Nabil Maâloul (Arabic: نَبِيْل مَعْلُول; born 25 December 1962) is a Tunisian professional football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder for the Tunisia national team.

Nabil Maâloul
Maâloul in 2018
Personal information
Full name Nabil Maâloul[1]
Date of birth (1962-12-25) 25 December 1962 (age 61)
Place of birth Tunis, Tunisia[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1989 Espérance de Tunis
1989–1991 Hannover 96[2] 28 (2)
1991–1994 Espérance de Tunis
1994 Al-Ahli Club
1994–1995 Club Bizertin
1995–1996 Club Africain
International career
1982–1994 Tunisia 74 (11)
Managerial career
1997–1998 Olympique du Kef
2002–2004 Tunisia (assistant)
2003–2004 Tunisia U23
2004–2005 Club Africain
2005–2006 Club Bizertin
2006–2008 Tunisia (assistant)
2010–2012 Espérance de Tunis[3]
2012–2013 Espérance de Tunis
2013 Tunisia
2014 El Jaish
2014–2015 Kuwait
2017–2018 Tunisia
2018–2019 Al-Duhail
2020–2021 Syria
2021–2022 Kuwait SC
2022–2023 Espérance de Tunis
2023–2024 Kuwait SC
2024– USM Alger
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Maâloul was capped 74 times for his country, and participated in 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He spent most of his playing career with his home club, Espérance de Tunis and won it a historic treble as a coach in 2011 (league, cup and CAF Champions League).

During his managerial career, he was in charge of three national teams: Tunisia, Kuwait, and Syria, but he also managed clubs in Tunisia and Qatar.

Club career

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Maâloul began playing football at the age of 6 or 7, following the example of his father. He began his professional career at the Espérance de Tunis 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 between 1995 and 1996, marking the end of his career, due to a disagreement with the president of the club Slim Chiboub, who does not want to sign a contract with him again after a short period in Saudi Arabia.

International career

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With the National team he started in 1985, collecting 74 appearances in 10 years and scored 11 goals. He participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He was one of the youngest captains in the national team's history at 23 years old.

Managerial career

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He finished his playing career and became coach of Olympique du Kef in 1997. In 2002, he became assistant coach of Roger Lemerre when Tunisia won 2004 African Cup of Nations. He decided to leave his post as assistant for coaching Club Africain 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 Espérance de Tunis, 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 in January 2012; He replaced it a few months later. On 14 February 2013, he officially became the coach of the Tunisia. 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 that eliminates Tunisia from qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, 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 to become coach of the team in 2013 FIFA Club World Cup, replacing Mohamed Fakhir, before refusing.

On 20 January 2014, he became the coach of the Qatari team El Jaish SC, and won 2014 Qatar Crown Prince Cup 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 Kuwait, and coached them in 2015 AFC Asian Cup and the second round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification before that FIFA suspend Kuwait Football Association on 16 October 2015.

On 27 April 2017, Maâloul became the coach of Tunisia again and succeeded in bringing his team back to the 2018 FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2006 and becoming the second Tunisian coach to qualify for the World Cup after Abdelmajid Chetali in 1978. 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.[4] He parted ways after six months of coaching due to multiple disagreements with the club.[5]

On 11 March 2020, Maâloul was officially appointed as the new head coach of Syria on a one-year contract, to become the first Tunisian to coach Syria.[6] 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.[7]

On 27 October 2021, Maâloul became the coach of Kuwait SC.[8] 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 Kuwait SC as headcoach.[9] In his second term he won the supercup and became league champions once again. The club terminated his contract on 9 July 2024.[10]

Career statistics

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Managerial

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As of 18 October 2024
Team From To Record
G W D L Win % Ref
  Club Bizertin 1 July 2005 25 September 2005 8 0 5 3 000.00
  Espérance de Tunis 27 December 2010 31 December 2011 35 22 8 5 062.86 [11]
  Espérance de Tunis 1 June 2012 26 January 2013 27 19 3 5 070.37 [12]
  Tunisia 14 February 2013 8 September 2013 7 2 3 2 028.57 [13]
  El Jaish 22 January 2014 7 December 2014 35 20 7 8 057.14 [14]
  Kuwait 20 December 2014 20 March 2017 11 3 2 6 027.27 [15]
  Tunisia 28 April 2017 12 July 2018 13 6 4 3 046.15 [16][17]
  Al-Duhail 13 July 2018 5 January 2019 22 14 6 2 063.64 [18]
  Syria 1 March 2020 16 June 2021 7 3 0 4 042.86 [19]
  Kuwait SC 4 November 2021 31 May 2022 30 18 9 3 060.00 [20]
  Espérance de Tunis 9 June 2022 13 May 2023 38 22 9 7 057.89 [21]
  Kuwait SC 6 December 2023 8 July 2024 24 18 6 0 075.00 [22]
  USM Alger 14 July 2024 present 6 3 2 1 050.00 [23]
Total 265 152 61 52 057.36

Honours

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Player

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Espérance de Tunis

Club Africain

Manager

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Espérance de Tunis

El Jaish

Kuwait SC

References

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  1. ^ a b "Nabil Maâloul". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Maaloul, Nabil" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  3. ^ "ES Tunis: Nabil Maâloul nouvel entraîneur" (in French). emarrakech.info. 28 December 2010. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  4. ^ "Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul quits to join Qatari club". BBC Sport. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  5. ^ Plus, Doha Stadium (6 January 2019). "Al Duhail SC part ways with coach Nabil Maaloul". Doha Stadium Plus.
  6. ^ "OFFICIAL: Nabil Maaloul appointed Syria national team head coach". www.kingfut.com. 11 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Nabil Maaloul submits his resignation as coach of the Syrian national team". middleeast.in-24.com. 16 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Koweit sporting club (Tunisie) : Nabil Maaloul remplace Fathi Jebal à la tête du staff technique". africa sport. 29 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Foot – Koweit : Nabil Maaloul s'engage avec Al Koweit SC". african manager. 7 December 2023.
  10. ^ "Nabil Maaloul remplacé par Nebojša au Koweït SC". horizons.
  11. ^ "ES Tunis matches (1)". Soccer Way. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  12. ^ "ES Tunis matches (2)". Soccer Way. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  13. ^ "Tunisia matches". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  14. ^ "El Jaish SC matches". Soccer Way. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  15. ^ "Kuwait matches". Soccer Way. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  16. ^ "Tunisia matches". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  17. ^ "Tunisia". Soccer Way. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  18. ^ "Al Duhail matches". Soccer Way. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  19. ^ "Syria matches". Soccer Way. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Kuwait SC matches". Soccer Way. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  21. ^ "ES Tunis matches (3)". Soccer Way. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Kuwait SC matches". Soccer Way. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  23. ^ "USM Alger matches". Soccer Way. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
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