Yassine Meriah

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.

Yassine Meriah
Meriah lining up with Tunisia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name Yassine Meriah[1]
Date of birth (1993-07-02) 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 28 (6)
International career‡
2015– Tunisia 70 (3)
Medal record
Representing  Tunisia
Men's football
FIFA Arab Cup
Runner-up2021 Qatar
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 October 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 September 2023

Club career

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

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

On 28 July 2021, Meriah joined Al Ain for an reported transfer fee of €2 million signing a two-year contract.

Espérance de Tunis

On 4 August 2022, Meriah joined Espérance de Tunis as a free agent signing a two-year contract.

International career

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

Club
As of match played 30 June 2023[10] [11]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Étoile de Métlaoui 2013–14 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 13000–130
2014–15 14010–150
Total 27010–280
Club Sfaxien 2014–15 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 9220112
2015–16 270270
2016–17 2331080323
2017–18 22130251
Total 8166080956
Olympiacos 2018–19 Super League Greece 1814040261
2019–20 5020110180
Total 23160150441
Kasımpaşa (loan) 2019–20 Süper Lig 15000–150
Rizespor (loan) 2020–21 Süper Lig 26100–261
Al Ain 2021–22 UAE Pro League 1011000111
Espérance de Tunis 2022–23 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 23340120393
Career total 2051218035025812

International
Scores and results list Tunisia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Meriah goal.
List of international goals scored by Yassine Meriah[10]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
11 September 2017Stade Olympique de Radès, Tunis, Tunisia DR Congo1–02–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
213 October 2018Stade Olympique de Radès, Tunis, Tunisia Niger1–01–02019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
322 March 2019Stade Olympique de Radès, Tunis, Tunisia Eswatini4–04–02019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Honours

Individual

References
  1. "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – Squad list: Tunisia (TUN)" (PDF). FIFA. 15 November 2022. p. 29. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  2. "2018 FIFA World Cup: List of players" (PDF). FIFA. 14 July 2018. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018.
  3. "Aνακοίνωσε τον Μεριά ο Ολυμπιακός" (in Greek). Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  4. "Ολυμπιακός - ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 5-0" (in Greek). Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  5. "Ολυμπιακός: Ανακοίνωσε Μεριά η Κασίμπασα" (in Greek). 31 January 2020.
  6. "Ολυμπιακός: Δανεικός για ένα χρόνο στη Ρίζεσπορ ο Μεριά" (in Greek). 13 September 2020.
  7. Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  8. Okeleji, Oluwashina (2 June 2018). "Tunisia World Cup squad: Leicester City's Benalouane in 23-man squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  9. "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.
  10. "Yassine Meriah". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  11. "Matches of Y. Meriah". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
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