Nabil Maâloul (; born 25 December 1962) is a Tunisian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for the Tunisia national team. Maâloul was capped 74 times for his country, and participated in

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. He spent most of his playing career with his home club,

Espérance de Tunis :''See also Esperance (disambiguation)'' Espérance is one of the two French language, French words that can be translated into "hope", the other being "espoir". Whereas the latter is closer to the idea of "dream" or "fantasy" and corresponds to mo ...

and won it a historic treble as a coach in 2011 (league, cup and

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

). During his managerial career, he was in charge of three national teams:

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, but he also managed clubs in

and

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Club career

Maâloul began playing football at the age of 6 or 7, following the example of his father. He began his professional career at the

at the age of 18 and then dropped his studies. He then wore the colors of Club Bizertin during the return phase of the 1994–1995 season and then of

Club Africain Club Africain (), known as CA for short, is a Tunisian professional football club based in Tunis. The club was founded in 1920 and its colours are red and white. Their home stadium, Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, has a capacity of 60,000 spectators. ...

between 1995 and 1996, marking the end of his career, due to a disagreement with the president of the club

Slim Chiboub Slim Chiboub (born 13 January 1959) is a Tunisian people, Tunisian businessman. He is married to Dorsaf Ben Ali, the oldest daughter of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his first wife, Naïma Ben Ali, Naïma Kefi.Stephen J. K ...

, who does not want to sign a contract with him again after a short period in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

International career

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 ...

he started in 1985, collecting 74 appearances in 10 years and scored 11 goals. He participated in the

. He was one of the youngest captains in the national team's history at 23 years old.

Managerial career

He finished his playing career and became coach of

Olympique du Kef Olympique du Kef (), is a Tunisian football club, based in the city of El Kef in northwest Tunisia. Founded in 1922, the team plays in red, white and black colors. Their ground is Stade 7 Novembre du Kef, which has a capacity of 15,000. Games ...

in 1997. In 2002, he became assistant coach of

Roger Lemerre Roger Léon Maurice Lemerre-Desprez (born 18 June 1941) is a French former professional football manager and former player. During his managerial career, he was in charge of the French, Tunisian and Moroccan national teams. He also managed num ...

when

won

2004 African Cup of Nations The 2004 African Cup of Nations was held from 24 January to 14 February 2004 in Tunisia. It was the 24th edition of the biennial international men's football championship of Africa, organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Tun ...

. He decided to leave his post as assistant for coaching

and in September 2006 he returned to the staff of the team. Meanwhile, he made a brief pass as coach of Club Bizertin at the start of the 2005–2006 season with unconvincing results. The real start was in December 2010, he took command of

, following the dismissal of Maher Kanzari, and won with it a historic treble in 2011 (League, Cup and CAF Champions League) before being replaced by

Michel Decastel Michel Decastel (born 22 October 1955) is a Swiss football manager and a former midfielder. He was most recently the manager of the Swiss Challenge League club Neuchâtel Xamax. Honours Player Servette *Swiss Cup: 1983–84 *Swiss Super League ...

in January 2012; He replaced it a few months later. On 14 February 2013, he officially became the coach of the

. On 23 March, he coached his first match with Sierra Leone and Tunisia wins by the score of (2–1). On 7 September, after a home defeat (0–2) with

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

that eliminates Tunisia from qualifying for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, Maâloul announces his resignation. Cape Verde was later expunged from the qualification after the players' eligibility controversies. On 29 November 2013, he agreed with

Raja CA Raja Club Athletic, widely known as Raja Casablanca or simply Raja, is a Football team, football club based in Casablanca, Morocco, that competes in Botola, the top flight of Moroccan football league system, Moroccan football. Founded on 20 M ...

to become coach of the team in

2013 FIFA Club World Cup The 2013 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2013 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the 10th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between t ...

, replacing

Mohamed Fakhir Mohamed Fakhir (born 1953) is a Moroccan football manager and former player. He was manager of the Morocco national team, and was coach of Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic, widely known as Raja Casablanca or simply Raja, is a Football ...

, before refusing. On 20 January 2014, he became the coach of the Qatari team

El Jaish SC El-Jaish Sports Club () was a Qatari multi-sports club from 2011 to 2017, based in the Al-Duhail area of Doha. The association football team played in the Qatar Stars League. The team won the Qatargas League prior to 2011, but were not eligi ...

