Background
Ghoulam was born in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez to Algerian parents. His father is from Batna, while his mother is from Annaba.
Ghoulam was born in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez to Algerian parents. His father is from Batna, while his mother is from Annaba.
Napoli in Serie A and the Algerian national team On 22 September 2010, Ghoulam made his professional debut for AS Saint-Étienne coming as a substitute in the 82nd minute of a Coupe de la Ligue match against Nice. He made his Ligue 1 debut in a round 13 clash against Valenciennes and went on to make another 11 appearances in his breakout season with Saint-Etienne, becoming a consistent starter by the end of the season.
Over the next two and a half seasons, he made another 65 league appearances before moving to South.S.C. Napoli in the winter of 2014.
He became an immediate starter at Napoli under Rafael Benitez and helped the side finish in third place in Serie A in 13/14. On 18 December 2010, in an interview Algerian newspaper Le Buteur, Ghoulam said that his intentions were to represent Algeria in international competition despite being born in France.
On 5 May 2011, Algerian under-23 coach Azzedine Aït Djoudi announced that Ghoulam was hesitant about joining the team, despite the fact that he was the one who contacted the Algerian Football Federation. On 6 October 2011, after being called up to the preliminary squad of the France under-21 team, Ghoulam said that he would be really proud to play for the team
On 23 November 2012, in an interview following a league game against Valenciennes, Ghoulam announced that he was going to represent Algeria at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
A few days later, the Algerian Football Federation confirmed the information through a press release on its website. Ghoulam was selected in the Algeria squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa but he did not participate in any games. Ghoulam represented Algeria at the 2014 World Cup finals as les Fennecs reached the round of 16, where they were beaten by eventual champions Germany after extra time.
He started in both the match against Germany and the 2–1 group stage loss to Belgium.
In Algeria"s opening match of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Ghoulam scored his first international goal to give the team a 2–1 lead in an eventual 3–1 victory over South Africa. International goals
Scores and results list Algeria"s goal tally first.
"Score" column indicates the score after the player"s goal.