Djamel Eddine Mesbah was born on 9 October 1984 in Zighoud Youcef. He is an Algerian professional footballer who last played as a left back for Lausanne-Sport in the Swiss Super League. An Algerian international, Mesbah was a member of the Algeria national team at two World Cups, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, as well as 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. As of 11 October 2014, he has 31 international caps and 1 goal for the Desert Foxes.
Djamel began his playing career in the junior ranks of French club US Annecy-le-Vieux before being spotted by scouts from Swiss side Servette FC in 2001. He progressed through the ranks at Servette FC and made his senior debut in the 2003–04 Swiss Super League season, playing in 11 games and scoring 3 goals.
In the summer of 2004, he left the club as it was facing financial difficulties and joined FC Basel. Used mostly as a substitute, he would go on to make just 11 appearances and score 1 goal. In January 2006, he was loaned out to FC Lorient who were playing in Ligue 2 at the time. However, he was injured before he could make his debut and never featured for them. In the summer of 2006, he signed with FC Aarau, a Swiss club playing in the countries second division. He stayed there for two seasons and was a starter the entire time. He was signed by FC Luzern on 1 July 2008, but made only 6 appearances the whole year, all of which were coming off the substitute bench.
On 1 September 2008, he was signed by Avellino, the first Italian club in his career. In July 2009 he was signed by U.S. Lecce. At Lecce he played mostly as a left sided midfielder, but occasionally as a central midfielder or even a left sided wing-back. His ability to play many positions well, attracted the interest of a few Italian clubs. On 18 January 2012, US Lecce announced that Mesbah would be leaving the club to join A.C. Milan. The following day, Milan confirmed the transfer, announcing that Djamel had signed a four and a half-year contract with the club for an €1.2 million transfer fee.
On 26 January 2012, Mesbah made his debut for Milan, starting in the 2011–12 Coppa Italia quarter-final tie against Lazio. he played the entire match with Milan going on to win 3–1. On 20 March 2012, he scored his first goal for Milan, in a 2–2 draw with Juventus in the Semi-Finals of the 2011–12 Coppa Italia. Djamel‘s goal tied the game 1–1, but proved ineffective as Milan drew in extra time to exit the cup on aggregate 4–3. He made a total of twelve appearances in all competitions for Milan, including two in the UEFA Champions League, one against Arsenal and the other against Barcelona. The away leg at Arsenal was his first appearance in the competition.
Mesbah was again used sparingly at Parma and he made seven appearances until the end of the 12/13 season. The next season he made just four further appearances and so went out on loan to A.S. Livorno Calcio in January 2014. At Livorno, Djamel was a constant starter. He played as their left sided wingback in a 3-5-2 formation but unfortunately was unable to help Livorno in their push to avoid relegation. He signed for U.C. Sampdoria late on 1 September 2014 (swap with Juan Antonio), penning a three-year deal with the Genovese club. It was his fourth different club since January 2012.
In May 2010, Mesbah was called up for the first time to the Algeria national football team by Rabah Saâdane for a two-week training camp in Crans-Montana, Switzerland in preparation for the 2010 World Cup. He made his debut for the team two weeks later, on 28 May 2010, as a starter in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland. He was included in the final 23-man squad for the World Cup.
