Maher Kanzari

Maher Kanzari (born 17 March 1973) is a Tunisian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 club Espérance de Tunis. A midfielder, he played for the Tunisia national team.

Maher Kanzari

Kanzari in 2025
Personal information
Date of birth	(1973-03-17) 17 March 1973 (age 52)
Place of birth	Tunis, Tunisia
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Espérance de Tunis (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1997	Stade Tunisien
1997–2000	Espérance de Tunis
2000–2001	Al Ahli Saudi	5	(2)
2001–2002	Al Nasr Dubai
2002–2003	Dubai CSC
International career
1998–2002	Tunisia	31	(7)
Managerial career
2006–2007	Tunisia U17
2007–2010	Espérance de Tunis (assistant)
2010	Espérance de Tunis
2011–2012	CA Bizertin
2012–2013	Al-Sailiya
2013	Espérance de Tunis
2014	CA Bizertin
2014	Al-Wakrah
2014–2015	Tunisia (assistant)
2015	Tunisia U-23
2016	Stade Tunisien
2016–2017	CA Bizertin
2017	Stade Gabèsien
2018	Ohod Club
2018–2019	Tunisia (assistant)
2018	Tunisia (caretaker)
2020–2021	Tunisia U20
2021–2023	Tunisia U23
2023–2024	CA Bizertin
2024–2025	Stade Tunisien
2025–	Espérance de Tunis
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Kanzari played in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 with Stade Tunisien and Espérance de Tunis. He played also in the Saudi Professional League with Al-Ahli Saudi FC and in UAE Pro-League with Al-Nasr Dubai SC and Dubai CSC.

International career

With the Tunisia national team Kanzari started in 1998, collecting 31 appearances in four years and scored 7 goals, he participated also in 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and 2000 African Cup of Nations and reached the semi-final.

Coaching career

Kanzari succeeded with Tunisia national under-17 football team to qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup hosted by South Korea after reaching the semi-final of 2007 African U-17 Championship. He also achieved the round of the 16 after beating teams like Belgium and the United States making Espérance de Tunis appoint him as its assistant coach in 2007.

Following the departure of Faouzi Benzarti in 2010, he became coach of Espérance de Tunis, before giving way a few weeks later to Nabil Maâloul.

On 2 January 2011, he was named coach of CA Bizertin and was second of the 2011–12 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1. On 8 October 2012, he was appointed coach of Al-Sailiya Sports Club to replace the German Uli Stielike.

He signed a contract to be the assistant of Georges Leekens in the Tunisia national team in 2014.

He then went through a failed experiences with Stade Tunisien, CA Bizertin and Stade Gabèsien and approached them to get to the second division. He also trained the Saudi Ohod Club^[1] before being fired for unconvincing results.

In August 2018, he was appointed assistant of Faouzi Benzarti with Tunisia national team.^[2]

Honours

Player

Espérance de Tunis

• Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 1998, 1999, 2000
• Tunisian Cup: 1999
• CAF Cup: 1997
• African Cup Winners' Cup: 1998

Manager

Espérance de Tunis

• Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2024–25
• Tunisian Cup: 2024–25
• Tunisian Super Cup: 2025

Tunisia U20

• Africa U-20 Cup of Nations fourth place: 2021