Yohan Benalouane

Yohan Ben Alouane (Arabic: يوهان بن علوان‎, also known as Yohan Benalouane; born 28 March 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Nottingham Forest. Born and brought up in France, Benalouane represented the country as a youth before switching to Tunisia at senior international level.

Yohan Benalouane
Benalouane training with Atalanta in 2014
Personal information
Full name Yohan Ben Alouane[1]
Date of birth (1987-03-28) 28 March 1987
Place of birth Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Playing position(s) Centre back
Club information
Current team
 Nottingham Forest
Number 29
Youth career
1996–2000 FC Tricastin
2000–2001 Racing Blondel Bollène
2001–2005 Saint-Étienne
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2007 Saint-Étienne B 2 (0)
2007–2010 Saint-Étienne 66 (2)
2010–2012 Cesena 26 (0)
2012–2014 Parma 25 (1)
2014–2015 → Atalanta (loan) 44 (1)
2015–2019 Leicester City 16 (0)
2016 → Fiorentina (loan) 0 (0)
2019– Nottingham Forest 14 (1)
National team‡
2008 France U21[3] 1 (0)
2018– Tunisia 5 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:36, 17 July 2019 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11:38, 17 July 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Saint-Étienne

Benalouane started out his professional career at a French club Saint-Étienne, playing exclusively for the reserves in 2005 before successfully promoted to the first team in 2007.

Cesena

On 31 August 2010, Benalouane joined Serie A club Cesena for an undisclosed fee.[4] After a particularly poor performance in a 2–0 loss against Bologna in December 2010, Benalouane was substituted. On leaving the pitch, and being jeered by Cesena supporters, he stormed past the bench and headed straight down the tunnel.[5] He later publicly apologised for his behaviour.[6]

Parma/Atalanta

In the summer of 2012, Benalouane was loaned to Parma, making his move permanent in July 2013 in a co-ownership deal. He signed a five-year contract with the Serie A outfit.[7] On 3 January 2014, he joined Atalanta on a loan deal.[8]

Leicester City

On 3 August 2015, Benalouane joined Premier League club Leicester City on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, reported to be €8 million.[9][10] On 31 January 2016, he joined Italian club ACF Fiorentina on loan until the end of the season,[11] but did not play for the club due to injury.[12] In June 2016, Benalouane filed an appeal with the Lega Serie A over unpaid wages from Fiorentina, whose sporting director claimed Leicester had deceived them over the player's fitness.[12] He played only four league games (all as a substitute) in the 2015–16 Premier League season, when Leicester became champions, making him ineligible for a winner's medal (minimum five league matches required).[13]

Following the close of the transfer window, Benalouane was excluded from Leicester City's finalised squad for the 2016–17 Premier League season.[14] Benalouane spent most of the season playing for the reserves, but returned to the first team in January 2017 following the departures of Luis Hernández and Jeffrey Schlupp. He played his first senior game of the 2016–17 season in a 3–1 FA Cup fourth-round replay win over Derby County on 8 February 2017.[15]

Nottingham Forest

On 18 January 2019 it was announced that Benalouane had become new manager Martin O'Neill's first signing for Nottingham Forest.[16] He made his debut for the club the following day, playing the full 90 minutes of a 0–1 home defeat to Bristol City.[17] He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 win over arch-rivals Derby County on 25 February 2019.

International career

Benalouane was eligible to play either for France (by place of birth) or Tunisia (through parentage). Despite playing once for the French under 21 team, he submitted a transfer request to represent the Tunisian senior team in 2010. However, despite receiving a call-up against Chad in an African Cup of Nations qualifier,[18] he missed the game because he failed to be vaccinated prior to travel to Chad.

In October he refused to join Tunisia for the match against Togo, for which he expected to receive a call-up from Laurent Blanc instead. However, FIFA warned Benalouane that as the paperwork had been completed, he could represent Tunisia only, a refusal to show up may risk a ban in club football.[19] Benalouane refused another call-up in August 2013.[20]

In March 2018, Benalouane was once again called up by Tunisia, and this time he accepted the call up.[21] Benalouane made his debut for Tunisia in a 1–0 victory over Iran on 23 March 2018, playing the full match.[22] He was named in Tunisia's final 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[23]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 06 March 2020[24]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Saint-Étienne 2007–08 Ligue 1 700000—70
2008–09 Ligue 1 291000091382
2009–10 Ligue 1 291201000320
2010–11 Ligue 1 1000000010
Total 662201091783
Cesena 2010–11 Serie A 15010——160
2011–12 Serie A 11031——141
2012–13 Serie A 0020——20
Total 26061——321
Parma 2012–13 Serie A 21110——221
2013–14 Serie A 4010——50
Total 25120——271
Atalanta 2013–14 Serie A 17010——180
2014–15 Serie A 27120——291
Total 44130——471
Leicester City 2015–16 Premier League 402030—90
2016–17 Premier League 110200020180
2017–18 Premier League 103010—50
Total 160704020290
Fiorentina (loan) 2015–16 Serie A 0000—0000
Nottingham Forest 2018–19 Championship 1410000—141
2019-20 Championship 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 0
Career total 1915211501112287

International
As of match played 17 July 2019[25]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Tunisia 201850
Total50

References
  1. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  2. "Yohan Benalouane". Leicester City F.C. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  3. "Match – France – Allemagne – FFF".
  4. Bairner, Robin. "Yohan Benalouane has finalised his move to Italy from Saint-Etienne, signing for Cesena". Goal.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  5. "Mercato: vicini i Riski; Benalouane si scusa". La Gazzetta dello Sport. 7 December 2010. p. 6.
  6. "Cesena, Benalouane: "Chiedo scusa a tutti"" [Cesena, Benalouane: "I apologise to everyone"]. Tutto Mercato Web (in Italian). 6 December 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  7. "Leonardi: Paletta Costs 35 Millions. Benalouane signed a five year contract". Parma FC. 17 July 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  8. "Yohan Benalouane on loan to Atalanta". Parma FC. 3 January 2014. Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  9. "Leicester City Sign Yohan Benalouane". Leicester City FC. 3 August 2015.
  10. "Leicester seal deal for defender Yohan Benalouane". ESPN FC. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  11. "Leicester's Yohan Benalouane joins Fiorentina on loan".
  12. JBlackwell (2 June 2016). "Leicester City defender Yohan Benalouane files appeal over unpaid Fiorentina wages". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  13. Which Leicester players get a Premier League winners' medal?, Sky Sports, 7 May 2016, retrieved 9 May 2016
  14. Blackwell, Jordan (2 September 2016). "Leicester City's Premier League squad: Benalouane out, Hamer in". leicestermercury.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  15. "Leicester City 3–1 Derby County". BBC Sport. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  16. https://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/news/2019/january/yohan-benalouane-signs/
  17. "Nottingham Forest 0-1 Bristol City". BBC Sport. 19 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  18. La Presse de Tunisie Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
  19. "FIFA Rules in Tunisia's Favor in Yohan Benalouane Case". Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  20. "Tunisie : Yohan Benalouane aurait décliné la convocation de Maâloul" (in French). Global Net. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  21. "Foxes Set For International Duty". 20 March 2018.
  22. "Foxes Impress On International Stage". 24 March 2018.
  23. Okeleji, Oluwashina (2 June 2018). "Tunisia World Cup squad: Leicester City's Benalouane in 23-man squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  24. Yohan Benalouane at Soccerway. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  25. Yohan Benalouane at National-Football-Teams.com
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