Rafik Halliche

Rafik Halliche is a defender of a Portuguese side Académica. He was born on 2 September 1986 in Algiers, Algeria.

Rafik’s professional career took off in 2006, when he signed his first contract with NA Hussein Dey. The back was the pivot of defense and scored one goal in 45 matches during two seasons.

The Algerian footballer’s performance was at the level he could easily play in European championships. Portugal side Benfica noticed Rafik’s potential and was not going to lose an opportunity to capture him, which eventually happened in the summer 2008. However, Halliche was immediately sent on loan to Nacional for 2008/2009 and the temporary club later extended his spell for another year. The footballer took part in 34 matches during two years and made an encouraging display, which drew the attention of several English teams.

London side Fulham lodged the best bid for Rafik and made the contract offer he could not refuse. The footballer transferred to the club in the summer of 2010 and became a part of the main team in the 2010/2011 season, but he was not let on the pitch at once. The head coach had more skilled and experienced players in the fold, so Halliche had to be more diligent during the trainings in order to get to the starting line-up. In 2012 he finally fell out of the first squad and had to leave for Academica de Coimbra.

From 2006 till 2008, Rafik took part in six matches of the Algeria national U-23 team. From 2008 he has been capped 21 times for the full national squad and netted one goal.