Tahar El Khalej (pronounced Taher Lakhlej ar, الطاهر الخلج) (born 16 June 1968) is a retired Moroccan

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 played as a defender.

Club career

Born in Marrakech, El Khalej started at

Kawkab Marrakech Kawkab Athlétique Club of Marrakech ( ar, الكوكب المراكشي; KACM) is a Moroccan professional football club based in Marrakech. The club was founded on 20 September 1947 by Hadj Idriss Talbi. Honours * Moroccan League First Divisio ...

in 1990, spending four seasons there, helping them win one league title and two national cups. In 1994, he moved to Portugal to sign with

UD Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonat ...

, at the time, recently promoted to the first tier. Making his debut on 22 October 1994, against

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

, he was frequently used as midfielder alongside Mário Artur and Abel. After two seasons in Leiria, El Khalej joined Benfica in 1997. He made his debut on 9 September 1997 and went on to amass nearly 100 appearances, 72 in the league, without winning any silverware. With the arrival of Jupp Heynckes, El Khalej lost influence and made only 4 league appearances, two as substitute in the 1999–2000 season, so he moved to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in March 2000 for £350,000, as

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

's first signing for his new club, although the deal had already been arranged by Dave Jones. He scored on his debut in a 7–2 defeat against

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

on 11 March 2000. Faced with stiff competition as a central defender from

Claus Lundekvam Claus Lundekvam (born 22 February 1973) is a Norwegian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Lundekvam began his career with SK Brann, Brann before moving to English side Southampton F.C., Southampton ...

and Dean Richards, he was later employed in a midfield role. One of his more notable moments was during a match against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

on 12 May 2002, where he made a reckless lunge on

Kieron Dyer Kieron Courtney Dyer (born 29 December 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was recently the U23s manager at Ipswich Town. Born in Ipswich, Dyer played youth football for his home club Ipswich Town ...

, which earned him a straight red card. Dyer was injured for months afterwards and threatened Tahar with legal action if Dyer had missed the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

, which did not happen. In January 2003, El Khalej moved to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on a six-month deal after 65 appearances for the Saints, scoring four goals. At the end of the season, he returned to Morocco retiring from professional football. He then worked as president of Kawkab Marrakech in 2005–06 when they played in the Moroccan 2nd division, achieving promotion to the Moroccan first division before he left the club.

International career

He played for the Morocco national football team and was a participant at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

and at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

He is married and has two sons, Yassine and Ahmed.Taher Lakhlej
- KAWKABI

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalej, Tahar El 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Marrakesh Moroccan footballers Moroccan expatriate footballers Morocco international footballers 1992 African Cup of Nations players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players Botola players U.D. Leiria players S.L. Benfica footballers Southampton F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Premier League players Primeira Liga players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in England Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Kawkab Marrakech players Association football fullbacks Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Morocco Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games