Wissam Ben Yedder (born 12 August 1990) is a French 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 striker for

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 ...

club

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 ...

and the France national team. Having begun his career at amateurs

UJA Alfortville The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was a Jewish philanthropic umbrella organization that existed from its creation in 1939 until it was folded into the United Jewish Communities, which was formed from the 1999 merger of United Jewish Appeal (UJA), Co ...

, Ben Yedder joined

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 2010. He totalled 71 goals in 174 games for them, surpassing

André-Pierre Gignac André-Pierre Christian Gignac (born 5 December 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. Gignac is described as a "powerful and dangerous" striker who is known for his "aerial presence". He ...

as their greatest league scorer of the 21st century. He moved to

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

for €10 million in 2016, and scored 70 goals in 138 games in three seasons. A €40 million transfer to Monaco followed in 2019, and he was Ligue 1 top scorer in his first season back. At international level, Ben Yedder represented France at under-21 level, and at

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

. He made his full international debut for France in March 2018.

Early life

Wissam Ben Yedder was born on 12 August 1990 in

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the arrondissement of Sarcelles. In the south of the commun ...

, Val-d'Oise. He is of Tunisian descent. Among his childhood friends was

Riyad Mahrez Riyad Karim Mahrez ( ar, رياض كريم محرز, Riyāḍ Karīm Maḥraz; born 21 February 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Manchester City and captains the Algeria national team. Mahrez began his career ...

Club career

Toulouse

Ben Yedder began his career at local

in the fourth-tier

Championnat de France Amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

, before moving to

in 2010. On 16 October 2010, he made his professional debut in a 0–2 home loss to

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

, replacing

Yannis Tafer Yannis Tafer (, born 11 February 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for Luxembourger club Racing-Union. He is a France youth international having represented the country under-17, under-18, and under-19 level. ...

for the final 29 minutes. He made 13 substitute appearances across his first two seasons, and scored his first goal for Toulouse on 21 April 2012: ten minutes after coming on in place of

Paulo Machado Paulo Ricardo Ribeiro de Jesus Machado (born 31 March 1986) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Formed at Porto, he amassed Primeira Liga totals of 103 matches and eight goals over five seasons, ...

, he equalised in an eventual 2–1 loss at

Evian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

. In the following three Ligue 1 campaigns, Ben Yedder recorded 15, 16 and 14 goals respectively. On 10 August 2012, in the first game of the season, he came on at half time for

Pantxi Sirieix Pantxi Sirieix (born 7 October 1980) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Having begun at AJ Auxerre, he spent the rest of his career at Toulouse FC where he played from 2004 till 2017. Career Born in Bordeaux ...

and equalised for a 1–1 draw at reigning champions and local rivals

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 ...

. In the reverse fixture, the last of the campaign, on 26 May 2013, he scored both goals in a win over Montpellier. On 30 November 2013, Ben Yedder scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 5–1 home win over

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy S ...

. He recorded another treble on 17 May 2014 as Toulouse finished the season with a 3–1 win over

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

. Ben Yedder scored a penalty in a 3–3 draw against

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,André-Pierre Gignac André-Pierre Christian Gignac (born 5 December 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. Gignac is described as a "powerful and dangerous" striker who is known for his "aerial presence". He ...

as their highest scorer in the league in the 21st century. He attained the milestone of 50 goals in the competition on 19 December 2015, when he put them ahead in a 1–1 home draw against

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

. The following 9 January, he scored another hat-trick in a 3–1 win at fellow strugglers

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

Sevilla

On 30 July 2016, Ben Yedder signed a five-year contract with Spanish club

, for a reported €9 million fee. After being an unused substitute in their

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

on 9 August, he made his debut five days later, replacing fellow new signing

Luciano Vietto Luciano Darío Vietto (; born 5 December 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal. Club career Early career Vietto was born in the small town of Balnearia in the Province of Córdoba. He joi ...

for the final 29 minutes of a 0–2 loss to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the first leg of the year's domestic equivalent. On 20 August, he started in his first La Liga game and scored a goal in a 6–4 victory over

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

at the

Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium ( es, Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán; ) is a football stadium in Seville, Spain. It is the home stadium of Sevilla Fútbol Club, and is named after the club's former president, Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán (1 ...

. Ben Yedder scored five goals across Sevilla's 14–2 aggregate

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

win over

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

club

Formentera Formentera (, ) is the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). It covers an area of ...

in December 2016, including a hat-trick in the 9–1 home victory in the second leg. This haul made him the tournament's top scorer that season, alongside Barcelona's

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

. On 7 January 2017, he registered a hat-trick in a 4–0 La Liga win at

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

. In Sevilla's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

campaign in 2017–18, Ben Yedder scored all three goals in a group stage victory over Slovenia's

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

on 26 September, his first hat-trick in the competition. On 21 November, after scoring twice as Sevilla came from a 0–3 deficit at half time to draw with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, he taunted

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

– who lost the 2005 Champions League Final to Liverpool in a similar fashion – over Twitter. On 13 March 2018, in the second leg of the 2017–18 Champions League round of 16 against

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 ...

