Karim Matmour (Arabic: كريم مطمور; born 25 June 1985) is a former Algerian professional footballer who played as a winger.
During his career, Matmour played for SC Freiburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Al-Arabi, Huddersfield Town, 1860 Munich and Adelaide United.
An Algerian international from 2007, Matmour featured at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. During his career, he won 30 international caps and scored twice.
Born in Strasbourg, France, Matmour joined hometown club Vauban Strasbourg when he was six years old. He then joined RC Strasbourg, where he began his playing career. After coming through the academy ranks, he failed to make it into the first team and was then rejected by Racing CFF. He subsequently returned to Vauban Strasbourg before leaving for Germany to join SC Freiburg in 2004.
After spending his first season with the club's reserve side, Matmour was eventually promoted to the senior side in the second half of the 2005–06 season. He made his SC Freiburg first team debut on 28 January 2006, coming on as a substitute for Ibrahim Tanko in the 67th minute, in a 1–0 win over Dynamo Dresden. In a match against 1860 Munich on 27 February 2006, Matmour set up a goal for Aleksandre Iashvili, who went on to score twice, in a 2–1 win. On 3 May 2006, he scored his first goals, in a 2–1 win over Hansa Rostock. His assists in the last two matches against Alemannia Aachen and Greuther Fürth saw the club win both matches, but failed to bounce back to Bundesliga after finishing fourth place in the league. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Matmour made a total of 16 appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.
In the 2006–07 season, Matmour continued to feature in the first team at the start of the season with SC Freiburg. He then set up for the first two goals in the match, in a 3–3 draw against Greuther Fürth on 22 September 2006. However, Matmour suffered a knee injury that saw him sidelined for the rest of the year. But he made his return to the starting line–up against Hansa Rostock on 22 January 2007 and helped the club win 1–0. On 15 April 2007, Matmour scored his first goal of the season, in a 3–0 win over 1. FC Köln. He later scored two more goals, coming against Karlsruher SC and TuS Koblenz, as SC Freiburg finished fourth place in the league. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Matmour finished the season, making 33 appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2007–08 season, Matmour signed a contract extension with SC Freiburg, keeping him until 2010. At the start of the season, he remained in the first team regular for the side, rotating in playing either midfield positions and striker position. Matmour's first goal of the season came on 26 September 2007 against 1. FC Köln and setting up the club's second goal of the game, in a 3–1 win. A month later, he added two more goals for SC Freiburg, coming against FC St. Pauli and Hamburger SV. Shortly after, Matmour suffered a thigh injury that saw him miss one match. But he made his return to the starting line–up against 1860 Munich on 25 November 2007 and helped SC Freiburg draw 2–2. Following his return from injury, Matmour regained his first team place for the rest of the season despite facing another sideline along the way. His fourth goal of the season came on 17 February 2008 against FC Augsburg and scored the only goal of the game, in a 1–0 win. He later scored two more goals later in the 2007–08 season, coming against 1860 Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Matmour went on to make 34 appearances and scoring six times in all competitions, as the club finished fifth place. By the time of his departure, he made 79 league appearances in three seasons in the 2. Bundesliga.
On 4 June 2008, Matmour joined newly promoted Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach on a four-year contract, with the team paying his former club SC Freiburg €2 million for the transfer.
Matmour made his Borussia Mönchengladbach debut, where he started and played 61 minutes before coming off as a substitute, in an 8–1 win over VfB Fichte Bielefeld in the first round of DFB-Pokal. A week later, on 17 August 2008, Matmour made his league debut for the club, starting the whole game, in a 3–1 loss against VfB Stuttgart in the opening game of the season. Two weeks later, on 30 August 2008, he scored his first goal for Borussia Mönchengladbach, in a 3–2 win over Werder Bremen. Since joining the club, Matmour quickly established himself in the starting eleven for the side. Despite receiving criticism for his lack of goal scoring form, he later scored two more goals for the club as the season progressed and they went on to finish 15th place in the league. Despite missing out one game during the 2008–09 season, Matmour was ever present in the league, as he went on to make 35 appearances and scoring once in all competitions. Matmour finished his first season at Borussia Mönchengladbach, making 35 appearances (34 in the league) and scoring three times in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2009–10 season, Matmour was linked a move away from the club, with Turkish side Fenerbahçe interested in signing him, but he stayed at the club throughout the summer. Matmour then scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–1 win over Hertha BSC on 25 August 2009. Having started out playing in the midfield position, he soon lost his playing time, but regained his first team place, playing in the striker position despite suffering goal drought. This lasted until late December when Matmour found himself out of the starting line–up, due to injuries and international commitment. After the end of African Cup of Nations, he returned to the first team, coming on as a second-half substitute, setting up the winning goal, in a 2–1 win over 1. FC Nürnberg on 12 February 2010. For the rest of the season, Matmour continued to remain in the first team despite his struggles to score and his own injury concerns. At the end of the 2009–10 season, he went on to make 27 appearances and scoring once in all competitions.
On 1 August 2010, during Borussia Mönchengladbach's arranged friendly match versus Liverpool as part of their 110th anniversary celebrations at Borussia Park, Matmour took advantage of some poor play by Daniel Ayala inside the area and produced a powerful finish in the eighth minute. They won the contest thanks to Matmour's goal, with the final score being 1–0. At the start of the 2010–11 season, he suffered three injuries in the first four months to the season. On 6 November 2010, Matmour returned to the first team from injury, coming on as a late substitute, in a 3–3 draw against Bayern Munich. However, his return was short–lived when he missed one match, due to a flu in mid–January, but quickly recovered and returned to the first team against Bayer Leverkusen on 23 January 2011. In a follow–up in a league fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt on 30 January 2011, Matmour came on as a substitute for Mike Hanke in the forty-sixth minute and came close to scoring with a header which bounced off the top of the crossbar but he set up the only goal scored in the encounter which was a cross from the left side to Igor de Camargo, who put the ball away inside the far right post, as the club won 1–0. Since returning from injury, Matmour rotated in and out of the starting line–up, although he remained in the first team for the remainder of the season. Matmour played in both legs of the league's relegation play–offs against VfL Bochum as a late substitute, as Borussia Mönchengladbach won 2–1 on aggregate and retained its Fußball-Bundesliga spot for the 2011–12 season. At the end of the 2010–11 season, he went on to make a total of 23 appearances in all competitions. Following this, Express reported that Matmour could be leaving the club.
On 1 July 2011, Matmour signed a one-year contract, with Eintracht Frankfurt holding the option of a further two-year extension. The two clubs agreed not to release the transfer fee, therefore the fee was kept as undisclosed. Eintracht Frankfurt chairman Heribert Bruchhagen said: "In signing Karim Matmour we've found the optimal solution for the vacant slot on the right of the attack, in line with (coach) Armin Veh's wishes", about the signing of Matmour.