Houssine Kharja

Houssine Kharja (Arabic: حسين خرجة‎; born 9 November 1982) is a Moroccan former international footballer who played as a midfielder.

Houssine Kharja
Kharja with Morocco in 2009
Personal information
Date of birth (1982-11-09) 9 November 1982
Place of birth Poissy, France
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1993–1998 Paris Saint-Germain
1998–2000 Gazélec Ajaccio
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2001 Sporting CP B 28 (4)
2001–2007 Ternana 119 (10)
2005–2006 → Roma (loan) 12 (1)
2007–2008 Piacenza 17 (2)
2008 → Siena (loan) 15 (3)
2008–2009 Siena 36 (5)
2009–2011 Genoa 20 (3)
2011 → Internazionale (loan) 15 (1)
2011–2012 Fiorentina 19 (0)
2012–2013 Al-Arabi 19 (2)
2014–2015 Sochaux 22 (1)
2015–2016 Steaua București 6 (0)
Total 328 (32)
National team
2003–2015 Morocco 78 (13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Born in France, he spent most of his career in Italy after starting out at Sporting Clube de Portugal, amassing Serie A totals of 117 games and 13 goals. He represented in the competition A.S. Roma, Internazionale and Fiorentina, amongst other clubs.

At international level, he represented Morocco earning 78 caps and scoring 13 goals between 2003 and 2015.

Club career

Youth

Kharja began his career with Paris Saint-Germain's youth side and in 2000 he joined Portuguese side Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Italy

After only one season for Sporting, he joined Ternana in 2001. He played four impressive Serie B seasons for the Rossoverdi, gaining a place in the Moroccan national team, and being loaned to Roma in 2005, with option to buy him in co-ownership deal for €3.6 million.[2] Kharja played 12 matches and scored one goal during a 1–1 draw against Juventus.

At the end of the 2005–06 season, Roma decided not to extend Kharja's loan, so the Moroccan player returned to Ternana, but he refused this transfer because in the meantime the Rossoverdi had been relegated to Serie C1. Ternana considered him as their own player,[3][4] and Lega Calcio Serie C even suspended him until 26 April 2007.[5] After appeals, FIGC's court decided that Kharja was a free agent, and so, on 20 March 2007 he signed a three-year contract with Serie B team Piacenza.[6] On January 2008, he was loaned to Siena for the second half of the season, with this deal being turned a permanent one on 11 July.

In June 2009, Genoa announced the club was reaching an agreement to sign the player[7] and on 2 July the transfer from Siena was completed.[8] Genoa got Kharja for €6.5 million, while Siena signed the remain 50% registration rights of Manuel Coppola for €1.5 million and the full rights of Gianluca Pegolo for €1 million.[9]

It was announced on 29 January 2011, that Kharja had joined Internazionale on a loan deal with the option of Inter signing him permanently.[10] He scored his first goal for Internazionale during his second appearance for the club against Bari on 3 February 2011. At the end of his loan spell, Inter decided not to give the player a permanent deal, and so he returned to Genoa.

On 18 August 2011, Fiorentina signed the player on a co-ownership deal, signing a two-year deal.[11]

Qatar

On 29 June 2012, Kharja signed a two-year deal with Qatari club Al-Arabi.[12]

He was involved in an altercation with Al Gharafa player Nenê on 19 March 2013 in a Qatari Stars Cup match. After Kharja persistently fouled Nenê for the majority of the match, Nenê was sent off in an unrelated incident after a challenge on one of Kharja's teammates. When Nenê attempted to protest the referee's decision, Kharja shoulder-blocked him, preventing him from reaching the referee. Nenê responded by elbowing Kharja in the back of the head. After a delayed reaction, Kharja attacked Nenê, who was then being restrained by teammates. This induced a brawl between the two teams.

Harsh sanctions followed after the match, with four players being fined and banned from match play as well as a member of Al Arabi's staff being fined and warned. Kharja received the most harsh penalty, being fined QR 380,000 and receiving a ten-game ban, the largest penalty in the history of the Qatar Stars League.[13] Later, on 31 March, after a 4–1 defeat to Lekhwiya in the league, Al Arabi terminated his contract as a result of the aftermath of the brawl.[14] He later stated that he had not received notification that his contract was terminated.[13]

France

On 10 October 2014, Sochaux announced that Kharja had joined on a one-year contract after playing 16 years away from his native France.[15]