, and won

2014 Qatar Crown Prince Cup The 2014 Qatar Cup, more widely known as the Crown Prince Cup, was the twentieth in the series, and took place from April 19 to 26. The cup was contested by the top four finishers in 2013–14 Qatar Stars League. 2014 was the first year in which ...

on 26 April 2014. He also took the team from 5th to 2nd place in half a season therefore qualifying for the AFC Champions League. On 20 December 2014, he became the coach of

, and coached them in

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 201 ...

and the second round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification before that

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

suspend

Kuwait Football Association The Kuwait Football Association () is the governing body of association football in Kuwait. Kuwait has thrice been suspended by FIFA for political interference since 2007 and were allowed to participate in the 2011 Asian Cup qualifying campaign ...

on 16 October 2015. On 27 April 2017, Maâloul became the coach of

again and succeeded in bringing his team back to the

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

for the first time since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and becoming the second Tunisian coach to qualify for the World Cup after

Abdelmajid Chetali Abdelmajid Al-Chetali (; born 4 July 1939) is a Tunisian football coach and former player who played 70 games with the national team and scored four goals. He also participated in the 1960 Summer Olympics. He is considered one of the character ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

. After the team's elimination from the group stage despite its honorable performance and winning Tunisia's second game ever in a World Cup against Panama, he resigned to coach

Al-Duhail SC Al-Duhail Sports Club (), formerly Lekhwiya SC, is a Qatari sports club, best known for its football team, which plays in the Qatar Stars League. The club is based in the Duhail district in the city of Doha and plays its home games at Abdulla ...

. He parted ways after six months of coaching due to multiple disagreements with the club. On 11 March 2020, Maâloul was officially appointed as the new head coach of

on a one-year contract, to become the first Tunisian to coach Syria. Despite reaching the third round of the World Cup qualification, Maâloul resigned on 16 June 2021 due to unpaid salaries, after losing 3–1 to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. On 27 October 2021, Maâloul became the coach of

Kuwait SC Kuwait Sports Club () is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Kuwait City. Their football team has won Kuwait Premier League 19 times and has won over 50 trophies overall. The club plays in the Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium located i ...

. He has won the Emir Cup on 21 December 2021 and the Kuwait Premier League in April 2022. On 9 June 2022, Maaloul returned to Espérance de Tunis nearly 10 years after his departure. He left the club on 13 May 2023. On 7 December 2023 he returned to

as headcoach. In his second term he won the supercup and became league champions once again. The club terminated his contract on 9 July 2024.

Career statistics

Managerial

Honours

Player

Espérance de Tunis *

Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1, formerly known as the Tunisian National Championship between 1956 and 1994, is the highest-level association football, football tournament in Tunisia and is organized by the Tunisian Football Federation and t ...

: 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1994 *

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup (), formerly known as Tunisian President Cup (1956–2011), is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition in Football in Tunisia, Tunisian football, organized annually by the Tunisian Football Federati ...

: 1986, 1989 *

Tunisian Super Cup The Tunisian Super Cup () or the Tunisia Premier Cup () previously called the Tunisian Cup Winners' Cup, is a Tunisian football competition organized by the Tunisian Football Federation. Established in 1960, it combines the champions of the first ...

: 1993 *

Arab Club Championship The Arab Club Champions Cup (, ) is a club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by top clubs from the Arab world. The tournament is contested by a total of 37 teams from Asia and Africa. F ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Club Africain *Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 1996 *

Arab Cup Winners' Cup The Arab Cup Winners' Cup () was a football (soccer), football competition between the winning clubs of national cup competitions in Arab nations. It started in 1989 and merged with the Arab Club Champions Cup and Arab Super Cup in 2002 to form th ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Manager

Espérance de Tunis *Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2011, 2012 *Tunisian Cup: 2011 *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

El Jaish *

Qatar Cup The Qatar Cup (formerly known as Qatar Crown Prince Cup) is a tournament in men's football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), go ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Kuwait SC *

Kuwait Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as Zain Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Kuwait SC holds the best record in the competition, having won 20 times. History The ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Kuwait Emir Cup The Kuwait Amir/Emir Cup () is a Kuwaiti football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Kuwait Super Cup The Kuwait Super Cup () is football competition in Kuwait organised by the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) since 2008. Until the 2022–23 season, the competition served as the opening match of the season and was played between the champions of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maaloul, Nabil 1962 births Living people Tunisian Muslims Tunisian men's footballers Tunisian expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Tunis Espérance Sportive de Tunis players Hannover 96 players CA Bizertin players Club Africain players Al-Ahli Saudi FC players 2. Bundesliga players Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Saudi Pro League players Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 managers Tunisia national football team managers Club Africain football managers CA Bizertin managers Espérance Sportive de Tunis managers El Jaish SC managers Kuwait national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Germany Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Syria Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar 2015 AFC Asian Cup managers 2018 FIFA World Cup managers Al-Duhail SC managers Men's association football midfielders Tunisian football managers Syria national football team managers Tunisia men's international footballers Tunisian expatriate football managers Kuwait SC managers Kuwait Premier League managers Tunisian expatriate sportspeople in Syria Expatriate sportspeople in West Germany