Walid Cheddira ( ar, وليد شديرة; born 22 January 1998) 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 ...

who plays as a forward for club

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

, on loan from

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Born in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, he plays for the Morocco national team.

Club career

Cheddira spent the first four seasons of his senior career in the lower, non-professional tiers of Italian football. On 10 July 2019, Cheddira signed a three-year contract with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

, who loaned him to Arezzo in

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

on 22 July. He made his professional Serie C debut on 25 August, as a starter in a game against

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label= Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

. After half a season, Parma sent Cheddira on loan to Lecco on 31 January 2020, and to Mantova on 4 September. On 18 July 2021, Cheddira joined Bari on loan, who made the deal permanent on 30 June 2022, signing a contract until June 2025. On 20 August 2023, Cheddira was signed by

and loaned to

for the 2023–24 season.

International career

Cheddira was born in Italy and is Moroccan by descent. He was called up to play for the Morocco national team for two friendlies against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

on 23 and 27 September 2022, respectively; he made his debut against Chile as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 win. On 10 November 2022, Cheddira was named in Morocco's 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He made his competition debut as an 82nd-minute substitute in the round of 16 against

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 ...

, a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

victory for Morocco following a 0–0 draw after extra time. In the quarter-finals against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, Cheddira came on in the 65th minute, and was sent off for two yellow cards in stoppage time. Morocco won 1–0.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Bari *

: 2021–22 Individual *

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

Player of the Month: September 2022 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

Top scorer: 2022–23 Orders *

Order of the Throne The Order of the Throne (Arabic: ''Wissam al-Arch'', French: ''Ordre du Trône'') is a state decoration of the Kingdom of Morocco awarded for distinguished services of a civil or military nature. The Order was instituted on 16 May 1963 by King Ha ...

: 2022

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheddira, Walid 1998 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Ancona Moroccan men's footballers Morocco men's international footballers Italian men's footballers Italian people of Moroccan descent Men's association football forwards AC Sangiustese players Parma Calcio 1913 players SS Arezzo players Calcio Lecco 1912 players Mantova 1911 players SSC Bari players SSC Napoli players Frosinone Calcio players Serie D players Serie C players Serie B players 2022 FIFA World Cup players