Yassine Meriah (Arabic: ياسين مرياح; born 2 July 1993) is a Tunisian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 club Espérance de Tunis and the Tunisia national team.
 Meriah lining up with Tunisia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Yassine Meriah[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 2 July 1993 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Ariana, Tunisia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Espérance de Tunis | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| Association d'Ariana | |||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2015 | Étoile de Métlaoui | 27 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Club Sfaxien | 81 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2021 | Olympiacos | 23 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020 | → Kasımpaşa (loan) | 15 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | → Çaykur Rizespor (loan) | 28 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Al Ain | 10 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022– | Espérance de Tunis | 40 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2015– | Tunisia | 77 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12 May 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 January 2024 | |||||||||||||||||
Club career edit
Mariah was formed in Association d'Ariana, the team that was active in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 2. In the 2013–14 season, he was transferred to Étoile de 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 Club 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. From his first season with Club Sfaxien, Meriah was a key figure in the squad and played in many of the team's defensive positions.
Olympiacos edit
On 28 July 2018, Meriah joined Olympiacos for an estimated transfer fee of €1,500,000, signing a four-year contract.[3] On 2 September 2018, he scored his first goal for the club in a 5–0 home win against PAS Giannina.[4]
On 31 January 2020, Meriah 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.[5] On 13 September 2020, he signed a long season loan with another Süper Lig club Çaykur Rizespor.[6]
Al Ain edit
On 28 July 2021, Meriah joined Al Ain for a reported transfer fee of €2 million signing a two-year contract.
Espérance de Tunis edit
On 4 August 2022, Meriah joined Espérance de Tunis as a free agent signing a two-year contract.
International career edit
Meriah's success with his club led him to the Tunisia 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.[7][8]In June 2019 he was named in Tunisia's final 23-man squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.[9]
Career statistics edit
Club edit
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Étoile de 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 | |||
| Club Sfaxien | 2014–15 | Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 2 | ||
| 2015–16 | 27 | 0 | 27 | 0 | ||||||
| 2016–17 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 32 | 3 | ||
| 2017–18 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 81 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 95 | 6 | ||
| Olympiacos | 2018–19 | Super League Greece | 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 (loan) | 2019–20 | Süper Lig | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 15 | 0 | |
| Rizespor (loan) | 2020–21 | Süper Lig | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 26 | 1 | |
| Al Ain | 2021–22 | UAE Pro League | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| Espérance de Tunis | 2022–23 | Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 39 | 3 |
| Career total | 205 | 12 | 18 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 258 | 12 | ||
International edit
- Scores and results list Tunisia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Meriah goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 September 2017 | Olympic Stadium, Tunis, Tunisia |  DR Congo | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2 | 13 October 2018 | Olympic Stadium, Tunis, Tunisia |  Niger | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 3 | 22 March 2019 | Olympic Stadium, Tunis, Tunisia |  Eswatini | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 4 | 17 November 2023 | Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, Tunis, Tunisia |  São Tomé and Príncipe | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Honours edit
Individual
- Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2019
References edit
- ^ "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – Squad list: Tunisia (TUN)" (PDF). FIFA. 15 November 2022. p. 29. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ "2018 FIFA World Cup: List of players" (PDF). FIFA. 14 July 2018. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018.
- ^ "Aνακοίνωσε τον Μεριά ο Ολυμπιακός" (in Greek). Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ^ "Ολυμπιακός - ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 5-0" (in Greek). Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ "Ολυμπιακός: Ανακοίνωσε Μεριά η Κασίμπασα" (in Greek). 31 January 2020.
- ^ "Ολυμπιακός: Δανεικός για ένα χρόνο στη Ρίζεσπορ ο Μεριά" (in Greek). 13 September 2020.
- ^ Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- ^ Okeleji, Oluwashina (2 June 2018). "Tunisia World Cup squad: Leicester City's Benalouane in 23-man squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "Yassine Meriah". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
- ^ "Matches of Y. Meriah". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
External links edit
- Yassine Meriah – UEFA competition record (archive)
- Yassine Meriah at Soccerway
- Yassine Meriah at FootballDatabase.eu
- Yassine Meriah at National-Football-Teams.com
- Yassine Meriah at L'Équipe Football (in French)
