Sami Tlemcani (; born 21 July 2004) is a 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for Greek Super League 2 club

AEK Athens B A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Established ...

. Born in France, he represented Morocco at youth international level before committing to represent

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

in February 2023.

Club career

Early life

Born in

Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne Saint-Maurice () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The lunatic asylum Charenton was located in Saint-Maurice; it is now a psychiatric hospital. History Originally called Charen ...

, France to an Algerian father and Moroccan mother, Tlemcani played for Créteil-Lusitanos before joining

Paris FC Paris Football Club (French pronunciation: Help:IPA/French, aʁi futbol klœb, commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris, France. They will compete in Ligue ...

. He spent two years with Paris FC, training with the first team at only 15 years old.

Chelsea

In October 2020, he joined English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side Chelsea. In February 2022, Tlemcani was loaned to

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

side

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 17 miles south of Charing Cross just beyond the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Merstham has ...

on a short-term deal. He went on to make five appearances in the league. He extended his deal with Chelsea in August 2022, signing until 2025. On 1 July 2023, Tlemcani departed Chelsea by mutual consent.

AEK Athens

On 27 July 2023, Tlemcani joined Greek Super League 2 club

International career

Tlemcani is eligible to represent France through birth, and both Algeria and Morocco through his parents. He was called up to the French under-16 team in November 2019. Ahead of the 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations, which was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in host country Morocco, Tlemcani pledged his international future to Morocco, stating on his

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page that he had decided to represent them instead of

. This choice was strengthened further when, in September 2021, he received a surprise call up to the Morocco senior set up ahead of 2022 World Cup qualification games. Despite Tlemcani initially expressing his pride at representing Morocco, his father said in an interview in September 2022 that he had a desire to represent Algeria at international level, but had yet to hear from the

Algerian Football Federation The Algerian Football Federation (AFF); () is the governing body of Association football, football in Algeria. Formed in 1962 and was based in the capital Algiers. It has jurisdiction on the Algerian football league system and is in charge of th ...

. He has since gone on to represent Morocco at under-20 level. In February 2023, Tlemcani chose to represent Algeria.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tlemcani, Sami 2004 births Living people Algerian men's footballers French men's footballers Moroccan men's footballers Morocco men's youth international footballers Algerian people of Moroccan descent Moroccan people of Algerian descent French sportspeople of Moroccan descent French sportspeople of Algerian descent Men's association football goalkeepers Isthmian League players US Créteil-Lusitanos players Paris FC players Chelsea F.C. players Merstham F.C. players Moroccan expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Algerian expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in England Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England 21st-century French sportsmen 21st-century Algerian sportsmen