Hocine Achiou

Hocine Achiou

Personal information
Full name	Hocine Achiou
Date of birth	(1979-04-27) April 27, 1979
Place of birth	Algiers, Algeria
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	USM Bel-Abbès
Number	8
Youth career
1990–1996	ES Ben Aknoun
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–2006	USM Alger	95	(17)
2006–2007	FC Aarau	28	(4)
2007–2008	USM Alger	23	(3)
2009	JS Kabylie	18	(3)
2009–2011	USM Alger	46	(1)
2011–2012	ASO Chlef	22	(0)
2012–2013	CS Constantine
2013	MC Oran	10	(2)
2013-	USM Bel-Abbès
International career‡
2003–2009	Algeria	26	(3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 00:00, May 17, 2012 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 00:00, April 28, 2012 (UTC)

Hocine Achiou (born April 27, 1979) is an Algerian footballer. He is currently playing for USM Bel-Abbès in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1.

Football career

Achiou started his playing career with ES Ben Aknoun before joining the junior ranks of USM Alger. He would eventually sign his first professional contract with the club. Achiou was an important member of the team's African Champions League run in 2003 and 2004. USM Alger made the final eight (group stage) in both those years and even made it to the semi-final in 2003 when they lost 3-2 on aggregate to eventual champions Enyimba FC.

He had numerous opportunities to join European clubs but the player could not agree on financial terms with the clubs. He had trials with Premiership-sides Fulham FC and Portsmouth FC and French clubs CS Sedan and FC Lorient. Hocine finally signed a one-year deal with Swiss club FC Aarau in the summer of 2006. He scored a goal in his first league game against FC St. Gallen. In the summer of 2007, he left FC Aarau after just one season and immediately joined his former team USM Alger.

International career

Achiou was part of the Algerian team that finished second in their group in the first round of the 2004 African Nations Cup behind Cameroon before being defeated by Morocco in the quarter-finals. Achiou had scored an important goal against Egypt in one of the group stage matches that was instrumental in helping Algeria reach the quarterfinals. Achiou also scored a goal against Zimbabwe which would be the difference in the tie-breaker against Egypt, and ultimately qualify Algeria to the quarter-finals. Achiou has 25 caps for the Algerian national team and has scored 3 goals.

National team statistics

Algeria national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2003	5	1
2004	13	2
2005	5	0
2006	2	0
2007	0	0
2008	0	0
2009	1	0
Total	26	3

Honours

• Won the Algerian league three times with USM Alger in 2002, 2003 and 2005
• Won the Algerian Cup three times with USM Alger in USM Alger in 2001, 2003 and 2004
• Reached the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League with USM Alger in 2003

External links

• Hocine Achiou at National-Football-Teams.com