Baghdad Bounedjah

Baghdad Bounedjah (بغداد بونجاح, born 24 November 1991) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd and the Algeria national team.

Baghdad started his career in his native city with RCG Oran when he played in the all youth categories until he arrives in senior in 2009 when he played two seasons.

In 2011, he joined USM El Harrach.

In the summer of 2011, Bounedjah signed a two-year contract with USM El Harrach, joining them from amateur club RCG Oran.

On 10 September 2011, he made his professional debut for the club as a starter in the first-round game of the 2011–12 Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 against MC Oran, scoring a goal in the 78th minute.

In June 2013, Bounedjah joined with the club of Sousse, Étoile Sportive du Sahel, with which he signed a three-year contract.

This transfer was made official a month later, when his former employer, who disputed this transfer.

On 26 September 2013, He made his debut for the team in Tunisian Professional League 1 against US Monastir, also scored his first goal with the club.

On 11 August 2013, Bounedjah, won his first title with Étoile du Sahel.

The Algerian striker offered the 2013–14 Tunisian Cup to his club at the expense of CS Sfaxien, in the final at Rades.

The Al-Sadd forward matched the all-time single tournament record held by Muriqui who netted the same tally by the conclusion of Guangzhou Evergrande's 2013 campaign.

At international level, Bounedjah made his senior debut for Algeria in 2014 and has represented his nation at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and four editions of the Africa Cup of Nations; he was a member of the squad that won the 2019 tournament, scoring the winning goal in the final of the competition.

He quickly became an essential part of the ES Sahel, and finished top scorer in the 2014 Tunisian Professional League 1 in his first year, scoring 14 goals in 23 games.

In the second season, Bounedjah continued to shine and On 25 September 2014, scored his first hat-trick in Tunisian Ligue Pro 1 against EGS Gafsa in 3–0 victory.

to finish the Professional League 1 with 11 goals in second place the same thing with Étoile du Sahel where they failed to win the championship, two points behind Club Africain.

But again he won the Tunisian Cup for the second time in a row, this time against Stade Gabèsien and scored Bounedjah a hat-trick.

Then continued to shine and this time in the CAF Confederation Cup and thus contributed to the victory of Étoile du Sahel title and achieved at the same time the title of the top scorer.

Throughout his club career, Bounedjah has played for Algerian sides RCG Oran and USM El Harrach, and Tunisian side Étoile du Sahel, before joining Qatari club Al Sadd in 2015.

On 29 April 2015, Bounedjah moved to Qatar's Al Sadd, but he remained at Étoile du Sahel for a six-month loan period.

Indeed, the Qatari club having already reached its quota of foreign players, decided to leave the player on loan to the Sahelian training for the first part of the season before returning to his workforce.

During his loan, Bounedjah was seriously injured.

Ankle injury which kept him out for nearly three months On 7 March 2016, He made his debut for the team in Qatar Stars League against Al-Gharafa, later Bounedjah scored the winning goal against Al-Kharaitiyat his first goal with the club.

and with the end of a difficult season for him and his team participated only in ten games and scored seven goals in all competitions.

In his second season and On 7 December 2016, Bounedjah scored his first hat-trick in Qatar Stars League against Al-Rayyan in 5–0 victory.

his 13 goals in Qatar this season.

This earned him the extension of his initial three-year contract, an additional year, the link now to the club until June 2017.

later on 16 February 2017 Bounedjah scored another hat trick this time against Al-Arabi In this match, Bounedjah scored five goals for the first time in his career.

At the end of the season, his team failed to win the league title, two points behind Lekhwiya, but achieved the title of the top goalscorer in the Qatari Stars league with 24 goals alongside Lekhwiya's Youssef El-Arabi.

With the end of the league, Bounedjah won his first title Qatar Crown Prince Cup after winning the final against El Jaish and also scored a goal.

after which Bounedjah achieve his second title by winning the Emir of Qatar Cup against Al-Rayyan.

before this final, in the quarter-finals Bounedjah scored a super-hat trick against Al-Kharaitiyat.

As a result, Bounedjah finished the season with 30 goals.

On 23 May 2017, After his big season he decided to extend his contract, which was due to end in 2018, for three seasons until 2021.

At the start of his third season at Al Sadd, the 2017–18 campaign On 9 September 2017, First game of the season, first "hat trick" and first title for Bounedjah, during the Qatar Super Cup after beating league champion last season, Al-Duhail 4–1.

with the start of the league Bounedjah was aspiring to win the title and the start was good where he scored in six consecutive games until the match against Al-Duhail and defeat 4–2, after this game was exposed again, a difficult injury Shin fracture and kept him out for more than two months, This injury prevented him from competing for the title of goal scorer against his opponent last season Youssef El-Arabi, and after returning from injury and only in five matches Bounedjah scored ten goals in Qatar Stars League including a super-hat trick against Al-Ahli The fourth goal is the 50 in all competitions with Al Sadd.

In the AFC Champions League and after a seven-year absence from the group stage Al-Sadd placed its focus on it, as well as Bounedjah Where he was remarkably successful scoring nine goals in eight games, Including four binaries against Al-Wasl back and forth, Persepolis and Al-Ahli in the Round of 16.

To finish the season strongly with 28 goals in all competitions.

In the 2018–19 Qatar Stars League season, he scored a league record of 39 goals in one season, and was the world's leading goalscorer during the 2018 calendar year with 58 goals overall.

On 5 August 2018, Bounedjah scored a hat-trick in the first game of the season against Al-Kharaitiyat one week later, Bounedjah broke the Qatar Stars League single-game goal record, scoring seven goals in a 10–1 win against Al Arabi.

Bounedjah continued his success at the individual level by winning the top scorer of the 2018 AFC Champions League with 13 goals to become the first Algerian and the first player from a Qatari club to achieve this award.