Romain Ghanem Paul Saïss ( ar, رومان غانم بول سايس; born 26 March 1990) 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 le ...

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

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

the Morocco national team. Saïss began his career with Valence, then played for

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

and Clermont 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 ...

, and

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

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 ...

before joining

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in 2016. He made 206 appearances and scored 15 goals, before moving to Beşiktaş in 2021. Born in France to a Moroccan father and French mother, Saïss represents Morocco at international level. A full international since 2012, he has earned over 70 caps for Morocco, becoming the team's captain in 2019. He has represented the nation 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 and two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s, helping the team come fourth at the 2022 edition of the latter.

Club career

Early career

Saïss began his senior career with Valence in the

Championnat de France Amateur 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

(fifth-tier), and supplemented his €500 monthly salary with washing up at his parents' restaurant. At 21, he signed his first professional contract with Clermont in

. In June 2013, Saïss moved across Ligue 2 to

on a two year deal. When it ended, he joined

side

on a two-year contract.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 30 August 2016, Saïss moved to England, joining

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal. He made his debut on 17 September in a 2–0 win at

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. In the game, he was subjected to racial abuse by opponent

Jonjo Shelvey Jonjo Shelvey (born 27 February 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Newcastle United. Shelvey began his career at Charlton Athletic, becoming their youngest-ever player at 16 years and 59 days old.

, who was given a five-match ban and £100,000 fine by

The FA The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and ...

in December. He scored his first goal for the club on 30 September 2017 in a 4–0 win against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

. Following Wolves' promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in 2018, Saïss made his debut Premier League appearance as a substitute in a 1–1 draw with

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

on 22 September 2018. His first start in the Premier League came in a 2–1 defeat away to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

at the

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Dinas Caerdydd) is a stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City Football Club and the Wales national football team. Following expansion of the Ninian Stand in July 2014 ...

on 30 November. He scored his first Premier League goal in a 1–1 draw with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

on 26 December 2018. On 21 February 2019 he agreed a new contract until the summer of 2021. On 25 July 2019 Saïss made his debut appearance in UEFA European club football competition as a late substitute in Wolves's 2–0 home win against

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

in the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

Second Qualifying Round and on 24 October he scored his first goal in such a competition when he scored the opening goal of a 2–1 away win at Slovan Bratislava in the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 19 September and ended on 12 December 2019. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League knockout phase, knockout phase of the ...

. Saïss triggered an automatic one-year extension to his contract on 18 March 2021, by making 20 starts in the Premier League during the

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 ...

season, tying him to the club until June 2022. He was described as the Moroccan Maldini by head coach

Bruno Lage Bruno Miguel Silva do Nascimento (born 12 May 1976), known as Bruno Lage (), is a Portuguese football manager who most recently was the head coach of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. During his short tenure as coach of Benfica in P ...

on 15 December that year, after his display in the away Premier League tie at

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, where he scored the only goal in a much longed-for win (Wolves's first-ever win at Brighton in the top-flight in seven attempts dating back to 1979). He made his 100th appearance in the Premier League in 2–0 win away to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

on 13 February 2022. His 200th competitive appearance in all competitions for Wolves was on 5 March 2022 in a home fixture against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. On 31 May 2022, Saïss announced that he would leave Wolves at the end of his contract on 1 July, having played 206 games for the club over six seasons, and scoring 15 goals, nine of them in the Premier League.

Beşiktaş

On 14 June 2022, Saïss moved to Turkey, joining

club

. He made his debut on 6 August as the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

began with a 1–0 home win over

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 ...

International career

Saïss, who was born and raised in France to a Moroccan father and a French mother, chose to represent the Morocco national team. He made his debut in a 1–0 friendly loss to

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

in November 2012. Saïss was in the Moroccan squad that reached the quarter-finals of the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

in Gabon. He scored his first international goal in their 3–1 group win over Togo. In June 2018, he was named in Morocco's 23-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia, and featured in group games against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. After the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

, in which Morocco made the last 16, Saïss became the captain of the ''Atlas Lions''. On 10 November 2022, Saïss was named in Morocco's 26-man squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

in Qatar. He scored the opening goal of a 2–0 group stage victory over

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 27 November, Morocco's first goal of the tournament. The goal had previously been awarded to Abdelhamid Sabiri, but Saïss was later credited for the goal by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. In the semi-final against France – the first ever played by an African nation – he was substituted after 21 minutes due to injury as Morocco lost 2–0.

Personal life

Saïss's father is Moroccan and his mother is French, both restaurant owners. He is a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and observes fasting in the month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Saïss goal.''

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

: 2017–18 Individual *

Player of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saiss, Romain 1990 births Living people Citizens of Morocco through descent Moroccan footballers Morocco international footballers French footballers Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Sportspeople from Drôme Association football defenders Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players Olympique de Valence players Clermont Foot players Le Havre AC players Angers SCO players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers English Football League players Premier League players Ligue 2 players Süper Lig players French sportspeople of Moroccan descent Moroccan people of French descent Moroccan expatriate footballers French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Turkey French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in England Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players French Muslims Moroccan Muslims