Madjid Bougherra (; born 7 October 1982) is a football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the manager of the Algeria A' national team.
Bougherra began his professional career with French club Gueugnon before having spells with Crewe Alexandra, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic in England. He moved to Rangers in 2008 for a fee of £2.5 million and made 113 appearances; he was a key part of the team that won the Scottish Premier League championship in the 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons. He signed for Lekhwiya of Qatar in 2011 for £1.7 million, moving to Al-Fujairah three years later. Bougherra ended his club career following a short spell at Football League Greece club Aris.
Bougherra won 70 international caps and scored four goals for the Algeria national team from 2004 to 2015. He participated in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, where Algeria finished fourth, and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He served as the team's captain for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Club career
Early life and career
Bougherra was born and raised in Dijon, Côte-d'Or in eastern France. He began his career at AS Quetigny in 1999.
Gueugnon
Bougherra joined Gueugnon in July 2002. Whilst with the Ligue 2 club, Bougherra made 49 league appearances and scored one goal. He also made a single appearance in the Coupe de la Ligue.
Crewe Alexandra
Bougherra joined English Championship club Crewe Alexandra on loan at the end of January 2006. He managed to get into the Crewe record books as his agent, Charles Collymore recommended the Algerian defender to the South Cheshire club and was given £5,000 by the club, making him the first agent to receive a fee from Crewe.
After a number of impressive performances, including a goal in the 4–1 win over Coventry City, many of the club's supporters urged then manager Dario Gradi to sign Bougherra on a permanent basis. However, in April 2006, he confirmed he would leave Crewe at the end of his loan spell after failing to help the club avoid relegation to League One.
Sheffield Wednesday
Bougherra's performances at Crewe had attracted interest from a number of clubs in England, including some from the Premier League. He signed for another Championship club, Sheffield Wednesday, in May 2006. The fee was undisclosed, but according to manager Paul Sturrock it was not as much as the reported £300,000. Bougherra made a big impact at Hillsborough after making his debut on 5 August against Preston North End, winning the Player of the Month award in only his second month at the club and captaining the team for the first time against Queens Park Rangers at home in October. He also scored twice for Wednesday, against Ipswich Town and West Bromwich Albion in the first half of the 2006–07 season.
Charlton Athletic
During the January 2007 transfer window, Bougherra was linked with several Premier League clubs. Sheffield Wednesday rejected a £1.3 million offer from Charlton Athletic, whilst Reading, Everton and Birmingham City were also rumoured to be interested. Eventually the Owls accepted an increased offer of £2.5 million from Charlton for Bougherra, who completed his move to The Valley on 28 January 2007. Bougherra was linked with a transfer to West Brom in the summer of 2008 after a transfer fee of £2.5 million was accepted by Charlton. However, Bougherra chose not to join Albion, saying that the absence of West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace during negotiations was a major factor; Peace commented that his presence was not required for the transfer to go through.
Rangers
Bougherra joined Rangers, signing a four-year contract for £2.5 million on 31 July 2008. He made his debut on 9 August in a Scottish Premier League match against Falkirk, and scored his first goal on 28 September 2008 in a 3–0 win against Hibernian. After Rangers lost Carlos Cuéllar to Aston Villa, Bougherra formed a consistent partnership alongside David Weir. Bougherra was sent off in a 2–1 win over Aberdeen in May 2009 after a challenge with Jamie Langfield. The red card was reduced to a yellow upon appeal after the referee changed his decision after reviewing the incident. Bougherra was available for the title decider against Dundee United the following weekend which Rangers won 3–0, winning them the title. Bougherra ended his first season in Scottish football by winning the Scottish Cup in a 1–0 win over Falkirk.