Wahbi Khazri

A native of Ajaccio, Khazri started his career with local side Jeunesse Sportive Ajaccio before moving to SC Bastia. He received his first call up to the senior squad for their match against Amiens SC on 20 February 2009.[3] He made his debut in that match coming on as a substitute in the 85th minute for Ludovic Genest. Bastia scored the winning goal a minute later to win the match 1–0.[4] He scored his first career goal on 13 March 2009, in a 1–0 victory over Montpellier.[5] Wahbi quickly established himself as a goalscorer, scoring again a couple of weeks later in a 3–1 win over Vannes.[6] He scored again, this time on the final match day of the season against Troyes, scoring the first goal in a 2–1 victory.[7] The loss meant Troyes would be relegated to the Championnat National.

After five years in Bastia, Khazri signed a four-year contract with FC Girondins de Bordeaux in July 2014.[8]

Khazri (right) playing for Sunderland against Chelsea in May 2016

On 30 January 2016, Khazri joined Sunderland on a four and a half-year contract for an undisclosed fee.[9] Khazri scored his first goal for Sunderland against Manchester United on 13 February 2016, opening the scoring with a direct free kick that beat David de Gea at his far post. Khazri later set up Lamine Koné's 82nd-minute goal from a corner, as Sunderland won 2–1.[10]

On 7 May 2016, Khazri scored a volley in a 3–2 win over Chelsea as manager Sam Allardyce's team neared survival in the Premier League. Richard Mennear of the Sunderland Echo wrote that "His work rate was immense, pressing and probing the Chelsea defence and causing problems from set pieces. He has regained his form just at the right time".[11]

On 31 August 2017, Khazri returned to Ligue 1, signing a season-long loan at Rennes.[12] He was sent off on 14 October in a 2–0 Derby Breton loss at Guingamp, earning two yellow cards for dissent within ten seconds.[13] His nine goals helped the club to 5th place and qualification to the Europa League.[14]

Following Sunderland's relegation to League One, Khazri made a full return to France and joined Saint-Étienne on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee on 17 July 2018.[14] He scored 13 times as they finished in fourth place, putting him joint 9th in goalscorers for the whole season.[15] These included braces in home wins over Monaco on 28 September and Marseille the following 16 January.[16][17]

In 2009, Khazri made his debut for the Tunisia national under-20 football team.[18] However, in November 2011, he was called up by Erick Mombaerts to the France national under-21 football team for a pair of 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifiers against Romania and Slovakia.[19] In February 2012, he played his first and only game for the French side, against Italy, before being substituted by Frédéric Bulot.[20]

In late 2012, Khazri switched his international allegiance once again, when he accepted a call-up from Sami Trabelsi, the Tunisian national team's coach, including him in the squad for the 2013 African Cup of Nations.[21]

Henryk Kasperczak named Khazri among 23 Tunisians to compete at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.[22] In the final group game, a 4–2 win over Zimbabwe at the Stade d'Angondjé, he assisted Naïm Sliti and scored a penalty in a 4–2 win that put the Carthage Eagles through at the expense of a favoured Algeria side.[23]

Manager Nabil Maâloul called up Khazri for Tunisia's squad at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[24] In the second group match, he assisted Dylan Bronn and scored himself in added time in a 5–2 loss to Belgium in Moscow.[25] With both teams already eliminated, he then played his part in a 2–1 comeback win over Panama that was Tunisia's first at the World Cup since 1978; he set up Fakhreddine Ben Youssef and then scored the winning goal, the 2,500th in the competition's history.[26]

Khazri was the captain of the Tunisian side that came fourth at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. In their second group game, he equalised to earn a 1–1 draw with Mali in Port Suez.[27]

As of match played 19 January 2020[28]

As of 19 November 2019[29]

Scores and results list Tunisia's goal tally first.[29]

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	23 March 2013	Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia	Sierra Leone	2–0	2–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	14 August 2013		Congo	1–0	3–0	Friendly
3.	5 March 2014	RCDE Stadium, Barcelona, Spain	Colombia	1–1	1–1
4.	6 September 2014	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet, Monastir, Tunisia	Botswana	1–1	2–1	2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
5.	19 November 2014		Egypt	2–1	2–1
6.	11 January 2015	Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia	Algeria	1–1	1–1	Friendly
7.	9 October 2015		Gabon	3–1	3–3
8.	13 November 2015	Stade Olympique, Nouakchott, Mauritania	Mauritania	1–1	2–1	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.	4 September 2016	Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet, Monastir, Tunisia	Liberia	1–0	4–1	2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
10.	11 November 2016	Omar Hamadi Stadium, Algiers, Algeria	Libya	1–0	1–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.	23 January 2017	Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville, Gabon	Zimbabwe	4–1	4–2	2017 Africa Cup of Nations
12.	27 March 2018	Allianz Riviera, Nice, France	Costa Rica	1–0	1–0	Friendly
13.	23 June 2018	Otkritie Arena, Moscow, Russia	Belgium	2–5	2–5	2018 FIFA World Cup
14.	28 June 2018	Mordovia Arena, Saransk, Russia	Panama	2–1	2–1
15.	7 June 2019	Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia	Iraq	1–0	2–0	Friendly
16.	28 June 2019	Suez Stadium, Suez, Egypt	Mali	1–1	1–1	2019 Africa Cup of Nations
17.	15 November 2019	Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia	Libya	1–0	4–1	2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
18.				4–1
19.	19 November 2019	Estadio de Malabo, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea	Equatorial Guinea	1–0	1–0

• UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: November 2018