three years.

Club Career

At the age of 14, Antar Yahia joined the football boarding institution of FC Sochaux.

Antar Yahia began his professional football playing when he was sent on a loan contract to Internazionale in the year 2001 to Corsican club SC Bastia. He played his first match for the senior team on the 16^th January 2002 in the match that was played against Olympique Lyon as he subbed Cedric Uras in the 43^rd minute of the game. After four seasons with the Corsica, he left the club to OGC Nice.

Antar Yahia signed 4-year deal with Nice in the summer of the year 2005 after the relegation of SC Bastia. In the first season he had with the club, he appeared in most of the games but after that he became a sub. So he made up his mind to join another club.

In the year 2007, Antar Yahia made a move on loan to VFL Bochum. On the 30^th January 2007, Antar Yahia played his first Bundesliga match for the club in the game that was played against Bayern Munich. In a short time, he became a crucial member of the club and had a secured position in the central defense of the team. Whe the loan deal was exhausted; VfL Bochum bought the player for the sum of 800,000 Euro. And he was to stay with the club until the year 2011. On the 4^th January 2010, he was awarded the Algerian best player of the year 2009.

When his club was relegated at the end of the 2009/10 season, Antar Yahia showed his desire to leave the club during the summer transfer window.

On the 13^th October, Antar Yahia signed a new deal with the club that will keep him with the club until the year 2014.

On the 17^th July 2011, Antar Yahia agreed terms with Al Nassr, a Saudi club. On the 1^st August 2011, the transfer move was completed as he signed a two-year deal with the club. On the 21^st January 2012, Antar Yahia got to a mutual agreement to call off the contract with the club

On the 25^th January 2012, Antar Yahia made a return move to Germany and signed a 2 ½ year deal with the Bundesliga club, FC Kaiserlaustern.

On the 14^th January 2013, Antar Yahia signed a year deal with the Tunisian Club Espérance de Tunis. He played his first match for the club a month after his entrance into the club as a starter in the match that was played against Beja and was given the captain’s armband in the game.

Antar Yahia joined the Greek club, Platanian FC on a 4-month contract on the 28^th January 2014.

International Career

Antar Yahia started his international career with the youth national team of France in the year 1998. He was called up to take part in the UEFA European Under-16 Championship qualifiers. He played his first match for the squad on the 7^th October 1998 in the match that was played against Switzerland, as the match ended 3-3. This was the only game he played for the French U-16 national team.

In the year 2000, Antar Yahiawas called up to the U-18 national team of France for the qualifying games for the European Championship to be conducted in Finland in July 2001. Antar Yahia played his first match against Germany and they won the match 4-2. In the second match he played with the team, they failed the win the Netherlands national team and lost their chances of qualifying for the tournament.

Antar Yahia was among the first players to benefit in the FIFA rules on the international eligibility when he played his first match for the Algerian national team in an Olympic Games qualifier match that was played against Ghana. He scored the only goal of the match in the 19^th minute of the match in Blida. The coach of the Algerian national team, Sadaane handed the player promotion to the senior squad of the country after his good performance in the first game he played for the country.

Antar Yahia began his international career with the senior squad of the Algerian national team on the 15^th January 2004 in the match that was played against Mali. It was a friendly match that was played in preparation for the 2004 African Cup of Nation that was hosted in Tunisia. Antar Yahia played a part in the entire group matches that were played by the Algerian national team.

In December 2009, Antar Yahia was chosen by the Algerian national team coach to play in the 2010 African Cup of Nations that was hosted in Angola, but because of injury problems, he never played in any of the group games with the squad.

In the first match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup that was played against United States, Antar Yahia was sent off the pitch in the final minutes of the game after getting the second yellow card in the match.

Antar Yahia announced his international retirement on the 1^st May 2012.

In total, Antar Yahia played the 53 matches for the Algerian national team and scored the total of six goals for the country.

Honours

On the 16^th January 2010 in Luanda, Angola, Antar Yahia was given the best Arab Player of the year 2009 by winning a poll that was created by the Arab TV channel called MBC. A million people took part in the poll and he won majority of the votes because of his astonishing performance and goal against Egypt in the World Cup play-off.