Aymen Abdennour ( ar, أيمن عبد النور; born 6 August 1989) 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Rodez Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the ...

. A full international with over 53 caps since 2009, he represented

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

at three

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

tournaments.

Club career

Early career

Abdennour was born in

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

, Tunisia, and started his career at

Étoile Sportive du Sahel Étoile may refer to: Places ;France * Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, station of the Paris Métro * Étoile-Saint-Cyrice, commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in France * Étoile-sur-Rhône, commune in the Drôme department in France * L'Éto ...

in 2008. During his spell there, he became the favourite player by fans despite being one of the youngest players in the team. In the 2008–09 season he scored five goals for his club, but they missed on the title and finished third. On 14 January 2010, Abdennour signed a half-year loan deal with

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

which initially saw him stay at the club until the end of the 2009–10 season. Bremen had the contract option to sign him permanently. Abdennour made six appearances for Werder Bremen, but they did not take up the option to sign him and he returned to Étoile.

Toulouse

In July 2011, Abdennour signed a four-year contract with the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. In February 2012, Toulouse extended this, tying the Tunisian to a deal running until 2016.

Monaco

On 31 January 2014, Abdennour joined the league rivals

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

on a loan deal. After impressing during a loan spell, he signed a four-year deal with Monaco on 4 July 2014. The 2014–15 season was a successful season for Abdennour and his team, with a third place in Ligue 1 and an elimination against Champions League finalist

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

in the quarter final.

Valencia

In August 2015, after a good season with Monaco, Abdennour signed a five-year deal until 2020 with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

for an undisclosed fee, mainly as a replacement to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

-bound

Nicolás Otamendi Nicolás Hernán Gonzalo Otamendi (born 12 February 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Portuguese Primeira Liga club Benfica and the Argentina national team. Otamendi played for Vélez Sarsfield and ...

Loan to Marseille

On 29 August 2017, Abdennour returned to France to play for

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, on a two-year loan deal.

Kayserispor

On 11 July 2019, it was announced that following Abdennour's release from Valencia, that he would immediately join Turkish Süper Lig club

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fini ...

Umm Salal

On 16 September 2020, Abdennour moved to Qatar to play for

Umm Salal Umm Salal (; also spelled Umm Slal) is a municipality in the State of Qatar. It contains several historic places, such as Barzan Tower. The municipal headquarters Umm Salal is located in Umm Salal Ali, about 10 km from the coast and 15 ...

Rodez

On 30 August 2022, Abdennour signed for

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

club

on a season-long contract.

International career

His excellent domestic performances earned him a call-up to the

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

squad, and, , has won 53 caps for his country, scoring one goal. He was also the captain of the under-21 team.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Individual *

CAF Team of the Year The CAF Team of the Year is an annual football award given by the Confederation of African Football during the CAF Awards. In 2007, the CAF did not choose the team of the year, but rather the best ten players of the last fifty years. The ten pla ...

: 2016

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdennour, Aymen 1989 births Living people People from Sousse Association football defenders Tunisian footballers Tunisia international footballers 2011 African Nations Championship players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Étoile Sportive du Sahel players SV Werder Bremen players Toulouse FC players AS Monaco FC players Valencia CF players Olympique de Marseille players Kayserispor footballers Umm Salal SC players Rodez AF players Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players La Liga players Süper Lig players Qatar Stars League players Tunisian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Qatar Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in France Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Tunisia A' international footballers