Medhi Gregory Giuseppe Lacen was born on 15 March, 1984 in Paris, France, to an Algerian father and an Italian mother. He is an Algerian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Getafe CF as a defensive midfielder. Lacen’s younger brother, Michael, is also a footballer. He represented, amongst other clubs, FC Versailles. After starting out at Laval, he spent most of his professional career in Spain, representing Alavés, Racing de Santander and Getafe and amassing La Liga totals of 254 games and seven goals over the course of nine seasons.
Lacen appeared for Algeria in two World Cups.
Lacen started his professional career with modest Stade Lavallois and ASOA Valence. For the 2005–06 season he moved to Spain, joining Deportivo Alavés which would eventually be relegated; he made his La Liga debut on 15 October 2005, in a 1–1 home draw against Villarreal CF.
Although French-born, Lacen had the possibility of representing Algeria through his fathers’ origins. In 2006, he was called up by Jean-Michel Cavalli to the national side for a friendly against Gabon, but did not play because of an administrative problem. On 12 December 2009, the president of the Algerian FA, Mohamed Raouraoua, announced that Lacen would be called up to the Algerian squad for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. However, five days later, head coach Rabah Saâdane announced that the player would not participate in the continental competition because of his wife’s pregnancy.
