Yannis Tafer

Yannis Tafer (French pronunciation: ​[janis tafɛːʁ], born 11 February 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax FCS.

He is a France youth international having represented the country under-17, under-18, and under-19 level. Tafer was the top scorer at the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship leading the tournament with four goals and played on the under-19 team that won the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship.

Club Career

Early career

Tafer was born in the city of Grenoble in the Rhone-Alpes region to an Algerian father, who emigrated to France from Constantine, and a Portuguese mother. He began his football career with a local club in the region, FC Echirolles. After spending seven years with his childhood club, Tafer signed an aspirant (youth) contract with the then three-time champions Olympique Lyonnais.

Lyon

Following the 2007–08 season, Tafer signed his first professional contract with Lyon agreeing to a three-year contract until 2011. For the 2008–09 season, he was placed on Lyon's first-team squad and was assigned the 34 shirt, though he was reassigned to the number 29. Tafer was a key participant in the club's preseason tour playing in four of the five matches contested. He scored three goals in the preseason netting one each against second division club Nimes, Romanian club Rapid București, and fellow Ligue 1 club Nancy.

Despite being on the first-team, Tafer was limited to playing mostly on the club's Championnat de France amateur team appearing in 15 matches scoring five goals, which included a brace against RCO Agde and goals against rivals Saint-Etienne and AS Lyon Duchere. On 24 January 2009, Tafer made his professional debut in the club's Coupe de France match against Concarneau coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute. In the match, he was instrumental in the club's 5th goal after taking a pass and shooting the ball, which we

This page also has a version in other languages :  Яннис Тафер (russian)