Rachid Ghezzal is a winger who rose through the fabled Olympique Lyonnais academy to represent the first team before his career path took him across Europe to England, Italy and Turkey. He re-joined his boyhood club in September 2025, aged 33, to lend his experience to the next crop of youngsters hoping to follow in his footsteps.
A predominantly left-footed player, Ghezzal is comfortable playing off either flank or through the centre. His career highlights to date include Turkish Süper Lig and cup wins along with 22 caps and 2 goals for the Algeria national team.
Born in the Lyon suburb of Décines-Charpieu, where the Groupama Stadium would later be built, he followed in the footsteps of older brother Abdelkader Ghezzal in joining the youth ranks of local club FC Vaulx-en-Velin. Seven and a half years his senior, Abdelkader was already well on the way to his own career in professional football by the time the young Rachid started out.
Indeed, Abdelkader spent a few years in the OL academy between 1998 and 2002 before being released and re-joining Vaulx-en-Velin. The forward then embarked on a senior career that would take him to nine different clubs in Italy as well as Levante in Spain and see him earn 27 caps for Algeria.
The brothers’ time at Vaulx-en-Velin overlapped for a couple of years between 2002 and 2004 until the twelve-year-old Rachid was recruited by the Lyon academy and Abdelkader left to join local rivals Saint-Priest the same summer. Six years later, having risen through the age groups, Rachid Ghezzal made his debut for the Lyon reserve team in the CFA (Championnat de France Amateur).
He spent two seasons learning his trade in the CFA, which was the fourth tier of the French football pyramid at the time. 2010-11 saw him make fourteen appearances and score four goals as Lyon finished 4th in the Groupe C table. In 2011-12, having been moved into the Groupe B region, Lyon romped to the league title with Ghezzal contributing four goals from twenty-one appearances.
Rachid Ghezzal’s breakout season with Lyon came in the 2012-13 campaign under manager Rémi Garde. He played a handful of CFA games in August and September before a call-up to the first team squad came at the start of October. He was thrown straight into the team for a UEFA Europa League group game away at Israeli side Kiryat Shmona. Starting on the left of a front three with Lisandro López in the middle and Jimmy Briand on the right, Ghezzal helped Lyon to 3-2 lead before he was replaced with the experienced Steed Malbranque just after the hour mark. Lyon went on to win 4-3.
Ghezzal’s Ligue 1 debut came a couple of weeks later as a substitute for Bafétimbi Gomis in a 1-0 home win against Brest and he kept his place in the first team squad for the remainder of the season. In total he made twenty appearances (all competitions), including twelve as a starter as Lyon finished third in the table to qualify for the Champions League. He first goal in senior football came at the Stade de Gerland in February 2013. Assisted by López, he tapped in from close range to give Lyon the lead against Lorient, paving the way for a 3-1 win.
International recognition came at the end of the season, courtesy of a call-up to Willy Sagnol’s France U-21 squad for the Toulon Tournament. Ghezzal made his debut as a substitute in their opening group game against the USA and scored the final goal of a 4-1 win. He was a starter in their second fixture, a 1-0 win over RD Congo, alongside his Lyon clubmate Jordan Ferri, but that was the extent of his involvement.
Sadly a back injury kept Rachid Ghezzal on the side-lines for the first half of the 2013-14 campaign and stopped his development in its tracks. He returned to action with the reserves in January 2014 and managed a run of games as he gradually regained match fitness. By March he was training with the first team squad again and made it back onto the bench towards the end of the Ligue 1 season, but it was ultimately a lost year for him without a single minute of first team action.
In August 2014, the twenty-two-year-old Ghezzal finally made his long-awaited return. Hubert Fournier was newly installed as Lyon manager and he brought the winger off the bench to replace Mohamed Yattara late on in a UEFA Europa League qualifier against Astra Giurgiu. Disastrously, Lyon lost 2-1 at home and although they won 1-0 in the second leg with Ghezzal starting, they crashed out on away goals.
Fournier didn’t seem fully persuaded of Ghezzal’s merits and only handed him six starts in Ligue 1 that season, as well as a dozen substitute appearances. Unfortunately Lyon exited all the cup competitions in the early rounds, so it was another frustrating season for Ghezzal with limited opportunities for playing time.
However, things were progressing more positively on the international front. By now, Rachid Ghezzal had declared for Algeria, the country of his parents, and he received his first call up to the national team squad in March 2015. Perhaps his Lyon team mate Yoann Gourcuff put in a good word, for his father Christian Gourcuff was managing the Algeria team at the time.
