Karim Saïdi (; born 24 March 1983) is a

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

n former

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 last played for Belgian club Lierse SK. He now runs a coffee shop in Tunisia. He was part of the squad that won the

2004 African Cup of Nations The 2004 African Cup of Nations was held from 24 January to 14 February 2004 in Tunisia. It was the 24th edition of the biennial international men's football championship of Africa, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Tun ...

Club career

Club Africain

When Karim was 10 years old he joined

Club Africain Club Africain (), known as CA for short, is a Tunisian professional football club based in Tunis. The club was founded in 1920 and its colours are red and white. Their home stadium, Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, has a capacity of 60,000 spectators. ...

, one of the major clubs in Tunisia. He made his debut in the Tunisian national team against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in 2003.

Feyenoord

In 2004 the right-footed defender moved to Feyenoord Rotterdam after advice from his friend Hatem Trabelsi and signed a contract till 2008. During his first season he was the first choice in

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

's central defense, as a result of which he played 30 matches in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

Lecce

As of 2005/06, Saïdi lost his spot in the starting eleven. Determined to play as a regular in order to increase his chances to be in the Tunisian squad during the

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 ...

World Cup 2006, he moved on loan to US Lecce of Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

on 31 January 2006. He made 9 appearances with Lecce and gained a place in the Tunisian squad for the FIFA World Cup 2006.

Feyenoord return and Sivasspor

Following the World Cup, Karim returned to Feyenoord for the 2006/2007 season. He remained at the club until January 2008, when he moved on loan to Sivasspor in January 2008. Karim made a good impression in the Turkish first division helping the club secure an impressive fourth place allowing it to participate in its first ever European cup.

Return to Club Africain

On 9 October 2008 he signed a four-year contract with his former club Club Africain.

Tour FC

Failing to reassert himself in his childhood club, he signed a two-year deal with

Tours FC Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), was a football club based in Tours, France. Formed in 1919, the club adopted the name Tours FC in 1951 after several other name changes. The club was dissolved on 26 February 2025 d ...

in June 2009.

Lierse SK

On 9 July 2011 Saidi signed a two-year contract with

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

outfit Lierse SK. In January 2015, Saidi went on trial with

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

side FC Irtysh Pavlodar, but did not earn a contract.

Honours

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 ...

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 ...

References

External links

*
Career stats
- Voetbal International {{DEFAULTSORT:Saidi, Karim 1983 births Living people Tunisian men's footballers Feyenoord players US Lecce players Sivasspor footballers Eredivisie players Club Africain players Tours FC players Lierse S.K. players Tunisia men's international footballers 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Tunisian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Serie A players Süper Lig players Ligue 2 players Belgian Pro League players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Footballers from Tunis Men's association football defenders Africa Cup of Nations–winning players