Ali Abdi (footballer)

Ali El Abdi (Arabic: عَلِيّ الْعَابِدِيّ; born 20 December 1993), known as Ali Abdi, is a Tunisian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ligue 1 club Nice and the Tunisia national team.

Ali Abdi

Abdi with Nice in 2025
Personal information
Full name	Ali El Abdi[1]
Date of birth	(1993-12-20) 20 December 1993 (age 31)
Place of birth	Sfax, Tunisia[2]
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s)	Left-back
Team information
Current team	Nice
Number	2
Youth career
	Sfax RS
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2012	JS Kairouan	15	(2)
2012–2016	Espérance de Tunis	12	(0)
2014	→ Stade Tunisien (loan)	17	(4)
2016–2019	Club Africain	56	(7)
2019–2021	Paris FC	47	(9)
2020	Paris FC B	1	(0)
2021–2024	Caen	98	(14)
2021	Caen B	1	(0)
2024–	Nice	25	(5)
International career‡
2015	Tunisia U23	4	(0)
2021–	Tunisia	31	(4)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 25 May 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 14 November 2024

Club career

Abdi made his professional debut with JS Kairouan in a 0–0 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 tie with EGS Gafsa on 25 December 2011.^[3] On 24 June 2019, Abdi moved to Paris FC in the French Ligue 2.^[4]

On 21 July 2021, he signed a two-year contract with Caen.^[5]

On 2 September 2024, Abdi signed for Ligue 1 club Nice for a fee of €500,000.^[6] This transfer was completed outside the regular transfer window dates thanks to a "joker" transfer exemption granted by the Ligue de Football Professionnel.^[7]

International career

Abdi made his debut for the Tunisia national team on 25 March 2021 in an AFCON 2021 qualifier against Libya.^[8]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 17 May 2025

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		League cup[b]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
JS Kairouan	2011–12	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	15	2	0	0	—		—		—		15	2
Espérance de Tunis	2012–13	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	1	0	—		—		0	0	—		1	0
	2013–14	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	0	0	0	0	—		2[c]	0	—		2	0
	2014–15	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	11	0	0	0	—		0	0	—		11	0
	2015–16	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	0	0	0	0	—		0	0	—		0	0
	Total		12	0	0	0	—		2	0	—		14	0
Stade Tunisien (loan)	2013–14	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	17	4	2	0	—		—		—		19	4
Club Africain	2016–17	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	12	2	2	0	—		11[d]	2	—		25	4
	2017–18	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	22	2	5	1	—		2[d]	0	—		29	3
	2018–19	Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1	22	3	2	0	—		7[c]	0	—		31	3
	Total		56	7	9	1	—		20	2	—		85	10
Paris FC	2019–20	Ligue 2	14	0	1	0	2	0	—		—		17	0
	2020–21	Ligue 2	33	9	1	0	—		—		—		34	9
	Total		47	9	2	0	2	0	—		—		51	9
Paris FC B	2019–20	Championnat National 3	1	0	—		—		—		—		1	0
Caen	2021–22	Ligue 2	31	2	0	0	—		—		—		31	2
	2022–23	Ligue 2	32	3	1	0	—		—		—		33	3
	2023–24	Ligue 2	33	9	0	0	—		—		—		33	9
	2024–25	Ligue 2	2	0	—		—		—		—		2	0
	Total		98	14	1	0	—		—		—		99	14
Caen B	2021–22	Championnat National 2	1	0	—		—		—		—		1	0
Nice	2024–25	Ligue 1	25	5	2	0	—		4[e]	0	—		31	5
Career total			272	41	16	1	2	0	26	2	—		316	44

1. Includes Tunisian Cup and Coupe de France
2. Includes Coupe de la Ligue
3. Appearances in CAF Champions League
4. Appearances in CAF Confederation Cup
5. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League

International

As of 14 November 2024

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Total
		Apps	Goals
Tunisia U23	2015	4	0
Tunisia	2021	4	0
	2022	9	2
	2023	8	0
	2024	10	2
	Total	31	4
Career total		35	4

Scores and results list Tunisia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Abdi goal.

List of international goals scored by Ali Abdi

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 June 2022	Noevir Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Japan	Chile	1–0	2–0	2022 Kirin Cup Soccer
2	16 November 2022	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar	Iran	2–0	2–0	Friendly
3	7 September 2024	Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida, Morocco	Gambia	1–0	2–1	2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
4	14 November 2024	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa	Madagascar	3–2	3–2	2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Honours

Club Africain

• Tunisian Cup: 2016–17, 2017–18

Tunisia

• Kirin Cup Soccer: 2022

Individual

• UNFP Ligue 2 Team of the Year: 2021–22,^[9] 2023–24^[10]
• Tunisian Footballer of the Year: 2024