Gourcuff senior handed Ghezzal his debut in a friendly against Qatar at the Khalifa International Stadium. He played on the left side of attack, supporting centre-forward Islam Slimani, but was withdrawn at half time to be replaced by fellow Lyon graduate Ishak Belfodil. The match ended in a 1-0 defeat for The Fennecs. Ghezzal got a few more minutes of international action four days later as a late substitute in a 4-1 win against Oman.
He went on to be a regular in the Algeria squad over the next three years and made the cut for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 2017 in Gabon. Disappointingly, Algeria underperformed in that tournament and failed to progress from their group. It would prove to be Ghezzal’s only appearance at a major finals and his international career began to peter out after 2018, with the last of his 22 caps coming in June 2022.
Fournier was still at the helm in Lyon for the start of the 2015-16 season, which meant that Ghezzal was still largely restricted to fleeting appearances from the bench. However, the club’s poor form and group stage exit from the Champions League meant that Fournier got his marching orders in December. His replacement, Bruno Genesio, immediately restored Ghezzal to the starting line-up and was rewarded with a brace of goals in a 7-0 thrashing of Limoges in the Coupe de France.
The following game happened to be the grand opening of the new Groupama Stadium and Ghezzal scored again in a 4-1 win against Troyes. His strike (to make it 2-1) was the third goal ever scored in the new arena and it helped to cement his place as a regular starter under Genesio. Generally deployed as an inverted winger on the right flank, he enjoyed his best run of form in a Lyon shirt during the second half of the season. He scored seven times and provided several assists as Lyon climbed the table to finish second and qualify for the Champions League. His 38 appearances and 10 goals in all competitions would prove to be the best stats he recorded in any season of his career.
Unfortunately Ghezzal missed the first three games of the 2016-17 season with a groin injury and thereafter he struggled to regain and hold down a regular place in the starting line up. He found himself competing for playing time with the likes of Maxwell Cornet, Mathieu Valbuena, Nabil Fekir and, from January onwards, Memphis Depay. He did still manage to reach 38 appearances in all competitions once again, but he was subbed on or off in 33 of them and only scored three goals.
There were some highlights, such as the late goal he scored in the first derby at the Groupama Stadium to secure a 2-0 win against Saint-Étienne, and the header he scored in the Europa League semi-final fightback against Ajax that briefly gave Lyon hope of a place in the final. However, it was ultimately a disappointing season, with Lyon finishing fourth in Ligue 1 and missing out on Champions League qualification.
Ghezzal had got married at Saint-Priest town hall during the winter break, but as that union began, rumours of an impending separation from his boyhood club began to circulate. He had allowed his contract to run down and declined to sign an extension with Lyon, therefore he became a free agent at the end of June 2017. Thus his first spell at the club ended with 119 appearances, 14 goals and 20 assists to his name. Having just turned 25, he wasn’t short of offers and opted to sign for newly crowned French champions AS Monaco in August. That transfer heralded the start of a peripatetic phase of his career during which he changed club in four successive seasons.
Rachid Ghezzal’s season with Monaco under coach Leonardo Jardim was similar to his final season at Lyon in that he was regularly on the bench and only scored a couple of goals. Deployed primarily as a right-winger, he made eleven starts and a further twenty-four substitute appearances as Monaco pipped Lyon to second place behind PSG in the Ligue 1 table. Injuries meant that he didn’t feature in either of the two Ligue 1 fixtures against Lyon. He did, however, face his former club in the Coupe de France when he came off the bench for the last twenty minutes of their 6th Round clash at the Stade Louis II. Lyon ran out 3-2 winners with their opening goal being scored by Ghezzal’s direct replacement, Bertrand Traoré.
Monaco also finished as runners up to PSG in the Coupe de la Ligue. Ghezzal started the final on the bench but was brought on to replace the injured João Moutinho for the last ten minutes of a chastening 3-0 defeat to the Parisians. The Monegasques’ Champions League campaign was equally disappointing. They only picked up two points in finishing bottom of Group G and Ghezzal received the first red card of his career. He was penalised for ‘unsporting behaviour’ in the first half of a 5-2 defeat away to FC Porto in the final group game.
Rachid Ghezzal’s season with Monaco was brought to an abrupt end by his second dismissal. This time another bout of unsporting behaviour earned him two yellow cards in as many minutes in stoppage time at the end of the penultimate game of the season against Saint-Étienne. It proved to be his last action in a Monaco shirt. Nevertheless, he had impressed enough during his time on the Côte d’Azur to catch the eye of Leicester City, who were on the lookout for a replacement for Riyad Mahrez. In July 2018 the Foxes pocketed a cool £60 million from the sale of Mahrez to Manchester City and a month later they invested €14 million of that to prise his compatriot away from Monaco.
There was a familiar face waiting to greet Ghezzal on arrival in the midlands as Leicester’s manager was Frenchman Claude Puel, who had coached Lyon from 2008-11. Although Puel left Lyon just over a year before Ghezzal made his first team debut, he would have been aware of the youngster who was starting to score regularly for the reserves during his final season in charge of the first team.
