Mehdi Taouil ( ar, مهدي طويل) (born 20 May 1983) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who played as an attacking midfielder, lastly for

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

side AZAL. Born in France, he represented Morocco at international level.

Personal

Taouil was born in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Île-de-France to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother.

Club career

During the early stages of his career he played for Nancy and

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

but was limited to only infrequent games.

Montpellier

Taouil played for

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

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 ...

, joining the club on a two-year contract in June 2005, before being released at the end of the 2006/07 season. During his time there he made 48 league appearances scoring three goals.

Kilmarnock

He then signed a one-year deal at Scottish side

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

in October 2007. On his Kilmarnock debut he was warmly greeted by the fans in a 1–0 loss to

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

and was voted as Kilmarnock's Man of the Match. He scored his first goal in the game against Hibernian on 26 December 2007 at Rugby Park, which ended in a 2–1 victory for the Ayrshire side. Taouil was linked with a transfer to SPL rivals Hearts, but in July 2008 he signed a three-year deal with Kilmarnock. Following the

release Release may refer to: * Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song * Legal release, a legal instrument * News release, a communication directed at the news media * Release (ISUP), a code to ident ...

Gary Wales Gary Wales (born 4 January 1979) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Career Wales, a striker, started his career at Hamilton. In 35 games he scored 11 goals before moving to Hearts for £50,000. In five years at Tynecastle, Wales s ...

, Taouil was given the number 10 shirt for the new season. In all he made 118 appearances in all competitions scoring 7 goals for Kilmarnock.

Hearts

Despite turning Hearts down in 2008 they again made approaches to sign him when he became a free agent in the summer of 2011 after his three-year contract with

came to an end. On Tuesday 14 June 2011, Taouil signed for Hearts on a three-year contract. He opted to sign for the Gorgie outfit despite interest from the continent and team up with his former

boss

Jim Jefferies Geoff James Nugent (born 14 February 1977), known professionally as Jim Jefferies, is an Australian comedian, actor, and writer who holds dual Australian and American citizenship. He created and starred in the American FX sitcom ''Legit'' (2 ...

. Making his debut against

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

at Ibrox on 23 July. He scored his first goal for the club on 3 December, with a consolation goal in their 2–1 defeat to

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

. He played as a substitute when Hearts won the

2012 Scottish Cup Final The 2012 Scottish Cup Final was the 127th final of the Scottish Cup. The match took place at Hampden Park on 19 May 2012 and was contested by the Edinburgh derby rivals, Hibernian (Hibs) and Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It was Hibs' 12th Scot ...

. Taouil left Hearts in May 2013.

Sivasspor

Mehdi Taouil signed a contract with Turkish Süper Lig side Sivasspor for the 2013/14 season.

AZAL

On 16 February 2017, Taouil signed for

side AZAL until the end of the 2016–17 season.

International career

Taouil was part of the Moroccan national football team at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Taouil played in all three games as the team exited in the first round, finishing third in Group D behind Iraq and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taouil, Mehdi 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Villeneuve-Saint-Georges Men's association football midfielders French men's footballers Moroccan men's footballers Morocco men's international footballers French sportspeople of Moroccan descent French sportspeople of Algerian descent Moroccan expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan AS Nancy Lorraine players 1. FC Nürnberg players Montpellier HSC players Kilmarnock F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Sivasspor footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Scottish Premier League players Süper Lig players Olympic footballers for Morocco Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Bundesliga players Moroccan people of Algerian descent Footballers from Val-de-Marne Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey French expatriate sportspeople in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan