Yassine Meriah

Yassine Meriah (Arabic: ياسين مرياح‎; born 2 July 1993) is a Tunisian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Turkish club Kasımpaşa, on loan from Olympiacos and the Tunisia national team.

Yassine Meriah
Meriah lining up with Tunisia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Date of birth (1993-07-02) 2 July 1993
Place of birth Aryanah, Tunisia
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Kasımpaşa (on loan from Olympiacos)
Number 80
Youth career
AS Ariana
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2015 ES Métlaoui 27 (0)
2015–2018 CS Sfaxien 81 (6)
2018– Olympiacos 23 (1)
2020– → Kasımpaşa (loan) 7 (0)
National team‡
2015– Tunisia 40 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:51, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:51, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Mariah was formed in AS Ariana, the team that was active in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 2. In the 2013–14 season, he was transferred to ES Métlaoui when he was 20 years old. After spending two seasons with the team, he was prominently featured and invited to the Tunisian Olympic team. He attracted the attention of the officials of CS Sfaxien, one of the most important teams in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 who sought to sign with him, starting from the 2014–15 season. Since his first season with CS Sfaxien, Yassin Meriah has been a key figure in the squad and has managed to play in many of the team's defensive positions.

Olympiacos

On 28 July 2018, Meriah joined Olympiacos for an estimated transfer fee of €1,500,000, signing a four-year contract.[2] On 2 September 2018, he scored his first goal for the club in a 5–0 home win against PAS Giannina.[3]

On 31 January 2020, Merial officially loaned in Süper Lig club Kasımpaşa, until the end of the 2019-20 season, with a €5 million buyout clause expected in the summer. Meriah started this year as de facto leader in Olympiakos defence, having a great presence in the Champions League qualifiers. Later, however, there were some games in which he made mistakes, so he was sidelined.[4]

International career

His success with his team led him to the Tunisian national team for the first time by coach Georges Leekens on 13 June 2015 against Morocco in 2016 African Nations Championship qualification.

He scored his first goal against DR Congo in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.

In May 2018 he was named in Tunisia's final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[5][6] In June 2019 he was named in Tunisia's final 23-man squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.[7]

Career statistics
As of match played 13 March 2020[8] [9]
Club Season League Cup International Apps Goals
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
ES Métlaoui 2013-14 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 13 0 0 0 13 0
2014-15 14 0 1 0 15 0
Total 27 0 1 0 28 0
CS Sfaxien 2014-15 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 9 2 2 0 11 2
2015-16 27 0 0 0 27 0
2016-17 23 3 1 0 8 0 33 3
2017-18 22 1 3 0 25 1
Total 81 6 6 0 8 0 95 6
Olympiacos F.C. 2018–19 Superleague 18 1 4 0 4 0 26 1
2019–20 5 0 2 0 11 0 18 0
Total 23 1 6 0 15 0 44 1
Kasımpaşa S.K. 2019–20 Süper Lig 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Career totals 138 7 13 0 23 0 174 7
Scores and results list Tunisia's goal tally first.[8]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.1 September 2017Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia DR Congo1–02–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.13 October 2018Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia Niger1–01–02019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
3.22 March 2019Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès, Tunisia Eswatini4–04–0

References
  1. "2018 FIFA World Cup: List of players" (PDF). FIFA. 14 July 2018. p. 31.
  2. "Aνακοίνωσε τον Μεριά ο Ολυμπιακός" (in Greek). Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  3. "Ολυμπιακός - ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 5-0" (in Greek). Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  4. "Ολυμπιακός: Ανακοίνωσε Μεριά η Κασίμπασα" (in Greek). 31 January 2020.
  5. Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  6. Okeleji, Oluwashina (2 June 2018). "Tunisia World Cup squad: Leicester City's Benalouane in 23-man squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  7. "Tunisia announce final squad for AFCON 2019, Ahly's Maaloul out, Zamalek's Sassi in". english.ahram.org.eg. 1 June 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  8. "Yassine Meriah". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  9. "Matches of Y. Meriah". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
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