Nassim Ben Khalifa (born 13 January 1992) is a Swiss

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 le ...

. He currently plays for the

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

club

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the coun ...

Club career

Grasshopper

Ben Khalifa started playing football with local team

Nyon Nyon (; outdated German language, German: or ; outdated Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilomet ...

Gland In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

and Lausanne-Sport before joining

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

after being recommended by

Stéphane Chapuisat Stéphane Chapuisat (born 28 June 1969) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer for both club and country (for which he appeared more than 100 times), he spent most of his career with Bundesliga ...

and this was the start of his professional career. Ben Khalifa made his debut with

in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

on 7 March 2009, at the age of 17, where he played the last 11 minutes in the game against

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

. He scored his first Super League goal in his fourth game, on 19 July 2009, also against Sion. Until he left Grasshopper at the end of the 2009–10 season, Ben Khalifa played a total of 28 league matches and scored eight goals. The club would find themselves in the financial difficulties and would need to sell him. As a result of moving, the sale of Ben Khalifa helps the club solve their financial difficulties.

Wolfsburg

On 19 February 2010, he signed a four-year contract with

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

and joined his new club on 1 July 2010. He attracted interest from Premier League club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and Serie A side

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, but Wolfsburg managed to beat both clubs to sign him. However, he has never played for Wolfsburg in a Bundesliga game. Ben Khalifa spent the first half of the 2010–11 season, playing in the club's reserve, where he made his debut, in a 4–2 win over

Türkiyemspor Berlin Türkiyemspor Berlin is a Turkish association football club from Berlin. The club began in 1978 as a loose association of young footballers playing recreationally as ''Kreuzberg Gençler Birliği'' (Kreuzberg Youth Union), named after the Berl ...

on 20 August 2010. Ben Khalifa made six appearances scoring two goals against

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

on 19 September 2010 and Oberneuland on 1 October 2010. He later stated about playing in Regionalliga, citing: ''"This is discussed with the trainer. I want to play with the reserve, than sitting in the Bundesliga in the stands."'' After half a season on the bench, Wolfsburg loaned Ben Khalifa out to 1. FC Nürnberg until summer 2012, where he made his Bundesliga debut on 5 March 2011, being brought into the game against

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

in the 82nd minute. German Newspaper

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (''WAZ'') is a commercial newspaper from Essen, Germany, published by Funke Mediengruppe. History and profile ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' was founded by Erich Brost and first published 3 April 1 ...

named Ben Khalifa, along with two other players, as the worst signing since the winter transfer 2010.

Young Boys (Loan Spell)

After the loan spell with Nürnberg, in July 2011, Ben Khalifa moved to

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

on loan for the 2011–12 season The previously year, Ben Khalifa was linked with a loan move to Young Boys, but the club's general manager

Dieter Hoeneß Dieter Hoeneß (born 7 January 1953) is a German former professional football player and executive. A forward in his playing career, Hoeneß was mainly associated with Bayern Munich. After retiring, he stayed connected with football, working ...

made it clear, quoting on Ben Khalifa: ''"This is not an issue at this time!"'' He made his debut for the club, in the third round of Europa League, where he played in both legs, which in the second leg, he made a double assist to send the club through to the next round. In the Europa League play-offs in the second leg, Ben Khalifa was sent off in the 62nd minute after he was involved in an incident with Quim, as Young Boys drew 2–2 with

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, but were eliminated due to away goal. While at Young Boys, Ben Khalifa made seventeen appearances and scoring against

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France ...

on 21 September 2011 and

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

on 10 December 2011.

Grasshopper

On 23 June 2012, Ben Khalifa signed a two-year loan deal with his first professional club Grasshopper for the 2012–13 season. He made his debut since coming back two years ago, as Grasshopper lose 2–0 to Sion, in the opening game of the season and on 28 July 2014, he scored his first goal for the club, in a 2–2 draw against

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. He would later score six goals in thirty-three appearances and helped the club win the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

after beating Basel on penalty-shootout, ending a ten-year drought. In his second year to his loan spell at Grasshopper, Ben Khalifa scored in the qualification round second leg of Europa League, in a 1–0 win over

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, but remained out due to Fiorentina's away goal. After scoring three goals in twenty appearances, Ben Khalifa scored twice, as Grasshopper thrashed

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

5–1 on 17 February 2014. Towards the end of the 2013–14 season, Ben Khalifa tore his ACL during a 4–2 win over Sion and will be out for six months, as well as, missing the rest of the 2013–14 season and the start of the 2014–15 season. He would finish his second year to his loan spell at Grasshopper, where he made twenty-four appearances and scored five times. On 5 May 2014, Ben Khalifa joined Grasshopper on a three-year contract.

