Chaouki Ben Saada (; born 1 July 1984) is a French-born 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

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the Tunisia national team.

Club career

Born in

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

, France, Ben Saada made 170 appearances for

, scoring 16 goals for the team. On 2 July 2008, he signed with

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club de Nice (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional association football, football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of Footb ...

for €1.5 million along with teammate

Kafoumba Coulibaly Kafoumba Coulibaly (born 26 October 1985) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Coulibaly began his career at the famous Ivorian club ASEC Abidjan, in their youth academy run by former Fr ...

, agreeing to a three-year contract. After a three-year stint with Nice, he signed a two-year deal with

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

outfit

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

on 24 August 2011. In August 2012, Ben Saada moved to Ligue 2 club Arles-Avignon on a two-year contract. In October 2014, he then signed a one-year contract with

Troyes AC Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a football in France, French professional association football club based in Troyes that competes in Ligue 2. It plays its home matches at the Stade de l'Aube. Foun ...

, extending his stay in the

International career

Ben Saada played international football for France at youth level, earning an Under-17 World Championship medal in 2001. Since then, he adopted the Tunisian nationality of his parents, and first played for the national side in March 2005. He has won 12 international caps, scoring 1 goal (as of 7 June 2006). He was in the Tunisian squad for the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split in ...

, but was initially omitted from the squad for

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

, before being called up to replace Issam Jomaa, who withdrew with a knee injury.

Career statistics

International goals

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

References

External links

* * * 1984 births Living people Footballers from Bastia French sportspeople of Tunisian descent Tunisian men's footballers 21st-century Tunisian sportsmen Tunisia men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players SC Bastia players OGC Nice players RC Lens players AC Arlésien players ES Troyes AC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players 21st-century French sportsmen {{Tunisia-footy-midfielder-stub