Adel Sellimi ( ar, عادل السليمي; born 16 November 1972) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and current manager. As a child, he drew inspiration from the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

team who became the first African nation to win a World Cup match. At the age of 10, he joined his first club,

Club Africain Club Africain ( ar, النادي الإفريقي) is a Tunisian football club based in Tunis that competes in the Tunisian Championship. It fields several sports teams, including football, handball, basketball, swimming and volleyball. The foot ...

of Tunis, and he stayed there for the next 14 years, picking up two Tunisian league titles and one Tunisia Cup along the way. He earned his first cap in September 1993, during a match against Germany. Tunisians grew to appreciate his discretion in life outside football as a modest and determined professional. On the pitch, he distinguished himself at international level during the

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, s ...

finals in South Africa as one of the best players of the tournament. Sellimi became a household name throughout the country, a skillful and talented bright spark who carried the team to the final of the tournament for the second time in their history. Sellimi struck twice in the semi-final against Zambia, and was widely considered one of the best players in the tournament. Following another impressive performance at the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta., the player was signed by French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club FC Nantes Atlantique, However, his relocation to France marked the beginning of a long dry spell. Despite being christened "The Lung" by Nantes fans due to the distance he covered during matches, he never truly settled in at his new team. In his debut season, he scored two goals in 30 games and failed to replicate the success he had at home in Tunisia. Sellimi departed Nantes for Real Jaén in the Spanish second level after another unsuccessful season in 1997/98. Here he got some first-class matches and finally found his form.This surge in form earned him a call-up to the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

squad, where he put in steady performances against England and Romania.

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side Freiburg took a gamble on Sellimi and partnered the player with other Tunisian internationals, anchorman Zoubeir Baya and fellow striker

Mehdi Benslimane Mahdi Ben Slimane ( ar, مهدي بن سليمان; born 1 January 1974) is a Tunisian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Having begun his career at AS Marsa in his native country he moved to France in 1996 to play for Olymp ...

. But here too he took a long time finding his true form, and many at Freiburg considered him a mistaken purchase during his first year. However, he proved his detractors wrong in the best possible way in the 1999/2000 season. Sellimi just could not stop scoring goals and even headed the Bundesliga's goalscoring list going into the winter break. A disappointing 2001 lead to Sellimi missing out on the

2002 African Cup of Nations The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (Confederation of African Football, CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000 African Cup of Nations, 2000, th ...

in Mali and a number of international friendlies after a fall-out with former national coach

Henri Michel Henri Louis Michel (28 October 1947 – 24 April 2018) was a French football player and coach. He played as a midfielder for Nantes and the France national team, and later went on to coach various clubs and national teams all over the wor ...

. But the Frenchman's replacement with Ammar Souayah coupled with the national team's goal drought brought about Sellimi's recall. The

2002 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 ...

in Korea and Japan turned out to be Adel Sellimi's swansong in premier football competitions, and he retired from international football shortly after the tournament at the age of 31. He returned to

shortly afterwards. After retiring Sellimi became a manager, working in Tunisia and Qatar.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Tunisia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sellimi goal''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sellimi, Adel 1972 births Living people Footballers from Tunis Tunisian footballers Association football forwards Club Africain players FC Nantes players Real Jaén footballers SC Freiburg players Baniyas Club players Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Ligue 1 players Segunda División players Bundesliga players UAE First Division League players Tunisian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in France Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Tunisia international footballers 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players Olympic footballers of Tunisia Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Tunisian football managers AS Gabès managers AS Marsa managers Al-Khor SC managers Tunisian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Qatar Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar