Bougherra began his professional career with French club Gueugnon before having spells with Crewe Alexandra, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic in England.

He moved to Rangers in 2008 for a fee of £2.5 million and made 113 appearances; he was a key part of the team that won the Scottish Premier League championship in the 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons.

[7] After a number of impressive performances, including a goal in the 4–1 win over Coventry City,[8] many of the club's supporters urged then manager Dario Gradi to sign Bougherra on a permanent basis.

However, in April 2006, he confirmed he would leave Crewe at the end of his loan spell after failing to help the club avoid relegation to League One.

Sheffield Wednesday rejected a £1.3 million offer from Charlton Athletic,[13] whilst Reading,[14] Everton[15] and Birmingham City were also rumoured to be interested.

[18] He made his debut on 9 August in a Scottish Premier League match against Falkirk,[19] and scored his first goal on 28 September 2008 in a 3–0 win against Hibernian.

[20] After Rangers lost Carlos Cuéllar to Aston Villa, Bougherra formed a consistent partnership alongside David Weir.

On 16 September 2009, he scored a solo goal in the 77th minute to make it 1–1 against VfB Stuttgart in the group stage of the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, earning Rangers a point.

[22] After playing for Algeria against Rwanda in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier Bougherra returned to Scotland two days late and was subsequently dropped for a league match away to St Johnstone on 17 October.

[25] Bougherra missed much of the second half of the 2009–10 season through injury, but picked up his second SPL winners medal after Rangers clinched back-to-back league titles in 2010.

On 3 August in a 2011–12 UEFA Champions League qualifier against Malmö FF, Bougherra was shown a straight red card for elbowing an opponent, which proved to be his last game for the club.

[34] Bougherra made his full debut for the Algeria national team in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier on 20 June 2004 against Zimbabwe.

His second goal came on 20 June 2009, a header from a free kick in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Zambia, which ended in a 2–0 win, putting them at the top of their group.