Position: Midfielder
Born: 28.11.78
Club: Birmingham

A familiar face to English viewers having spent the last 18 months with Birmingham, Mehdi Nafti is a defensive midfielder who was voted the best foreign player in the Spanish Primera Liga as recently as the 2001/02 season.

That marked the end of a stellar campaign for the Toulouse-born defensive midfielder as he also made his international debut in the African Nations Cup.

Unfortunately injury prevented him from taking that form into the last World Cup and underlines just why he was so determined to make it back from ruptured cruciate ligaments in time to be fit for this tournament.

Having started his career with Toulouse, Nafti joined Racing Santander in 2000 before moving on to Birmingham last year.