Billel Omrani

Who is Billel Omrani?

Billel Omrani is a French football player who currently plays as a striker for Arles-Avignon, on loan from Marseille . He is the younger brother of Abdelhakim Omrani who plays for Nîmes Olympique. His older sister Yasmina Omrani is an international heptathlete.

Billel Omrani joined Marseille in 2007 after stints with two amateur clubs in the Moselle area. On 19 March 2011, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal. Omrani was, subsequently, promoted to the senior team by manager Didier Deschamps for the 2011–12 season. He was assigned the number 25 shirt and made his professional debut on 2 October in a league match against Brest. Omrani appeared as a substitute in the match, which ended 1–1.

Omrani is a France youth international having represented the nation at under-17 and under-18 level. With the former team, he played at the 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship. Of Algerian descent, he is also eligible to represent Algeria at international level and, in October 2011, was called up to the Algeria under-23 team to participate in friendly matches ahead of the 2011 CAF U-23 Championship. However, the report of a call-up was deemed erroneous due to a misunderstanding between the team's coach and the Algerian media with the latter assuming the coach was calling up Omrani when he was, in fact, calling up another French-born player of Algerian origin who also plays for Marseille. In February 2013, Omrani was invited by Algeria under-20 national team coach Jean-Marc Nobilo to be a member of the team for the 2013 African U-20 Championship, but Omrani declined the offer.