Sabri Lamouchi

Sabri Lamouchi (born 9 November 1971) is a former French professional footballer who played as a midfielder and the current manager of El Jaish in the Qatar Stars League.

Club career

Lamouchi started his professional career with Alès in France. During his time there, he impressed Auxerre and played with them for four years. He then went on to join Monaco, who he helped to the Ligue 1 title in 2000, before being snapped up by Parma of Italy. Even though he had an average season, he was again on the move this time to Italian giants Internazionale. He also struggled there, and failed to win a place in the team.

Lamouchi had a spell at Genoa before joining Marseille on loan the following year. In January 2006, the loan deal was made a permanent move. He played for Marseille for six further months, until he announced that he was leaving the club on 18 September 2006, although his contract ran until June 2007.

In 2006, Lamouchi moved to Al-Rayyan in the Qatar Stars League, where he scored a spectacular goal in his first match. The next season, he joined Umm-Salal.

In January 2009, Lamouchi transferred to Al-Kharitiyath.

International career

Lamouchi was capped 12 times and scored one goal for the French national team. He made his debut in 1996 and was a member of the French European Championship squad the same year. He was in France's preliminary squad of 28 players for the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil. However he was one of the six players axed by head coach Aimé Jacquet just before the tournament began. France went on to be victorious in the tournament and become national heroes.

Managerial career

In May 2012, he became manager of the Ivory Coast national team, his first managerial position. The Elephants qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, ranked 23rd at the time – highest ranked in Africa – and started their group play with a 2–1 victory over Japan. That was followed by a 2–1 loss to group favorite Colombia. On his last game as Ivory Coast's manager, he and his team lost 2–1 against Greece and they eliminated from the FIFA World Cup. The team featured stars such as Yaya Touré, Gervinho, Wilfried Bony and Didier Drogba. Lamouchi resigned from the position following Les Elephants' exit from the competition.

Honours

Player

Auxerre

• French Division 1: 1995–96
• Coupe de France: 1995–96

Monaco

• French Division 1: 1999–2000

Parma

• Coppa Italia: 2001–02

Manager

El Jaish

• Qatar Crown Prince Cup: 2016