Houssem Aouar

Houssem-Eddine Chaabane Aouar (born 30 June 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the France national team.

Club Career

Aouar joined the Olympique Lyonnais Reserves and Academy in 2009 at the age of 11.

He signed a three-year professional contract at Lyon in July 2016. He made his first team debut in on 16 February 2017 in a 1–4 away win over AZ Alkmaar in the round of 32 of the knockout phase of the UEFA Europa League, replacing Sergi Darder after 84 minutes. Aouar scored his first goal for Lyon's first team a week later in the second-leg match against AZ Alkmaar at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, which Lyon won 7–1. He made his Ligue 1 debut by starting in the away match against SC Bastia on 16 April 2017, but the match was abandoned at half-time with the score at 0–0. A win was given to Lyon three weeks later. He was nominated for the Golden Boy award in July 2018.

At the beginning of the 2017–18 season, despite having played only five competitive matches for Lyon's first team since he joined the club, Aouar was given the symbolic number 8 (having previously been worn by club legend Juninho) left free when Corentin Tolisso left the club for Bayern Munich in June 2017.

On 11 December 2019, Aouar scored a goal against RB Leipzig in a Champions League group stage match helping Lyon to secure their way into the Champions League round of 16. His side later upset both Juventus and Manchester City to reach the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Bayern Munich.

International Career

Aouar is eligible to feature for Algeria despite playing for the French youth teams at the U17 and U21 levels.

In 2018, he was reported considering to represent Algeria at international level following a talk with former Lyon and current Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Уссем Ауар (russian)