Ishak Belfodil

Early career

Belfodil began his football career at OSC Elancourt, a club located in the western suburbs of Paris, and spent his formative years at the club. He later joined nearby club Trappes FC. While at Trappes, Belfodil passed the entrance tests required to attend the Clairefontaine academy, but was not selected following failure of the final test. As a result, he moved to Paris Saint-Germain spending only a year at the Camp des Loges, the club's training center. Belfodil attributed only one year there primarily due to not focusing on his studies and not receiving enough playing time with his youth section. In 2004, he joined AC Boulogne Billencourt, a sports club that also trained international players Hatem Ben Arfa and Issiar Dia. In 2007, Belfodil secured a move to Ligue 2 club Clermont Foot. Belfodil spent only a year at Clermont and, while playing with the club under-16 team, scored nine of the team's first 15 goals in the Championnat National under-16 league becoming the top scorer of the league. His play sparked the interest of several clubs, most notably French club Lyon and English clubs Chelsea and Manchester United. On 13 November 2008, Lyon announced that they had acquired Belfodil and he had signed an aspirant (youth) contract with the club until June 2011.

Lyon

For the duration of the 2008–09 season, Belfodil played on the club's under-18 team. He was a member of the team that reached the 2008–09 Coupe Gambardella semi-finals appearing in…

Belfodil is eligible for both France and Algeria. As a youth, he considered Algeria as he was ineligible to represent France as he had not received the French nationality. Belfodil asked his father to inform Algeria of his intention to play for them; however, his inquiries went unnoticed. Following his move to Lyon, the Algerian Football Federation sent an invitation, but Belfodil informed them that it was too late. In 2009, Belfodil was awarded French nationality and was subsequently called up to the under-17 team to participate in the 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship. He appeared in all three of the team's matches as they suffered group stage elimination. Belfodil returned to international duty for the 2009–10 season under coach Philippe Bergeroo with the under-18 team. He made his debut for the team on 27 October 2009 in a friendly match against Denmark. On 8 December, he scored his first international youth goal in a 1–1 draw against Ukraine. In 2010, he finished the campaign by scored against Germany at the Cloppenburg Arena in another 1–1 draw. Belfodil remained a cog in the team under coach Bergeroo for under-19 team duty. On 12 September 2010, he scored his first goal with the team in a 2–2 draw with Brazil in the 2010 edition of the Sendai Cup. In first round qualification for the 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, he scored the only goal in the team's final group stage match win over Austria. On 25 August 2012, Belfodil was called…

Club

As of match played 8 May 2023

International

Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Belfodil goal.