Olivier Boumelaha

Olivier Hakim Boumelaha (born 27 May 1981 in Mulhouse) is a French football striker of Algerian descent. He last played for FC Gossau in the Swiss Challenge League. He is the older brother of Virgile Boumelaha and Sabri Boumelaha.

Career

Boumelaha began his career with FC Basel in 1998 but made only one appearance for the club before moving on to FC St. Gallen in 2000. He failed to break into the first team there, also, and after a short spell at Etoile Carouge FC, he signed for FC La Chaux-de-Fonds where he played 14 games over the course of the 2004/05 season. He then moved to the United Arab Emirates with Al-Ittihad in July 2004 where he scored seven goals in just 15 appearances. This caught the eye of many European clubs and IFK Mariehamn of the Finnish Veikkausliiga acquired his services the next season. He scored twice in five matches there, but never broke into the starting XI and dropped down to the Ykkönen (Finland's second division) with Tampereen Peli-Pojat -70 in 2006. He scored goals despite a relatively low number of appearances at PP-70 but returned to the Middle East during the Summer of 2007, this time with Al Ahli of Bahrain. After just one season with The Eagles, he made his way back to Switzerland with FC Gossau of the Challenge League, he left on 18 December 2008 Gossau and will go to Dubai.