Rafik Djebbour

Rafik Djebbour
Personal information
Full name	Rafik Zoheir Djebbour
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Striker / Right winger
Team information
Current team	Olympiacos
Number	10
Youth career
2000–2003	Auxerre
Senior career*
Years	Team
2003–2004	Auxerre
2004–2005	La Louvière
2005	Ethnikos Asteras
2006	Atromitos
2007–2008	Panionios
2008–2011	AEK Athens
2011–	Olympiacos
International career‡
2006–	Algeria
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 00:00, December 31, 2011 (UTC); ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 00:00, December 31, 2011 (UTC)

Rafik Zoheir Djebbour (born on 8 March 1984 in Grenoble, France) is an Algerian international footballer. He currently plays for Olympiacos in the Greek Superleague.

Club career

Auxerre

Djebbour was signed to Auxerre youth academy at the age of 15 in 1998. He was moved to the senior team in 2003 after spending five years in the youth academy. He made his professional debut at the age of 19.

Louviéroise

His impressive debut season caught the eye of R.A.A. Louviéroise, in his second professional season, he did not live up to his expectations. Even though he made 21 appearances he only managed to score six goals. Djebbour was transfer listed by the club at the end of the season, Djebbour mentioned in an interview that he was transfer listed as he wasn't happy with the way the club didn't support him when his brother had been in a coma for 5 months, he stated he was very disappointed with the staff and became disillusioned and felt no attachment to the club.^[2] In July 2005, Djebbour signed for Greek outfit Ethnikos Asteras.

Ethnikos Asteras

In his first season in Greece, he scored 11 goals in 21 from September to January. This earned him a move to Atromitos where he managed six goals until the end of the season.

Atromitos

Djebbour suffered a serious injury in his first season with Atromitos this limited Djebbour to only two appearances without scoring. In January 2006, Djebbour called upon one of the "big three" of Greece (AEK Athens, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos) to acquire his services, however this did not happen and he ended up at Panionios.

Panionios

Before signing to Panionios, Djebbour went on trial at English club Watford but was not retained as Aidy Boothroyd stated "He wasn't what I was looking for".^[3] His first six months with Panionios, Djebbour scored four goals in the remaining 14 games. He would go on to score 15 goals in 27 appearances. In the summer of 2008, AEK Athens expressed their interest in signing Djebbour. He completed his move to the "Dikefalos-Aetos" on 1 July 2008.

AEK Athens

In 2008, Djebbour transferred to AEK for €3.2M. Djebbour scored his first goal for AEK in the 93rd minute in the home 2—1 win agains Asteras Tripolis giving his club the three points. Djebbour got into a fight with fellow teammate Nacho Scocco in a training ground bust up. On 30 September 2009 it was reported that Djebbour clashed with AEK Athens' coach Dusan Bajevic and was not allowed to train with the rest of the season for four months. During his absence from AEK Athens' training Djebbour had been training with Celtic^[4] and Blackburn Rovers.^[5] On the 7/9/10, Djebbour signed an 3-year deal keeping at the club until 2013, Djebbour contract is worth €3.3m and a buy-out of clause €7m.^[6]

After singing his contract extension in 2010, he began the 2010 season in great form, scoring 3 goals in 3 games (2–1 loss to Kerkyra, 1–0 win against Panserraikos, and a 2–2 draw with Asteras Tripolis) for the regular season as well as a goal during AEK's 3–1 Europa League win against Hajduk Split.

On 2 January 2011 Djebbour had another clash, this time with Manolo Jimenez the current AEK Athen's coach. Jimenez reportedly stressed to Djebbour that he is not allowed to attend the next day training and that he should instead meet with the chairman of AEK Athens.^[7]

After the incidents with Manolo Jimenez, Rafik requested immediately to be released on a free transfer by AEK.He also requested to be paid his remaining wages doubled.Lens and other French teams declared interest in buying him.^[8] Djebbour threated AEK's board and was ready to seek a solution in court.However both sides agreed on € 300.000 and on January 14, 2011 Rafik was released.^[9]

Olympiakos

On January 21, 2011, Djebbour joined Olympiacos signing a 6-month contract with the club.with option of renewal for 2 years by club. Now the option is active and his contract alerted in 2 years. During his first year in the team he scored 7 goals in 10 appearances. On October 19, 2011 he scored his first ever goal in UEFA Champions League against Borussia Dortmund in 3-1 home win. ^[10]

International career

He made his debut with the Desert Foxes in an unofficial friendly game against Istres in August 2006 and his first official game was the following day against Gabon, which Algeria lost 0–2. He scored his first international goal agains Liberia on 6 June 2008. He played a key role in Algeria’s winning campaign to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and scored a crucial goal in Algeria’s 3–1 victory over Egypt in June 2009.