Ghezzal’s Leicester debut came in the opening Premier League game of the season away to Manchester United at Old Trafford. He came off the bench in the 63rd minute to replace Daniel Amartey with his side trailing 1-0 to a Paul Pogba penalty. Luke Shaw doubled the lead before Jamie Vardy got a late consolation for the visitors.
A first start and first goal in English football came in a League Cup win away at lowly Fleetwood Town in late August. He followed that up a few days later with a goal in a 2-1 defeat against Liverpool at The King Power Stadium to cap a promising start to his Foxes career. Unfortunately that run of two goals in two games was as good as it got for him.
In October 2018, following a 1-1 draw with West Ham United during which Ghezzal was subbed off at half-time, the club was rocked by tragedy. A helicopter carrying club owner and chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others crashed shortly after takeoff as it departed the stadium. There were no survivors.
The players carried on bravely, but it must have been difficult to concentrate on football in the wake of such a horrific loss of life so close to home. On the pitch, things took a turn for the worse in the FA Cup Third Round in January where Leicester were handed a trip to League Two Newport County. Puel rotated his line-up and Ghezzal got a start on the right side of attack.
They fell behind early on but battled back and eventually forced an equaliser in the 82nd minute with a left-footed strike from Ghezzal finally beating the Newport goalkeeper. It would prove to be his third and final goal for the club. Three minutes later, Newport won a penalty, which was duly converted and Leicester were dumped out of the cup in what was described as the biggest upset of the season.
That embarrassment was followed by a run of five defeats in their next six league games, which led to Claude Puel receiving his marching orders. Brendan Rodgers arrived as a replacement, but he didn’t seem to fancy Ghezzal and the Algerian only made a pair of late substitute appearances during the remainder of the season.
Finding himself surplus to requirements at Leicester, Ghezzal secured a loan move to Italian Serie A club Fiorentina for the 2019-20 season. In Tuscany he joined up with a talented squad led by coach Vincenzo Montella. There was particularly tough competition for places as a wide forward, with the veteran Franck Ribéry and wonder kid Federico Chiesa vying for game time.
Ghezzal spent much of the first half of the season on the bench, making a few substitute appearances and just three starts. However, Montella was sacked shortly before Christmas and his replacement, Giuseppe Iachini, showed a bit more faith in the Algerian. He got significantly more action in the new year and finished the season as a regular as the Viola climbed to a tenth place finish. His only goal came in a 3-1 win away at Lecce on matchday 33.
Despite the improvement, Fiorentina decided against taking up their option to buy Ghezzal, and he returned to his parent club, Leicester City, in the summer. He still didn’t feature in their plans, so another loan was arranged and this time the destination was Istanbul.
The 2020-21 season with Beşiktaş was the first time in several years that Rachid Ghezzal commanded a regular first team place throughout a full league campaign. He slotted straight into the right-wing position and started the first ten games following his arrival, providing six assists. A hamstring strain kept him out briefly in early January, but he soon continued where he’d left off.
In fact, he enjoyed one of the best periods of form in his entire career as Beşiktaş mounted a serious title challenge. The assists kept coming and he eventually rediscovered his shooting boots, scoring seven times in the final ten Süper Lig games of the season. Each of those strikes was to prove crucial for Beşiktaş as the title race went right down to the wire.They finished level on points with their cross-town rivals Galatasaray and couldn’t be split on head-to-head record so it came down to goal difference.
Beşiktaş travelled to Göztepe on the last day of the season and their chances were hanging in the balance with the game deadlocked at 1-1 midway though the second period when Cyle Larin was fouled in the box and a penalty was awarded. Ghezzal took on the responsibility from twelve yards with the hopes of a whole fanbase resting on his shoulders. He calmly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to score the goal that sealed the title. Fittingly for a son of Lyon, it was in the 69th minute.
Beşiktaş ended up winning the title by the narrowest of margins. Incredibly, just a single goal separated them from Galatasaray in the final standings. The Turkish championship was the first major honour of Ghezzal’s career and to top it off he was elected Süper Lig player of the month for April 2021. His 17 assists put him top of the Süper Lig rankings on that count and he made it into the Süper Lig team of the season as well as being selected as the best foreign player in the Süper Lig for 2020-21.
However, his season wasn’t finished yet. Three days later Beşiktaş were in action again in the Turkish Cup final against Antalyaspor and Ghezzal earned his second trophy of the week. His assist for Rosier to make it 2-0 on the half-hour wrapped up the scoring and sealed the double for the Black Eagles. Unsurprisingly, in the wake of the best season of his career, Beşiktaş were keen to retain Rachid Ghezzal’s services and they agreed a €3 million fee with Leicester to make his loan permanent.