Romania

In September 2015, Kharja joined Romanian defending champions Steaua București on a one-year deal.[16] He made his Liga I debut in the 3–1 win against Concordia Chiajna, three days after signing the contract.[17]

Career statistics

Club

Sources:[18][19]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Sporting CP B 2000–01 Segunda Divisão B 284————284
Ternana 2001–02 Serie B 23200———232
2002–03 28210———292
2003–04 35300———353
2004–05 33320———353
2006–07 0000———00
Total 119103000000012210
Roma (loan) 2005–06 Serie A 12150—80—251
Piacenza 2007–08 Serie B 17200———172
Siena 2007–08 (loan) Serie A 15300———153
2008–09 36521———386
Total 51821000000539
Genoa 2009–10 Serie A 7300—41—114
2010–11 13021———151
Total 20321004100265
Internazionale (loan) 2010–11 Serie A 15110—30—191
Fiorentina 2011–12 Serie A 19020—30—210
Al-Arabi 2012–13 Qatar Stars League 19200———192
Sochaux 2014–15 Ligue 2 22110———231
Steaua București 2015–16 Liga I 601020—20110
Career total 32832172201512036435
Kharja with Morocco in their friendly against Czech Republic on 11 February 2009.

International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.4 June 2005Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat, Morocco Malawi3–14–12006 FIFA World Cup qual.
2.31 May 2008Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca, Morocco Ethiopia3–03–02010 FIFA World Cup qual.
3.7 June 2008Stade Nacional, Nouakchott, Mauritania Mauritania0–41–42010 FIFA World Cup qual.
4.20 August 2008Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat, Morocco Benin1–03–1Friendly
5.19 November 2008Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat, Morocco Zambia1–03–0Friendly
6.10 August 2011Stade Leopold Senghor, Dakar, Senegal Senegal0–10–2Friendly
7.23 January 2012Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville, Gabon Tunisia1–21–22012 Africa Cup of Nations
8.27 January 2012Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville, Gabon Gabon0–12–32012 Africa Cup of Nations
9.27 January 2012Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville, Gabon Gabon2–22–32012 Africa Cup of Nations
10.2 June 2012Independence Stadium, Bakau, Gambia Gambia1–11–12014 FIFA World Cup qual.
11.9 June 2012Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco Ivory Coast1–12–22014 FIFA World Cup qual.
12.13 October 2012Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco Mozambique2–04–02013 Africa Cup of Nations qual.

Honours

Club

Inter Milan

Steaua București

International

Morocco

References
  1. "Houssine Kharja". Goal.com. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  2. "APPROVAZIONE DELLA SITUAZIONE FINANZIARIA MENSILE AL 31 AGOSTO 2005" (PDF). AS Roma (in Italian). 30 September 2005. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  3. "KHARJA "RIMANE ALLA TERNANA"" (in Italian). Ternana Calcio. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  4. "ECCO I CONVOCATI PER GIULIANOVA. CI SONO PURE KHARJA E JIMENEZ" (in Italian). Ternana Calcio. 1 September 2006. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  5. "Comunicato Ufficiale N°148/C (2006–07)" (PDF) (in Italian). Lega Calcio Serie C. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  6. Kharja signs for Piacenza Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "GENOA IN PRESSING SU HOUSSINE KHARJA" (in Italian). genoacfc.it. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  8. "KHARJA E SPIRA IL VENTO DELL'AFRICA" (in Italian). genoacfc.it. 7 February 2009.
  9. Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2009 (in Italian)
  10. "Transfers: Kharja joins Inter". inter.it. 29 January 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  11. "Kharja in viola" (in Italian). Viola channel. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  12. "Kharja passes medical, signs two-year deal with Al Arabi". Qatar Stars League. 30 June 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  13. خرجة ينفي علمه بخبر إنهاء التعاقد مع العربي (in Arabic). alkass.net. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  14. "Kharja contract 'terminated', says report". thepeninsulaqatar.com. 31 March 2013. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  15. "Houssine Kharja joins Sochaux | Get French Football News". www.getfootballnewsfrance.com. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  16. "Bine ai venit, Houssine Kharja!" [Welcome, Houssine Kharja!] (in Romanian). FC Steaua București. 18 September 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  17. "Kharja a fost titular, la trei zile după ce a semnat cu Steaua. Fazele în care s-a văzut, în meciul cu Chiajna" (in Romanian). Digi Sport (Romania). 21 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  18. "Houssine Kharja » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  19. "H. Kharja". Soccerway. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  20. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/04a.html
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