Sakina Karchaoui

Sakina Karchaoui (born 26 January 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Première Ligue club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team.

Sakina Karchaoui

Karchaoui with Paris Saint-Germain in 2023
Personal information
Full name	Sakina Karchaoui[1]
Date of birth	(1996-01-26) 26 January 1996 (age 29)
Place of birth	Salon-de-Provence, France
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Left-back
Team information
Current team	Paris Saint-Germain
Number	7
Youth career
2007–2009	US Miramas
2009–2013	Montpellier
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2020	Montpellier	116	(6)
2020–2021	Lyon	18	(0)
2021–	Paris Saint-Germain	66	(9)
International career‡
2012	France U17	6	(1)
2013–2015	France U19	13	(1)
2016	France U20	7	(1)
2016–	France	93	(4)
Medal record Women's football Representing  France UEFA Women's Nations League Runner-up 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Runner-up 2016 Papua New Guinea
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 7 May 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 19 July 2025

Early life

Born in Salon-de-Provence, in the Provence region of France, Karchaoui was raised in the nearby town of Miramas by her Moroccan parents.^[2] She began playing football in her neighborhood with boys.^[2] After two years at local club, US Miramas, she joined Montpellier.^[2]

Club career

Montpellier

Karchaoui made her professional debut for Montpellier on 18 November 2012 in a 6–0 league win over Vendenheim.^[3] During the 2013–14 Division 1 Féminine season, she made six appearances for the club, tallying a total of 475 minutes on the pitch.^[3] Montpellier finished in fourth place with a 15–6–1 record.^[3] The following season, she made 12 appearances with 9 starts. The club finished the 2014–15 season in fourth place with a 13–4–5 record.^[3]

During the 2015–16 season, Karchaoui started in 19 of the 20 matches in which she appeared. On 1 November 2015, she scored her first goal in a 4–0 win against Rodez.^[4] Montpellier finished in third place during the regular season with a 15–3–5 record.^[3]

Lyon

On 24 June 2020, fourteen-time defending league champions Lyon announced the signing of Karchaoui for the 2020–21 season.^[5]

Paris Saint-Germain

On 10 July 2021, Karchaoui joined reigning league champions Paris Saint-Germain on a three-year deal.^[6] On 2 May 2024, she extended her contract with the club until June 2028.^[7]

International career

Karchaoui earned her first cap with the France national team in April 2016.^[8][9][10] She was later selected for the 2016 Rio Olympics.^[2] At the tournament, she started in the team's group-stage match against New Zealand resulting in a 3–0 win, and the quarter-final match against Canada where the team was eliminated in a 1–0 loss.^[2][3]

In March 2017, she helped France defeat the United States 3–0 to win the 2017 SheBelieves Cup for the first time.^[11]

Karchaoui was called up to the France squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017.^[12]

Karchaoui was called up to the France squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[13]

On 30 May 2022, Karchaoui was called up to the France squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022.^[14]

Karchaoui was called up to the France squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[15]

On 23 February 2024, she scored her first international goal in a 2–1 win against Germany.^[16]

In July 2024, Karchaoui was named in France's squad for the 2024 Olympics.^[17]

Personal life

Karchaoui admired Robin van Persie, Hatem Ben Arfa and Samir Nasri when she was young.^[18][19]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 16 May 2025^[20][3]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Montpellier	2012–13	Première Ligue	1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	2013–14	Première Ligue	6	0	0	0	—		—		6	0
	2014–15	Première Ligue	12	0	6	0	—		—		18	0
	2015–16	Première Ligue	20	1	6	1	—		—		26	2
	2016–17	Première Ligue	17	0	2	0	—		—		19	0
	2017–18	Première Ligue	22	0	4	0	6[a]	0	—		32	0
	2018–19	Première Ligue	22	2	1	0	—		—		23	2
	2019–20	Première Ligue	16	3	3	1	—		—		19	4
	Total		116	6	22	2	6	0	0	0	144	8
Lyon	2019–20	Première Ligue	—		0	0	3[a]	0	—		3	0
	2020–21	Première Ligue	18	0	1	0	5[a]	0	—		24	0
	Total		18	0	1	0	8	0	0	0	27	0
Paris Saint-Germain	2021–22	Première Ligue	19	2	5	1	9[a]	1	—		33	4
	2022–23	Première Ligue	17	1	3	0	10[a]	0	1[b]	0	31	1
	2023–24	Première Ligue	15	2	3	0	12[a]	0	3[c]	0	33	2
	2024–25	Première Ligue	15	4	5	0	1[a]	0	2[d]	1	23	5
	Total		66	9	16	1	32	1	6	1	120	12
Career total			200	15	39	3	46	1	6	1	291	20

1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Women's Champions League
2. Appearance in Trophée des Championnes
3. Two appearances in playoffs, one appearance in Trophée des Championnes
4. Appearance in playoffs

International

As of match played 19 July 2025^[21]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
France	2016	7	0
	2017	10	0
	2018	4	0
	2019	9	0
	2020	8	0
	2021	5	0
	2022	11	0
	2023	14	0
	2024	13	2
	2025	12	2
Total		93	4

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

List of international goals scored by Sakina Karchaoui

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	23 February 2024	Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu, France	Germany	2–0	2–1	2024 UEFA Women's Nations League Finals
2	12 July 2024	Stade Gaston Gérard, Dijon, France	Sweden	1–0	2–1	2025 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
3	20 June 2025	Stade du Hainaut, Valenciennes, France	Belgium	3–0	5–0	Friendly
4	13 July 2025	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Netherlands	5–2	5–2	UEFA Women's Euro 2025

Honours

Montpellier

• Coupe de France Féminine runner-up: 2014–15, 2015–16

Lyon

• UEFA Women's Champions League: 2019–20^[22]

Paris Saint-Germain

• Coupe de France: 2021–22,^[23] 2023–24^[24]

France U20

• FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup runner-up: 2016^[25]

France

• UEFA Women's Nations League runner-up: 2023–24^[26]

Individual

• IFFHS World Team: 2020^[27]
• UEFA Women's Championship team of the tournament: 2022^[28]
• UNFP Première Ligue young player of the year: 2016–17^[29]
• UNFP Première Ligue team of the year: 2020–21,^[30] 2021–22,^[31] 2022–23,^[32] 2023–24^[33]
• LFFP Première Ligue team of the season: 2016–17,^[34] 2017–18,^[35] 2020–21,^[36] 2021–22,^[37] 2022–23,^[38] 2023–24,^[39] 2024–25^[40]
• Première Ligue Player of the Month: December 2021,^[41] February 2025^[19]