Abdelmajid Al-Chetali ( ar, عبد المجيد الشتالي; born 4 July 1939) is a Tunisian football coach and former player who played a total of 70 games with the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

and scored four goals. He also participated in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

. He is considered one of the characters who shaped and prolonged the legend of the

Étoile Sportive du Sahel Étoile may refer to: Places ;France * Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, station of the Paris Métro * Étoile-Saint-Cyrice, commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in France * Étoile-sur-Rhône, commune in the Drôme department in France * L'Ét ...

(nicknamed Majda). He received only one yellow card during his career. As a manager, he led them in their first ever World Cup appearance in 1978, where Tunisia became the first African team to win a World Cup match, beating

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

by 3–1 making FIFA increase the number of seats in the African continent from one place to two places. During his managerial career, he was in charge of two national teams: the Tunisian and Bahraini national football teams. He also managed his home club

Étoile du Sahel Étoile may refer to: Places ;France * Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, station of the Paris Métro * Étoile-Saint-Cyrice, commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in France * Étoile-sur-Rhône, commune in the Drôme department in France * L'Ét ...

and achieved good results with it.

Player career

Born in Sousse into a family of footballers, Chetali began his career at the Corniche and joined the Etoile Sportive du Sahel (ESS) in 1957 to the position of

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and team captain. He started for the first time in the national team by Yugoslav coach

Milan Kristić Milan Kristić was the a Yugoslav football coach who managed the Tunisia national team from 1960 to 1961. He led the Tunisian side which competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics, where they suffered three defeats to Poland, Argentina and Denmark and ...

as a semi-offensive (between the attacking midfielder and the center forward) and he imposed himself in the Tunisian midfield game. He competed in the

, but his team lost all of their games and did not score goals. In 1961, he participated in the 1962 African Cup of Nations qualification and qualified Tunisia against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

by scoring away with a goal in the 65th minute, but he missed the finals of the competition because he was a victim as few of his teammates of a

Malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

crisis. He nevertheless participated in the

1963 African Cup of Nations The 1963 African Cup of Nations was the fourth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). For the third consecutive time the hosts won the African Cup. The format was changed to two groups of 3 t ...

after having played and lost the final of the Friendship Games in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...

against

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

. At the

1965 African Cup of Nations The 1965 African Cup of Nations was the fifth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the soccer championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Tunisia. Just like in 1963, the field of six teams was split into two groups of three. Ghana Gha ...

held in Tunisia, he was captain of the selection. His team did a great competition before reaching the final against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

on 21 November. He scored a goal, which allowed Tunisia to equalize, but Ghana finally won the competition after extra time.

Coaching career

He left the Étoile du Sahel in 1968 and returned as a coach from 1970 to 1975. He made good results winning the Tunisian League and

Maghreb Champions Cup The Maghreb Champions Cup was a North African football competition organized by the Union Maghrebine de Football (UMF) and which regrouped the winners of the leagues from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya (only in the first edition). Mauritania ...

in 1972 and two

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup , officially named the President's Cup, is the official competition of the Cup in Tunisian football and is considered the second most important local title after the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1. The first cup competition was h ...

s in 1974 and 1975. He graduated from the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Higher Institute (Germany) in 1974, so he was called in January 1975 to coach the national team. At the

1978 African Cup of Nations The 1978 African Cup of Nations was the eleventh edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. The format of the competition changed from 1976: the field of eight te ...

, he reached the semi-final but left the competition with a two-year exclusion from the African Cup of Nations for unsportsmanlike behavior. However, the team qualified for the first time for the World Cup finals in 1978, becoming the first African team to win a match (against

by 3 goals to 1). However, his team didn't pass the first round because, after this victory, the Tunisians lost their second match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

by 1 goal to 0. They then draw with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on a virgin score. But this relatively good performance allows the African continent to benefit from an additional place for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, with two places. With this great achievement and despite the many offers, he preferred to stay away from this training, but he had a short experience in

1988 Gulf Cup of Nations The 9th Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي) was the 9th edition of this tournament. It was held between March 2 and March 18, 1988, in Saudi Arabia. It was the second time after 1972, that Saudi Arabia hosted this regional f ...

with Bahrain national football team reaching the semi-finals. He returned to

as a coach for a few months in 2004, replacing Mrad Mahjoub, who was forced to resign after the elimination of the team in the Tunisian Cup semi-final. He achieved the second place in

2004 CAF Champions League The 2004 CAF Champions League was the 40th edition of the CAF Champions League, the Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Enyimba of Nigeria defeated Étoile du Sahel of Tunisia ...

after losing against the Nigerian Side

Enyimba Aba is a city in the southeast of Nigeria and the commercial center of Abia State. Upon the creation of Abia state in 1991, Aba was divided into two local government areas namely; Aba South and Aba North. Aba south is the main city centre an ...

with penalties

Consultant

He has been a sports consultant for the American TV channel

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

since 1998. Chetali succeeds in establishing himself as one of the best Arab consultants and a very popular columnist of Tunisian television. Indeed, he is one of the first Arab to analyze a football game on a television screen after introducing a model of land on which there are dolls players. He analyzed three

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

s, four African Cups of Nations, two Asian Cups, three Copa América as well as the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Leagues and the

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 competi ...

in Aljazeera Sport. In March 2007, he was appointed technical advisor to the

Saudi Arabian Football Federation The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF, ar, الاتحاد العربي السعودي لكرة القدم) is the football governing body of Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1956, its responsibilities include administration of club competitions an ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

As Player

Étoile du Sahel *

Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 (; ar, الرابطة المحترفة الأولى لكرة القدم) was previously called the Tunisian National Championship between 1956 and 1994. is the top division football tournament in Tunisia und ...

: 1958, 1963, 1966 *

: 1959, 1963 Tunisia * Africa Cup of Nations third place:

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

; runner-up: 1965 * Arab Cup of Nations:

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

As Manager

Étoile du Sahel *

: 1972 *

: 1974, 1975 *

: 1973 * Maghreb Cup Winners Cup: 1975 * CAF Champions League runner-up: 2004 Tunisia *

Palestine Cup of Nations The Palestine Cup ( ar, كأس فلسطين, ''Kaʾs Filasṭīn'') was a football competition which was held between countries in the Arab world. The tournament ''de facto'' acted as the replacement for the Arab Cup during the long interruption b ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

* African Cup of Nations fourth place: 1978 * Qualification to FIFA World Cup: 1978 Bahrain *

Gulf Cup of Nations The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nat ...

fourth place:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chetali, Abdelmajid 1939 births Living people People from Sousse Association football midfielders Tunisian footballers Tunisia international footballers Olympic footballers of Tunisia Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Tunisian football managers 1963 African Cup of Nations players 1965 African Cup of Nations players Étoile Sportive du Sahel players Competitors at the 1967 Mediterranean Games 1978 FIFA World Cup managers 1978 African Cup of Nations managers Étoile Sportive du Sahel managers Tunisia national football team managers Bahrain national football team managers Al-Wehda Club (Mecca) managers Tunisian expatriate football managers Mediterranean Games competitors for Tunisia Saudi Professional League managers Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Expatriate football managers in Bahrain Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Al Ain FC managers