Youssef Sofiane

Youssef Sofiane (Arabic: يوسف سُفيان‎; born 8 July 1984 in Villefranche-sur-Saône) is a French–Algerian football player. He has played in England, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Algeria and Germany.

Sofiane began his footballing career in August 2000 as a trainee at AJ Auxerre. He joined West Ham United in June 2002, when he was signed by manager Glenn Roeder on a free transfer as back-up to the club's strikers. Opportunities were rare however and he made only two appearances for West Ham, as a substitute in a 2–1 away win against Preston, and in a 3–1 win over Rushden in the first round of the League Cup, both in August 2003. He was loaned to Lille in January 2004 until the end of the 2003–04 season, and to Notts County on a one-month loan deal in September 2004, where he made three appearances, scoring one goal against Wrexham in the Football League Trophy. He then joined Dutch club Roda JC on loan through January–May 2005, where he made three substitute appearances. Despite playing in pre-season games, he was not given a squad number by West Ham for the 2005–06 season and his contract was terminated by mutual consent in August 2005. After trials with MK Dons and Coventry City, he joined Coventry on non-contract terms in October 2005. However, he made only one substitute appearance for Coventry before being released in January 2006.

After leaving Coventry, he played for La Louviere in the Belgian Jupiler League, Sportfreunde Siegen of the German Regionalliga, and US Lesquin in France.

On 7 December 2011, Sofiane signed an 18-month contract with ES Sétif. He signed as a free agent having been without a club after his contract with MC Alger ended in summer 2011.

Sofiane represented France at Under-15 to Under-18 level.

• Won the Algerian Cup once with ES Sétif in 2012