Moroccan Midfielder Mehdi Carcela Wins ’Belgian Lion’ Award for Third Time

Monday evening, Mehdi Carcela, who plays in the ranks of Standard de Liège as a midfielder, was named "Belgian Lion 2019" after receiving the same distinction last year but also in 2015.

He was thus able to outpace two Tunisians: Hamdi Harbaoui and Dylan Bronn, who play respectively as a striker for Zulte Waregem and as a defender for La Gantoise.

Note that his full name is Mehdi François Carcela-Gonzalez. Of Spanish father and Moroccan mother, he was born in Liège in 1989, on the first of July. He plays for Standard in the Jupiler Pro League and also has Belgian nationality. With the Atlas Lions he played the 2012 CAN, the 2017 CAN and the 2018 World Cup.

Carcela also played for the Russian club FK Anji Makhachkala, for Benfica de Lisbon (with whom he won the Portuguese championship in 2016), for Granada FC and for Olympiacos (on loan).