El Arabi Hilal Soudani (; born 25 November 1987) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Croatian First Football League club Kustošija.
Soudani made his international debut for Algeria in 2010, and featured at the 2013, 2015 and 2017 editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, as well as the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Overall, he won 56 international caps and scored 24 goals, making him Algeria's eight highest goalscorer.
Club career ASO Chlef Born in Chlef, Soudani began his career in the junior ranks of his hometown club ASO Chlef. In May 2006, aged 19, he made his first team debut for the club as a substitute against USM Annaba in the 28th round of the 2005–06 Algerian Championnat National, coming on for Samir Zaoui in the 72nd minute.
In 2008, Soudani was chosen as the 2008 Young Player of the Year by DZFoot after scoring 11 goals in 24 games in the 2007–08 season.
In June 2011, Soudani went on trial with French Ligue 2 club Le Mans FC.
Vitória de Guimarães On 8 August 2011, Soudani signed a three-year contract with Portuguese club Vitória de Guimarães. The transfer fee was rumoured to be €800,000.Soudani quase a chegar On 25 August 2011, Soudani made his official debut for Vitória as a 66th-minute substitute in a 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round match against Atlético Madrid.UEFA Europa League 2011/12 – Vitória SC – Atlético de Madrid – UEFA.com On 16 October 2011, Soudani opened his scoring account for the club with a brace in the third round of the 2011–12 Taça de Portugal against Moura Atlético Clube. After trailing 1–0, Soudani scored the equaliser in the 89th minute of the match to send the match to extra-time, before scoring the winner in the 117th minute.Soudani, doublé décisif en Coupe du Portugal ; DZFoot.com, 16 October 2011. On 1 April 2012, he scored his first goal in the Primeira Liga in a 3–1 win against Paços de Ferreira. On 21 April, he scored a brace in a 3–2 win against União de Leiria.
On 26 May 2013, Soudani helped Vitória win their first ever Taça de Portugal by beating Benfica 2–1 in the final, scoring the equalising goal in the 79th minute before Ricardo Pereira scored the winner two minutes later. The following day, he travelled to Croatia to complete a medical ahead of a transfer to Dinamo Zagreb.
Dinamo Zagreb On 27 May 2013, Soudani signed a four-year contract with Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb after the club paid a €900,000 transfer fee for his services.
On 6 July 2013, Soudani won the Croatian Supercup with Dinamo against Hajduk Split, also making his debut for Dinamo in the match. He made his Croatian First Football League debut six days later, scoring in a 3–1 win over Osijek. He then scored twice and assisted another goal in Dinamo's 5–0 win over Fola Esch in UEFA Champions League qualifying. Soudani won the Croatian league championship, scoring 16 goals and finishing third in the Golden Boot race behind Dinamo teammates Andrej Kramarić (18) and Duje Čop (22).
In the 2014–15 season, Soudani scored a hat-trick against Astra Giurgiu in the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage. He won his second league championship with Dinamo, scoring 11 goals and assisting 15 in the league, and won his first Croatian Cup.
Soudani's Dinamo completed the league and cup double again in the 2015–16 season, however the player himself had a less successful season, battling injuries and form and finished with eight goals and four assists in the league.
In the 2016–17 season, Soudani's 95th minute extra time goal against Red Bull Salzburg sent Dinamo through to the group stage of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League. Despite finishing second in the league behind Rijeka — the first time Dinamo had not won the league in 10 seasons — Soudani achieved a career-best 17 goals in the league.
Nottingham Forest On 29 June 2018, Soudani joined English club Nottingham Forest on a three-year contract for an undisclosed transfer fee. In the opening four matches of the season, Soudani scored twice before he injured his knee. In October, Soudani then incurred a serious injury to his leg which kept him out of play for the remainder of Nottingham's season.
Olympiacos On 18 June 2019, Soudani joined Greek club Olympiacos on a permanent transfer. By mid-November 2019, despite not being in manager Pedro Martins' plans at the beginning of the season, he had made his way into the starting 11 with a series of good performances. In 532 minutes of play, he scored five goals and contributed one assist and was the team's leading scorer in Super League Greece.
On 20 February 2020, in a 1–0 victory against Atromitos, Soudani sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury which was forecast to keep him out of action for at least six months.
On 25 January 2021, after being deemed surplus to requirements by Martins, he was released by mutual consent, six months before the official expiry of his contract.
Maribor On 12 June 2023, Soudani signed for Slovenian PrvaLiga club Maribor on a two-year contract. He made his debut on 13 July, starting in a 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round match against Birkirkara; however, he sustained an injury in the first half and was substituted out. After more than two-month absence due to injury, Soudani returned to the squad on 24 September, making his league debut in a 1–0 home defeat to Koper.
