El Fardou Ben Nabouhane

El Fardou Ben Nabouhane (born 10 June 1989 in Passamainty, Mayotte, France) is a Comorian footballer who plays as a forward for Panionios, on loan from Olympiacos

Football career

Ben began his career on the overseas collectivity of Mayotte. He proceeded to move to the island of Réunion to play for the Réunion Premier League giants JS Saint-Pierroise. In 2006, he joined Le Havre.

After spending one year in the reserves, El Fardou was promoted to the senior squad. He made his professional football debut and start for Le Havre on 3 March 2008 in a Ligue 2 match against Troyes AC playing 72 minutes before being subbed out.^[1] He made one more appearance that season and though he did not contribute that much, he still received a winner's medal as Le Havre were crowned Ligue 2 champions and were promoted to Ligue 1 for the 2008–09 season.

Ben did not see much time in Ligue 1 play early on, instead playing in the reserves. He received his first call up to the squad for their Coupe de la Ligue match against Rennes, held on 12 November 2008. In the match, which he started, he scored his first professional goal in the 15th minute contributed to Le Havre's 2–1 win over Rennes.^[2] He made his Ligue 1 debut just three days later in a match against Paris Saint-Germain.

After three years playing for Ligue 2 side Vannes OC, he signed a two-year contract with the Greek Super League side Veria. He made his debut with the club, in an away draw against Platanias in August 2013. He was named Superleague's second top scorer during the 2013–14 Superleague Greece season as he scored 15 goals with Veria.^[3] During his second season at Veria he scored his first season goal in a home victory against Skoda Xanthi, he also had an assist during that match as well as during the second matchday against OFI. He got injured for two weeks and he returned to the pitch as a substitute against PAS Giannina. Ben scored against Skoda Xanthi F.C. in a 2–2 away draw, while he also assisted the second goal with which Nikos Kaltsas equalized the score. On 17 January 2015, Ben scored twice against OFI in a 4–1 home victory and he was eventually named as the MVP of the 19th matchday.^[4] He was also offered a three-year contract extension after OFI away victory, with triple wages, but it was rejected as the player got higher demands. His contract is set to expire on 30 June 2014. On 20 April 2015 Ben also scored twice against Asteras Tripoli in a 4-0 home victory having also one assist.^[5] In the second season -2014–15 Superleague Greece- with the club, he succeeded to score 10 goals and give 8 assists.

In July 2015, Ben signed a contract with Greek giants Olympiakos on a free transfer from Veria.^[6] According to newspapers rumours Levadiakos is not the only Greek club interested in signing Ben, with Platanias also considering his case for January window transfer. The Comoros international suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury since last May and is surplus to requirements for Olympiakos manager Marco Silva so far. ^[7] On 29 December 2015, since he did not manage to earn a single appearance with the club signed a six months contract with Levadiakos till the end of 2015-16 season.^[8] On 10 January 2016, in his first appearance with his new club, he scored in a 3-1 away loss against Olympiakos. ^[9] On 8 July 2016, he signed a 1+1 years contract with Panionios for the 2016-17 season on loan from Olympiakos. ^[10] On 3 December 2016, in his 9th appearance with the club was the only scorer in a 1-1 away draw against Platanias.

International career

On 5 March 2014, he has made his international début with Comoros, in a friendly against Burkina Faso.^[11]

Honours

Club

Olympiacos

• Superleague Greece: 2015-16

Individual

• 2014–15 MVP award(s): (2) Matchday 19, Matchday 31
• NOVA Superleague Awards 2014: Best team (Forward)

References

External links

• Profile on Le Havre AC Website
• LFP Profile