Samy Baghdadi

Samy Baghdadi arrived at Sochaux by way of a loan that turned permanent. He joined Valenciennes in July 2025, but by January 2026 he had moved to FC Sochaux-Montbéliard on loan, and once Sochaux secured promotion to Ligue 2, a mandatory purchase clause in the loan deal was triggered. In June 2026 he signed with Sochaux permanently, on a contract running until June 2027, after producing 3 goals in 17 appearances during his loan spell.

Born in Grasse, Baghdadi holds dual French and Algerian nationality, though he has not earned senior caps for either country. He started out at ES Cannet Rocheville, where 14 goals in 20 appearances earned him a move to the Saint-Étienne academy. He spent three seasons with the club's reserve side, and in the 2017–18 campaign he was National 3's top scorer with 14 goals in 19 games. A brief involvement with Saint-Étienne's first team in January 2018 did not lead to a competitive debut.

His scoring form persisted through the lower tiers of French football: at RC Pays de Grasse he finished as the club's top scorer in National 2, and a two-year spell at Fortuna Sittard in the Netherlands brought limited game time, with one goal in ten Eredivisie appearances. Returning to France, he became a key figure at USL Dunkerque, scoring 9 goals in the 2021–22 National season to help the club win promotion to Ligue 2, before adding 11 goals in total across two seasons there.

The 2024–25 season at FC Versailles 78 was his most productive: 13 goals in 31 National 1 matches made him the division's fourth-top scorer, earned him a nomination for the Trophée du Joueur du Mois in February 2025, and a place among the season's best National 1 players.