International career In February 2011, Soudani was selected by head coach Abdelhak Benchikha as part of the Algerian A' national team for the 2011 African Nations Championship in Sudan.CHAN 2011: Direction Khartoum pour l'Equipe Nationale A' In the opening group stage match, against Uganda, Soudani started and scored a goal in the 61st minute as Algeria won 2–0.CHAN 2011: UGA 0–2 ALG, les Verts réussissent leur entrée In the second group match, against Gabon, Soudani scored a brace with goals in the 71st and 90th minute of the match in a 2–2 draw.CHAN 2011: GAB 2–2 ALG, deux points de perdus Despite not scoring in the remainder of the competition, Soudani finished as one of the top scorers in the competition with three goals.
On 14 May 2011, Soudani was called up by Benchikha to the Algeria national team for the first time for a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Morocco. On 4 June 2011, he made his debut as a substitute for Rafik Djebbour in the 79th minute of the match.Maroc 4–0 Algérie
Career statistics
Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsASO Chlef2005–06National 11000———102006–0711331—20—1642007–08241120———26112008–0919420———2142009–10281244———32162010–11Ligue 1251831———2819Total10848146—20—12454Vitória de Guimarães2011–12Primeira Liga164222010—2162012–1321933———2412Total3713552010—4518Dinamo Zagreb2013–14Prva HNL311650—931046192014–15231130—125—38162015–1621853—113—37142016–17291710—112—41192017–18281741—30—3518Total13269184—46131019786Dinamo Zagreb II2016–172. HNL10————10Nottingham Forest2018–19Championship620020——82Olympiacos2019–20Super League Greece 19710—10—2172020–215210—40—102Total24920—50—319Al Fateh2020–21Saudi Pro League13220———152Damac2021–22Saudi Pro League25800———2582022–2320610———216Total451410———4614Maribor2023–24Slovenian PrvaLiga271531—10—31162024–2527932—31—33122025–2631810—20—348Total853273—1—9836Career total451189491840601410565221
International
+Goals and appearances by yearYearAppsGoals2010102011202012662013113201493201585201634201761201840201911202000202151Total5624
+Goals by competitionCompetitionGoals Africa Cup of Nations qualification 12 Friendlies 5 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments 2 FIFA World Cup qualification 4 FIFA Arab Cup 1Total24
Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Soudani goal.
+ List of international goals scored by Hillal SoudaniNo.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition126 May 2012Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria33–03–0Friendly22 June 2012Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria4 2–04–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification34–0415 June 2012Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria64–14–12013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification59 September 2012Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca, Morocco71–01–02013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification614 October 2012Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria81–02–02013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification730 January 2013Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa122–02–22013 Africa Cup of Nations82 June 2013Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria141–02–0Friendly910 September 2013Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria171–01–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification 105 March 2014Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria201–02–0Friendly114 June 2014Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland222–12–1 Friendly126 September 2014Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia261–02–12015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification131 February 2015Estadio de Malabo, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea321–11–32015 Africa Cup of Nations1413 June 2015Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria33 2–04–02017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification153–0166 September 2015Setsoto Stadium, Maseru, Lesotho34 2–13–12017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification173–1182 June 2016Stade Linité, Victoria, Seychelles372–02–02017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification195 September 2016Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria38 1–06–02017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification204–0219 October 2016Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria391–01–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification226 June 2017Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria412–12–1Friendly2314 November 2019Mustapha Tchaker Stadium, Blida, Algeria504–05–02021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification241 December 2021Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar534–04–02021 FIFA Arab Cup
Honours ASO Chlef Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2010–11
Vitória Guimarães Taça de Portugal: 2013
Dinamo Zagreb Croatian First League: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18 Croatian Cup: 2015, 2016, 2018 Croatian Super Cup: 2013
Olympiacos Super League Greece: 2019–20 Greek Cup: 2019–20
Algeria FIFA Arab Cup: 2021
Individual Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 Footballer of the Year: 2010–11 DZFoot d'Or Young Player of the Year: 2008 DZFoot d'Or: 2013 Football Oscar Best Prva HNL player: 2018 Football Oscar Team of the Year: 2014, 2017, 2018 Prva HNL Player of the Year (Tportal): 2017 African Nations Championship top scorer: 2011 (3 goals) Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 top scorer: 2010–11 (18 goals) Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers top scorer: 2017 (7 goals) Croatian First Football League top scorer: 2017–18 (17 goals) Croatian First Football League top assist maker: 2014–15 Slovenian First League Player of the Month: April 2024, May 2024, March 2025 Slovenian First League Team of the Season: 2023–24, 2024–25
References
External links