Medhi Benatia

المهدي بن عطية

Retired Moroccan centre-back (born 1987 in Courcouronnes, France, to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother) who played for Udinese, Roma, Bayern Munich and Juventus, captained Morocco at the 2018 World Cup, and later served as sporting director of Marseille.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
athlete
Region
Maghreb
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review

Life in time

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Place in the story

    Unknown (unknown)

    Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

    Summary

    Medhi Benatia is a retired Moroccan centre-back, born in Courcouronnes, France, on 17 April 1987 to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother. He played in France, Italy, Germany, Qatar and Turkey, won league titles with Bayern Munich and Juventus, and captained Morocco at the 2018 World Cup, their first in twenty years. After retiring he served as sporting director of Marseille, the club where his career began. 1 2 3 4

    Career

    Benatia joined Marseille in 2003 and signed his first professional contract two years later, but he made his way on loan at Tours and Lorient before joining Clermont in 2008. Two years at Clermont took him to Udinese in Italy in 2010, and after three seasons there he moved to Roma, helping them finish as Serie A runners-up in his only campaign. Bayern Munich signed him for 26 million euros in August 2014, and he won the Bundesliga in both of his seasons in Germany. 1 2 3 4

    In 2016 he moved to Juventus, first on loan and then permanently in 2017. He won three league titles with the club, reached the Champions League final in 2017, and scored twice in the 4–0 win over Milan in the 2018 Coppa Italia final. After five league appearances in the first half of 2018–19 he left for Al-Duhail in Qatar, and he ended his playing career with Fatih Karagümrük in Turkey, retiring in 2021. For Morocco, after one cap for France at under-18 level, he made his senior debut in 2008 and earned 66 caps, playing at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and leading his country at the 2018 World Cup in Russia before retiring from international football in 2019. 1 2 3 4

    On the record

    None of the English, Arabic or French articles says anything about Benatia's religion. Wikidata gives Islam in general as a single structured-data value, naming no school. A structured value on its own does not attest an affiliation, so the museum records his faith as unknown. 1 2 3 4

    Sources

    1. Medhi Benatia — English Wikipedia
    2. Medhi Benatia — Arabic Wikipedia
    3. Medhi Benatia — French Wikipedia
    4. Medhi Benatia — Wikidata Q462779
    Cite this page

    islam.museum contributors. “Medhi Benatia”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/medhi-benatia/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.

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