Chokri El Ouaer (; born August 15, 1966) is a Tunisian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. The Tunisian international began playing for Espérance Sportive de Tunis in 1986, spending his entire career there except for a six-month spell with

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in 2001, near the end of his career. He retired shortly before the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

due to

back The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral c ...

problems, having announced his retirement on two previous occasions but persuaded to continue each time. Although he missed the 2002 World Cup he played at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. El Ouaer allegedly amassed near 100 caps for his country, but as with other Tunisian players this number is disputed by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. El Ouaer received attention in December 2000 when he was accused of faking an injury in the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

final between Espérance and Hearts of Oak. During a lengthy stoppage towards the end of the game, Ouaer suddenly rushed towards the midfield with blood running down the side of his face. Claiming to be hit with a sharp object thrown by the spectators, the match referees had spotted the player inflicting the injury on himself. With Espérance on the verge of losing the match on away goals, it was believed that Ouaer attempted to get the game cancelled. When the match did continue, Espérance had to substitute him with an outfield player, resulting in a 3–1 loss.

External links

Bad back forces El Ouaer out
- BBC
CAF set to rule on El Ouaer fake injury accusation
- Ghanaweb * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouaer, Chokri El 1966 births Living people Tunisian men's footballers Footballers from Tunis Men's association football goalkeepers Tunisia men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Tunisia Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Serie B players Espérance Sportive de Tunis players Genoa CFC players Tunisian expatriate men's footballers Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy CAF Champions League–winning players