Änis Ben-Hatira (born 18 July 1988) is a Tunisian 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for German

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

club Hertha BSC II. Between 2012 and 2016 he made 12 appearances for the Tunisia national team scoring one goal.

Club career

Born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Ben-Hatira started his football career playing for local club Reinickendorfer Füchse before moving to TeBe Berlin, where he spent most of his youth. Following a spell at

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

, he was signed by

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

. Ben-Hatira made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut on 24 February 2007 against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Mehdi Mahdavikia Mehdi Mahdavikia (; born 24 July 1977) is an Iranian professional association football, football coach and former player usually played as a winger (association football), right winger or right back. He was at Hamburger SV as a youth coach, and ...

. He made his first Bundesliga start against

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

on 1 April 2007. Hamburg extended his contract until 2012. On 1 February 2009, he joined

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

on a loan until 30 June 2009 and was subsequently loaned out to MSV Duisburg for another season. In July 2010, Ben-Hatira joined

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

on trial, making his debut on 28 July when he played for 64 minutes in a 2–0 win against MK Dons. However, he did not sign for West Ham and remained in Hamburg for the following season. On the final day of the 2011 summer transfer window, Ben-Hatira returned to

. He moved to

on 1 February 2016. Ben-Hatira signed for SV Darmstadt 98 on 22 August 2016. He was released on 25 January 2017 by mutual agreement and due to alleged connections he has with

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

based organization Ansaar International, which has been described by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia's internal intelligence agency as being "tightly interwoven in the Salafist movement". On 1 February 2017, Ben-Hatira joined

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

side

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

on a contract until June, with the option of a further year. After dissolving his contract with Gaziantepspor in July 2017, he joined Tunisian club Espérance Tunis in September 2017. He joined Hungarian side

Budapest Honvéd FC Budapest Honvéd Football Club (), commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian sports club based in Kispest, Budapest, with the colours of red and black. The club is best known for its football team. ''Honvéd'' means ...

in February 2019 where he scored his first goal on 23 February 2019 against

MTK Budapest FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a professional Association football, football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The club currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The club's colours are blue ...

. On 31 January 2020, Ben-Hatira joined

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

on a deal until the end of the 2019–20 season. He played in Greece for AEL until May 2021.

International career

After playing for several German international youth sides, Ben-Hatira was first called up for the Tunisia national team on 21 February 2012. Eight days later, he made his debut for Tunisia in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. He scored his first goal against

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

on 9 October 2016 in the 79th minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Hertha BSC * 2. Bundesliga: 2012–13 Germany U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Hatira, Anis 1988 births Living people Footballers from Berlin German men's footballers Tunisian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Tunisia men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Süper Lig players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Füchse Berlin Reinickendorf players Tennis Borussia Berlin players Hamburger SV II players Hamburger SV players Hertha BSC players Hertha BSC II players MSV Duisburg players Eintracht Frankfurt players SV Darmstadt 98 players Gaziantepspor footballers Espérance Sportive de Tunis players Budapest Honvéd FC players Karlsruher SC players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Berliner AK 07 players players German people of Tunisian descent German expatriate men's footballers Tunisian expatriate men's footballers Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Greece 21st-century German sportsmen