Anther Yahia[1][2] (Arabic: عنتر يحيى; born 21 March 1982) is a French-born Algerian retired professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

[3] After his switch of national allegiance he was called up to the Algeria Under-23 side, scoring on his debut in a 1–0 win against Ghana in an Olympic Games qualifier on 2 January 2004.

[6] He is considered a national hero by many Algerians, as he was the scorer of the goal that put them into their first World Cup finals since 1986, at the expense of bitter rivals Egypt.

In 1985, Yahia's parents decided to move the family back to Algeria as they found it difficult to cope with life in France.

[11] He is Muslim and observes fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan he speaks Arabic, French, German, Italian, English and Spanish.

In 2007 English club Leeds United and German side VfL Bochum were interested in Yahia.

[15] On 30 January 2007, he played his first Bundesliga match for VfL Bochum against Bayern Munich[16] In a short period he became an important player at the club and had a safe place in the central defense.

[20] On 17 July 2011, despite still having three years remaining on his contract with Bochum, Yahia agreed to join Saudi club Al Nassr.

[24] On 14 January 2013, Yahia signed a one-year and a half contract with Tunisian club Espérance Sportive de Tunis.

[25] A month later, he made his official debut for the club as a starter in a league match against Olympique Béja and was handed the captain's armband.

[27] Six months later, Yahia made his return in France, signing a two-year contract with Ligue 2 team Angers SCO on 11 June 2014.

[28] Yahia began his youth international career with France in 1998 as he was called up to participate in the UEFA European Under-16 Championship (qualifying round).

This was his only appearance for the France-Under 16 as they were eliminated from the competition as they failed to qualify to the final tournament (group stage).

[30] Yahia was called up to play for the France-Under 18 squad in 2000, a time when the team was trying to qualify for the 2001 European Championship to be held in Finland in July 2001.

[32][33] Yahia was the first footballer to profit from the change in FIFA's rules on international eligibility when he made his debut for Algeria in an Olympic Games qualifier against Ghana.

[4] Yahia started his senior international career on 15 January 2004 against Mali in a friendly in preparation for the 2004 African Cup of Nations hosted in Tunisia.

In November 2009, the Algerian team flew out to Cairo for the final world cup qualifier game, when travelling from the airport to the hotel the coach came under attack as Egyptians hurled rocks at the bus, shattering windows and showering the players and staff with broken glass several players were reported to be injured Yahia was understandably furious when they finally arrived to the hotel and said the following “They struck our bus with large bricks,” said a distraught Antar Yahia.