Abdelmajid Al-Chetali (; born 4 July 1939) is a Tunisian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who played 70 games with the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

and scored four goals. He also participated in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

. He is considered one of the characters who shaped and prolonged the legend of the

Étoile Sportive du Sahel Étoile Sportive du Sahel (), known as ES Sahel or simply ESS for short, is a Tunisian football club based in Sousse in the Sahel, Tunisia, Sahel region of Tunisia. Their home stadium, Sousse Olympic Stadium, has a capacity of 50,000 spectators ...

(nicknamed Majda). He received only one yellow card during his career. As a manager, he led them in their first ever World Cup appearance in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, where Tunisia became the first African team to win a World Cup match, beating

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

3–1, and making FIFA increase the number of World Cup slots in the African continent from one to two. During his managerial career, he was in charge of two national teams: the Tunisian and Bahraini national football teams. He also managed his home club

Étoile du Sahel Étoile may refer to: Places ;France * Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, station of the Paris Métro * Étoile-Saint-Cyrice, commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in France * Étoile-sur-Rhône, commune in the Drôme department in France * L'Éto ...

and achieved good results with it.

Player career

Born in

Sousse Sousse, Sūsah , or Soussa (, ), is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which ...

into a family of footballers, Chetali began his career at the Corniche and joined the Etoile Sportive du Sahel (ESS) in 1957 to the position of

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and team captain. He started for the first time in the national team by Yugoslav coach

Milan Kristić Milan Kristić was a Yugoslav football coach who managed the Tunisia national team from 1960 to 1961. He led the Tunisian side which competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics, where they suffered three defeats to Poland, Argentina and Denmark ...

as a semi-offensive (between the attacking midfielder and the center forward) and he imposed himself in the Tunisian midfield game. He competed in the

, but his team lost all of their games and did not score goals. In 1961, he participated in the 1962 African Cup of Nations qualification and qualified Tunisia against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

by scoring away with a goal in the 65th minute, but he missed the finals of the competition because he was a victim as few of his teammates of a

Malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

crisis. He nevertheless participated in the

1963 African Cup of Nations The 1963 African Cup of Nations was the fourth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). For the third consecutive time the hosts won the African Cup. The format was changed to two groups of 3 ...

after having played and lost the final of the Friendship Games in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. At the

1965 African Cup of Nations The 1965 African Cup of Nations was the fifth edition of the biennial African association football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) hosted in Tunisia from 12 and 21 November 1965. This was the final edition of t ...

held in Tunisia, he was captain of the selection. His team did a great competition before reaching the final against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

on 21 November. He scored a goal, which allowed Tunisia to equalize, but Ghana finally won the competition after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

Coaching career

He left the Étoile du Sahel in 1968 and returned as a coach from 1970 to 1975. He made good results winning the Tunisian League and Maghreb Champions Cup in 1972 and two

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup (), formerly known as Tunisian President Cup (1956–2011), is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition in Football in Tunisia, Tunisian football, organized annually by the Tunisian Football Federati ...

s in 1974 and 1975. He graduated from the

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Higher Institute (Germany) in 1974, so he was called in January 1975 to coach the national team. At the

1978 African Cup of Nations The 1978 African Cup of Nations was the eleventh edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. The format of the competition changed from 1976: the field of eight teams ...

, he reached the semi-final but left the competition with a two-year exclusion from the

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

for unsportsmanlike behavior. However, the team qualified for the first time for the World Cup finals in

, becoming the first African team to win a match (against

by 3 goals to 1). However, his team didn't pass the first round because, after this victory, the Tunisians lost their second match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

by 1 goal to 0. They then draw with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on a virgin score. But this relatively good performance allows the African continent to benefit from an additional place for the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

, with two places. With this great achievement and despite the many offers, he preferred to stay away from this training, but he had a short experience in 9th Arabian Gulf Cup with

Bahrain national football team The Bahrain national football team () represents Bahrain in international football and is controlled by the Bahrain Football Association, which was founded in 1951 and joined FIFA in 1966. They have never reached the FIFA World Cup, but have t ...

reaching the semi-finals. He returned to

as a coach for a few months in 2004, replacing Mrad Mahjoub, who was forced to resign after the elimination of the team in the Tunisian Cup semi-final. He achieved the second place in 2004 CAF Champions League after losing against the Nigerian Side

Enyimba Aba is a city in southeastern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River and is at the intersection of roads leading to settlements such as Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot-Abasi. Aba was established by t ...

with penalties.

Consultant

He has been a sports consultant for the American TV channel

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

since 1998. Chetali succeeds in establishing himself as one of the best Arab consultants and a very popular columnist of Tunisian television. Indeed, he is one of the first Arab to analyze a football game on a television screen after introducing a model of land on which there are dolls players. He analyzed three

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

s, four African Cups of Nations, two

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

s, three

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

as well as the

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Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and English Leagues and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

in Aljazeera Sport. In March 2007, he was appointed technical advisor to the

Saudi Arabian Football Federation The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF; ) is the association football, football Sport governing body, governing body of Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1956, It's responsibilities include administration of club competitions and national teams. The ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

As Player

Étoile du Sahel *

Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1, formerly known as the Tunisian National Championship between 1956 and 1994, is the highest-level association football, football tournament in Tunisia and is organized by the Tunisian Football Federation and t ...

: 1957–58, 1962–63, 1965–66 *

: 1958–59, 1962–63 Tunisia *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

third place:

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

; runner-up:

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

Arab Cup The FIFA Arab Cup (), or Arab Cup, is an international association football competition organized by FIFA. It is held every four years with the participation of senior men's national teams of the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA), ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

As Manager

Étoile du Sahel *

: 1971–72 *

: 1973–74, 1974–75 * Maghreb Champions Cup: 1973 * Maghreb Cup Winners Cup: 1975 *

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 ...

runner-up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Tunisia *

Palestine Cup of Nations The Palestine Cup () was a football competition which was held between countries in the Arab world. The tournament ''de facto'' acted as the replacement for the Arab Cup during the long interruption between 1966 and 1982, it held on three occasio ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

fourth place:

Bahrain *

Arabian Gulf Cup The Arabian Gulf Cup (, ''Kaʾs al-Khalīj al-ʿArabī''), also referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial association football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nations. The history of ...

fourth place:

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chetali, Abdelmajid 1939 births Living people Footballers from Sousse Men's association football midfielders Tunisian men's footballers Tunisia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Tunisia Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Tunisian football managers 1963 African Cup of Nations players 1965 African Cup of Nations players Étoile Sportive du Sahel players Competitors at the 1967 Mediterranean Games 1978 FIFA World Cup managers 1978 African Cup of Nations managers Étoile Sportive du Sahel managers Tunisia national football team managers Bahrain national football team managers Al Wehda FC managers Tunisian expatriate football managers Mediterranean Games competitors for Tunisia Saudi Pro League managers Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Expatriate football managers in Bahrain Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Al Ain FC managers