Radhi Ben Abdelmajid Jaïdi (; born 30 August 1975) is a Tunisian 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 played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He was previously head coach of the under-23 team at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, head coach of

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

team

Hartford Athletic Hartford Athletic is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The club was founded in 2018 and started play in the USL Championship in 2019. It is the only pro soccer team in Connecticut (thoug ...

, assistant coach at Belgian side

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

and head coach at

Espérance de Tunis :''See also Esperance (disambiguation)'' Espérance is one of the two French language, French words that can be translated into "hope", the other being "espoir". Whereas the latter is closer to the idea of "dream" or "fantasy" and corresponds to mo ...

Club career

Espérance

Before coming to England, Jaïdi was the only player at the time to have won all four of Africa’s annual cup competitions – all with Espérance.

Bolton Wanderers

Jaïdi signed for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

on a free transfer in July 2004 from Espérance Sportive de Tunis, who won the Tunisian league title the season before. Jaïdi became the first Tunisian player to play in the Premier League with Bolton.

Birmingham City

Jaïdi joined

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

in the summer of 2006 for £2 million. He made his debut in a 1–0 win over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

in the early stages of the season although he almost scored an own goal in this match. After three years with the club, he was not offered another deal when his contract expired at the end of June 2009.

Southampton

In August 2009, Jaïdi passed a medical and agreed personal terms with

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

club

, but the transfer stalled when doubts arose over the player's eligibility for a

work permit A work permit or work visa is the permission to take a job within a foreign country. The foreign country where someone seeks to obtain a work permit for is also known as the "country of work", as opposed to the "country of origin" where someone ho ...

. However, on 2 September 2009, the club confirmed that Jaïdi had signed a two-year contract, subject to work-permit clearance. He received his international clearance on 10 September, and made his debut as a 77th-minute substitute at

Charlton Charlton may refer to: People * Charlton (surname) * Charlton (given name) Places Australia * Charlton, Queensland * Charlton, Victoria * Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wales ...

two days later. He scored his first goal for the Saints in a 1–1 draw away to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

on 26 September; the 95th-minute goal came from a free kick which earned his side the draw. His first goal in the 2010–11 season came in a 4–1 victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. He retired at the end of the 2011–12 season, having failed to make a first team appearance as he struggled with injury but remained at Southampton in an international development role.

International career

Jaïdi was also a regular in the

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 ...

line-up and was selected by coach

Roger Lemerre Roger Léon Maurice Lemerre-Desprez (born 18 June 1941) is a French former professional football manager and former player. During his managerial career, he was in charge of the French, Tunisian and Moroccan national teams. He also managed num ...

for the

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 ...

. He scored the goal which secured a 2–2 draw in their opening game against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. He had previously been part of Tunisia's

2004 African Nations Cup The 2004 African Cup of Nations was held from January 24, 24 January to February 14, 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 Afri ...

-winning squad, and played in the

. He captained the Tunisian national team in the

2008 Africa Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated with the Confede ...

, where they went out in the quarter finals to

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Coaching career

Radhi Jaidi in charge of Esperance de Tunis

Following the culmination of his playing career at Southampton, Jaïdi became head coach of Southampton under-23’s. In August 2019 he was linked with the vacant Tunisia national team manager job. On 7 November 2019 American team

announced that Jaidi has been named the club's head coach for the 2020 USL season, subject to the completion of relevant documentation. He said he hoped the job would allow him to return to coach in Europe in the future. In February 2021, Jaidi was hired as an assistant coach for

Belgian First Division A 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– ...

club

until August 2021. In August 2021, he joined his former club

as a head coach. On 25 September 2021, he won his first prize with his team by beating

CS Sfaxien Club Sportif Sfaxien (), known as CS Sfaxien or simply CSS for short, is a Tunisian football club based in Sfax. The club was founded in 1928 and its colours are black and white (Bianconero). Their home stadium, Taieb Mhiri Stadium, has a capac ...

in the supercup. On 8 June 2022, he was sacked due to poor results after the elimination from

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 ...

against CS M'saken.

Personal life

Jaïdi was born in

Gabès Gabès (, ; ), also spelled Cabès, Cabes, and Kabes, is the capital of the Gabès Governorate in Tunisia. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès, the city has a population of 167,863, making it the 6th largest city in Tunisia. Located 327 ...

. His mother raised him on her own after his father died when he was eleven years old. He currently resides in England.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Tunisia's goal tally first.''

Honours

As player

ES Tunis *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 *

: 1996–97, 1998–99 *

Tunisian Super Cup The Tunisian Super Cup () or the Tunisia Premier Cup () previously called the Tunisian Cup Winners' Cup, is a Tunisian football competition organized by the Tunisian Football Federation. Established in 1960, it combines the champions of the first ...

: 2001 *

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 ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

African Cup Winners' Cup The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and w ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

CAF Cup The CAF Cup was an annual competition organised by the CAF for domestic leagues runners-up of member associations who have not qualified to one of the two pre-existing CAF international club competitions the African Cup of Champions Clubs or t ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup, known as TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was f ...

: 1995 *

Arab Super Cup The Arab Super Cup () was an Arab football (soccer), football competition, held between four teams (the winners and runners-up of both the Arab Champions Cup, Arab Club Champions Cup and the Arab Cup Winners' Cup) each year. History The Arab Supe ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Southampton *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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 ...

As manager

ES Tunis *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

*
Birmingham City profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaidi, Radhi 1975 births Living people Footballers from Tunis Men's association football defenders Tunisian men's footballers Tunisian Muslims Tunisia men's international footballers Espérance Sportive de Tunis players Birmingham City F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Tunisia Tunisian expatriate men's footballers Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players FIFA Men's Century Club Southampton F.C. non-playing staff Hartford Athletic coaches Tunisian football managers Tunisian expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Espérance Sportive de Tunis managers Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 managers