, Ben Yedder came on as a substitute in the 72nd minute and scored two goals in the span of 4 minutes to help secure a 2–1 win and enable Sevilla to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 1958, and for the first time ever in the Champions League era. In September 2018, Ben Yedder scored five goals in the space of three days, with two in a 5–1

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

home win against

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

and a hat-trick in a 6–2

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 ...

away victory against Levante.

Monaco

On 14 August 2019, Ben Yedder signed with

on a five-year contract after they activated his release clause of €40 million, a record sale for Sevilla.

Rony Lopes Marcos Paulo Mesquita "Rony" Lopes (born 28 December 1995) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or Winger (association football), right winger for Primeira Liga club S.C. Braga. Earl ...

transferred in the other direction. He made his debut three days later, starting alongside fellow debutant Henry Onyekuru and pushing

Radamel Falcao Radamel Falcao García Zárate (born 10 February 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Rayo Vallecano and often captains the Colombia national team. Nicknamed "''El Tigre''" (Spanish for ''The Tige ...

to the substitutes' bench in a 3–0 loss away to

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. On 25 August, he scored his first goal for the club in his first game at the

Stade Louis II The Stade Louis II () is a stadium located in the Fontvieille district of Monaco. It serves primarily as a venue for football, being the home of AS Monaco and the Monaco national football team. The stadium is most notable for its distinctive n ...

in a 2–2 draw with

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

. In December 2019, Ben Yedder won the

UNFP Player of the Month The UNFP Player of the Month trophy is an award that recognises the best Ligue 1 player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 50% of the final tally, and the players of each ...

award with four goals and two assists in four games, including two in a 5–1 home win over Lille on 21 December. His first season in the principality was curtailed in early March 2020 due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, but he finished as joint top scorer alongside PSG's

Kylian Mbappé Kylian Mbappé Lottin (born 20 December 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is renowned for his dribb ...

with 18 goals from 26 games, a new record for him in Ligue 1. In

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 ...

, Ben Yedder helped Monaco finish as runners-up in the Coupe de France, scoring in wins over

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

and Rumilly-Vallières in the quarter-final and semi-final. On 2 May 2021, he scored his 100th goal in Ligue 1 in a 2–3 home defeat against the former. He finished the season as second-highest scorer behind Mbappé's 27 goals, joint with Lyon's

Memphis Depay Memphis Depay (; born 13 February 1994), also known simply as Memphis, is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Barcelona and the Netherlands national team. Memphis began his professional career with PSV Eind ...

on 20. Ben Yedder scored 25 league goals in 2021–22, runner-up to Mbappé's 28. This included a hat-trick in the penultimate game, a 4–2 comeback home win over

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

. He scored five goals in four games on a run to the Coupe de France semi-finals, before missing with the first attempt in a penalty shootout defeat to

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

. He was Player of the Month with 56% of the votes in January 2022 for his three goals and one assist; he, Mbappé and

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

Martin Terrier Martin Albert Frédéric Terrier (born 4 March 1997) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as winger (association football), winger or forward (association football), forward for Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais F.C., Ren ...

were the three forwards chosen for the

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award * Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year * IRB International Sevens Team of the Year * IRB International Team of the Year * J.League Team of ...

International career

Ben Yedder played two

matches for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, scoring once, and also represented the nation three times at under-21 level. As Ben Yedder's parents' come from Tunisia and therefore he would qualify to represent that nation in international football under

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 ...

regulations, the

Tunisian Football Federation The Tunisian Football Federation ( ar, الجامعة التونسية لكرة القدم, french: Fédération Tunisienne de Football, FTF) is the governing body of football in Tunisia. It was established in 1957. It became a member in the FIFA ...

made five attempts to get him to represent their team. In October 2017, after he turned down their offer to get him into the squad before 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 ...

, they admitted defeat. In March 2018, after playing well for Sevilla,

manager

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, E ...

included Ben Yedder in the squad for two friendly matches against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He made his debut in the 3–2 loss to the Colombians on 23 March at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

, replacing

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...

for the final 17 minutes. On 17 May, he was named on the standby list for the 23-man French squad for the World Cup. On 11 June 2019, Ben Yedder made his first start for the France senior team and scored his first senior international goal, in the 4–0 away win over

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

in a

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europe ...

match. In May 2021, he was selected for the delayed finals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''France score listed first, score column indicates score after each Ben Yedder goal''

Honours

France *

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

Individual * UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2021–22 * UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: December 2019, January 2022 * Ligue 1 top scorer: 2019–20

Notes

References

External links

Profile
at the AS Monaco FC website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Yedder, Wissam 1990 births Living people People from Sarcelles Footballers from Val-d'Oise French footballers Association football forwards UJA Maccabi Paris Métropole players Toulouse FC II players Toulouse FC players Sevilla FC players AS Monaco FC players Championnat National 2 players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players La Liga players France under-21 international footballers France international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players UEFA Nations League-winning players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Monaco Expatriate footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in Monaco French expatriate sportspeople in Spain French men's futsal players Futsal forwards French sportspeople of Tunisian descent