Eskişehirspor

In January 2015, Grasshopper manager

Michael Skibbe Michael Heinz Skibbe (born 4 August 1965) is a German former football player and current manager of Japanese club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Club career In his youth, Skibbe played for SG Wattenscheid 09, then moved to the professional team of FC Sc ...

ended his contract with Grasshopper and went on to manage Turkish club

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in Eskişehir. Eskisehirspor has a total of six trophies, making them the sixth most trophies holders in Turkey. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division ...

, with Ben Khalifa following him there. After a brief loan spell at Belgian club KV Mechelen, Ben Khalifa resigned from Eskişehirspor in July 2016.

Lausanne-Sport

He then came back to Switzerland, and on 21 October 2016, he signed with Lausanne-Sport, where he had already played as a youth. He scored his first goal for them during his fourth appearance, a 1–2 loss against Young Boys.

Return to Grasshopper

On 5 July 2019 it was confirmed by

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

, that Ben Khalifa had returned to the club on a 1-year contract with an option for one further year.

Espérance de Tunis

Ben Khalifa joined Espérance de Tunis in his native country in the summer of 2020, but left the team by mutual consent on 24 March 2022.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Then, in 25 April 2022, he joined

to increase the attacking options of the japanese team, which was struggling with injuries at the time of his arrival. He was signed during

tenure at the japanese club, being it the 3rd time that Nassim and Michael will be working together at the same team, as player and manager, respectively.Then, in 22 October 2022, they got the J League Cup title.

International career

Ben Khalifa has played for Swiss youth squads at various levels from U-15 to U-18. He has participated at the U-17 European Championships in

2008 in Turkey Events in the year 2008 in Turkey. Incumbents *President: Abdullah Gül *Prime Minister: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan *Speaker: Köksal Toptan Deaths *4 January – Gündüz Tekin Onay *22 January – Orhan Aksoy *8 March – Sadun Aren *20 April � ...

and in

2009 in Germany Events in the year 2009 in Germany. Incumbents Federal level *President – Horst Köhler * Chancellor – Angela Merkel State level *Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg – Günther Oettinger * Minister-President of Bavaria – Horst S ...

as well as at the Under-17 World Cup in 2009 in Nigeria, where he was awarded the "Silver Ball" trophy for the second best player of the tournament. At the age of only 18, he made his debut for the Swiss U-21 squad on 26 May 2010 against Turkey. For the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

he was on Switzerland's reserve list (30 players), but did not make it into the final 23-man squad. His first appearance for the Swiss national team was on 11 August 2010 against Austria. He remains available to represent

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

, having never competed in any major tournament for Switzerland.

Personal life

Ben Khalifa is of Tunisian origin. His native languages are

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and French, and he learned English and German at school.

Honours

Sanfrecce Hiroshima *

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of YB ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

ES Tunis: * Tunisian League:

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 b ...

, 2021–22 *

Tunisian Super Cup The Tunisian Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر التونسي) or the Tunisia Premier Cup ( ar, كأس تونس الممتازة) was previously called the Tunisian Cup Winners' Cup. It is a Tunisian football competition organized by the Tunis ...

Switzerland U-17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Individual * U17 Silver Ball:

References

External links

*
Profile at Swiss Football League Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Khalifa, Nassim Living people 1992 births Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Swiss men's footballers Swiss people of Tunisian descent Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players Belgian Pro League players People from Nyon District Grasshopper Club Zürich players BSC Young Boys players VfL Wolfsburg players VfL Wolfsburg II players 1. FC Nürnberg players 1. FC Nürnberg II players Eskişehirspor footballers K.V. Mechelen players FC Lausanne-Sport players FC St. Gallen players Espérance Sportive de Tunis players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Tunisia Footballers from the canton of Vaud