So in 2021-22, for the first time in five years, Ghezzal started a season at the same club that he finished the previous. It was, however, a tall order to follow up the success of the previous campaign, and Beşiktaş struggled to replicate their title winning form. Their UEFA Champions League performance was particularly disappointing, losing all six games in Group C, although Ghezzal did score his first ever goal in that competition in a 2-1 defeat to Ajax.
He didn’t manage to repeat his impressive numbers in the Süper Lig, but still returned a respectable four goals and seven assists from his 35 appearances. Unfortunately Beşiktaş slumped to a sixth place finish and missed out on European qualification altogether, so it was a underwhelming title defence, despite the presence of former Lyon star Miralem Pjanić on loan from Barcelona for the season.
The 2022-23 campaign was something of a write-off for Rachid Ghezzal. It started well enough, with him scoring the only goal of a 1-0 home win against Kayserispor on the opening day, and bagging another in the following match. However, that was as good as it got as he succumbed to a series of injuries including a broken finger, pneumonia, a toe injury, a hamstring strain and a dead leg. These repeated setbacks limited him to just seven starts and four substitute appearances with only the two goals to his name.
Now in his early thirties, Ghezzal managed to put his injury nightmare behind him and return to full fitness shortly after the start of the 2023-24 season. He enjoyed a decent run of consecutive games in the Süper Lig and started to weigh in again with some assists and a goal. However, it was a turbulent season for the Black Eagles and they worked their way through four managers on the way to a disappointing sixth place finish.
There was a controversial episode mid-season when Ghezzal was suspended by the club and excluded from the squad for almost a month along with four team mates (Vincent Aboubakar, Valentin Rosier, Eric Bailly and Jean Onana). The quintet were accused of poor performances and incompatibility with the team. Bailly, Rosier and Onana all soon departed, but Ghezzal was reintegrated after missing three matches and featured regularly under new manager Fernando Santos.
Beşiktaş flopped in the UEFA Conference League, but things went much better in the Turkish Cup, with Ghezzal starting both legs of the semi-final victory against Ankaragücü. That set up a final against Trabzonspor at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in May. He started the final in his customary right-wing position and made a decisive contribution on the stroke of half time when he converted a penalty to level the scores at one apiece. He was replaced just after the hour mark, with Beşiktaş leading 2-1 and although they were pegged back, they snatched a late winner to clinch the cup and give Ghezzal the third major trophy of his career.
The cup final proved to be his penultimate game for Beşiktaş as his three-year contract came to an end. His farewell appearance was a late cameo away at Kasımpaşa on the last day of the Süper Lig season and then he became a free agent. Fittingly, he departed on a high, having left a big mark on the history of the club with key contributions to their three most recent successes.
A couple of months later Rachid Ghezzal wound up at Çaykur Rizespor, based in Rize towards the far eastern end of Turkey’s Black Sea coast. Something of a yo-yo club, they were starting their second season back in the top flight following promotion in 2023. Ghezzal’s vast experience was a useful addition to their squad and he quickly established himself as a first team regular, racking up 25 appearances across all competitions and scoring four times. He also collected the third red card of his career, for swearing at a referee during a defeat away to Fenerbahçe.
Çaykur Rizespor finished a creditable ninth in the table, but Ghezzal wasn’t retained for the following season, which left him once again seeking a new club as a free agent. That’s where his story turned full circle with a return home to Lyon after eight seasons away. His arrival bolstered a thinly spread squad that was competing on three fronts and gave Lyon an handy option on the right-wing as they waited for Ernest Nuamah to return from a long-term injury.
Ghezzal’s contract at Lyon takes him through to June 2026, by which time he’ll be thirty four and may well decide to call time on his playing career. He’s already begun studying a sports management course with a view to a future in coaching once he hangs up his boots.
Thus far he has mainly featured as a substitute this season. His ‘second debut’ came when he replaced Adam Karabec in the 67th minute of a defeat at Rennes on matchday four and he went on to make a total of nine appearances prior to the winter break. His most telling contribution came in the UEFA Europa League tie away at FC Utrecht where he set up the only goal for Tanner Tessmann. It later transpired that he was actually ineligible for the Europa League group stage, having been signed a few days after the deadline for squad additions. Fortunately UEFA admitted it was their mistake in allowing him to be registered for the competition and the club wasn’t sanctioned for the error.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for Ghezzal when his contract expires at the end of the current season. Will he be offered an extension, or perhaps move into a role on the coaching staff, or maybe he will part ways with the club once again. Whatever happens, here’s hoping that he can bow out on a high with a trophy at Lyon, just as he did at Beşiktaş.