Sofiane Feghouli

Sofiane Feghouli, was born on 26 December 1989. He is a French football player of Algerian descent who currently plays for Valencia CF in Spain. He primarily plays as an attacking midfielder and is more noted for creating goals than scoring them.

Sofiane Feghouli began his career with Grenoble, after French giants Paris Saint-Germain decline to sign him after a trial. For the latter portion of the 2006/07 season, he was promoted to the first-team squad and given the number 33 shirt. He made his highly anticipated debut, at the age of 17, for the club on 27 April 2007 in a Ligue 2 match against Reims appearing as a substitute. Grenoble won the match 1–0. He made two more appearances that season including his first start on the final match day of the season against Montpellier. Montpellier won the match 1–0 with Sofiane playing just 56 minutes before being subbed out. Following the season, he signed his first professional contract with Grenoble keeping him with the side until 2010.

The following season, he was handed the first-team number 8 and, despite being 17 years of age, was given a more important role in the squad. Despite having the pressure of being labeled the "new Zidane", his contribution to the squad was successful appearing in 26 matches and scoring 3 goals helping Grenoble achieve promotion to Ligue 1. His first career goal was against the club he made his debut against, Reims in a 4–3 victory.

Feghouli's first season in Ligue 1 was stable as he entered the season as a starter. The young midfielder started in 16 of the club's first 17 matches before being relegated to a substitute's role in December and the early part of January. He returned to the first eleven in mid-January and remained in the squad until 11 April 2009 following a 1–4 defeat to Marseille, in which Feghouli suffered an extensive injury requiring him to miss the rest of the season. Feghouli returned for the 2009–10 season making his debut on 29 August in an 0–1 defeat to Rhône-Alpes rivals Saint-Étienne. After appearing in five more matches, it was discovered by Grenoble officials that Feghouli had tore his meniscus in his right knee. The knee was successfully operated on in October. Following the surgery, Grenoble officials, most notably CEO Pierre Wantiez, were extremely critical of the player. Wantiez questioned Feghouli's long delay in returning to the team and the player's motives regarding a transfer as Feghouli would be out of contract in the summer and was already talking to several clubs, most notably Spanish club Valencia. Wantiez attributed Feghouli's recent moves to "bad advice" from the player's agent. On 20 May 2010, Feghouli completed his much anticipated move to Valencia signing a four-year contract with the club.

Sofiane is eligible for both Algeria and France. Sofiane has stated his preference is to play for France and has appeared on several France youth squads. On 12 November 2008, national team manager Raymond Domenech shortlisted the player for his pre-selection squad ahead of their friendly against Uruguay. Despite this, Algeria national team manager Rabah Saadane contacted Sofiane by telephone in an attempt to get the player to play for Algeria in their 19 November friendly against Mali. The team captain Yazid Mansouri contacted the player as well.

Sofiane is currently playing with the French under-21 squad. He made his debut for the side on 9 September 2008 against Bosnia and Herzegovina coming on as a substitute for Anthony Mounier. He would make another under-21 appearance on 19 November, this time against Denmark.