Mehdi Nafti

Mehdi Ben Sadok Nafti (Arabic: مهدي النفطي‎; born 28 November 1978) is a former Tunisian footballer and the current manager of Spanish club CD Lugo.

Mehdi Nafti
Nafti in action for Birmingham in 2005
Personal information
Full name Mehdi Ben Sadok Nafti[1]
Date of birth (1978-11-28) 28 November 1978[1]
Place of birth Toulouse,[1] France
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Lugo (manager)
Youth career
1995–1997 Toulouse
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2000 Toulouse 28 (1)
2000–2001 Racing B 21 (0)
2000–2005 Racing Santander 110 (3)
2005 → Birmingham City (loan) 10 (0)
2005–2009 Birmingham City 70 (0)
2009–2011 Aris 32 (4)
2011–2012 Valladolid 51 (1)
2012–2013 Murcia 30 (0)
2013–2014 Cádiz 15 (0)
Total 364 (9)
National team
2002–2010 Tunisia 44 (1)
Teams managed
2016–2017 Marbella
2017 Mérida
2018 Mérida
2018–2020 Badajoz
2020 Étoile du Sahel
2020– Lugo
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Nafti played as a defensive midfielder for Toulouse, Racing Santander, Birmingham City, Aris, Valladolid, Murcia and Cádiz. He was born in France, and won 44 caps for Tunisia, representing the nation at the 2006 World Cup and three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

After retiring as a player he went into coaching, and managed Marbella and Mérida (two spells) before joining Badajoz in October 2018.

Playing career

Club

Born in Toulouse, France, Nafti made his professional debut with his hometown club, Toulouse FC. He was used sparingly during a three-year spell, and also played several games with the reserves. His best season was 1999–2000, as he appeared in 13 games and scored once to help the team return to Ligue 1 after one year of absence.

In summer 2000, Nafti joined Racing de Santander in La Liga and, as in his previous club, started his stint appearing for the B-team. In the 2000–01 season he played in just three games for the main squad, which was eventually relegated, then proceeded to become a very important midfield element for the Cantabrians in the following three years, whilst collecting 41 yellow cards and three red.[2][3][4]

Nafti was signed on loan by Birmingham City in the final minutes of the January 2005 transfer window,[5] making his Premier League debut on 5 February in a 2–0 loss away to Manchester United in which he started and was booked.[6] Sometimes referred to as "Nasty"[7] due to his fiery nature and tendency for cautions, he was primarily signed to replace the outgoing Robbie Savage, and finished the season strongly, which led to a permanent deal being agreed in the summer.[8]

Nafti's 2005–06 campaign came to end before it had even begun, with a severe injury to his cruciate ligaments in a friendly with Deportivo La Coruña in early August 2005.[9] He recovered sooner than expected,[10] and was able to start the last match of the season, a 1–0 loss at Bolton Wanderers, with relegation already confirmed.[11]

After having appeared in 32 games in 2006–07 to help Birmingham return to the top division, Nafti scored his first goal for them on 13 August 2008, in a 4–0 win against Wycombe Wanderers in the 2008–09 League Cup.[12] In June 2009, after the club chose not to renew his contract,[13] he signed a two-year deal with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece.[14]

On 12 September 2009, Nafti scored the only goal of the home match against PAS Giannina to put Aris top of the Superleague Greece after three matches.[15] He finished his debut season with four goals from 22 league games,[16] as Aris finished fifth.

During the January 2011 transfer window, the 32-year-old Nafti left Aris and returned to Spain, signing an 18-month contract with Segunda División club Real Valladolid.[17] He spent the 2012–13 season with Real Murcia, helping them avoid relegation from the second tier, and had considered retiring from the game before dropping down a division to sign for Cádiz. He established himself in the latter team but was also troubled by injury, and after they signed midfielder Jon Ander Garrido in the January 2014 transfer window, Nafti's contract was cancelled.[18][19][20]

International

A Tunisia international since 2002, Nafti represented the nation in three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, helping it win the 2004 edition played on home soil.[21] He then appeared in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, playing against Australia (2–0 win)[22] and Germany (3–0 loss).[23]

Nafti was selected for the squad that competed in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, appearing in all three matches as Tunisia exited in the group stage.[24][25][26]

Coaching career

On 10 June 2016, Nafti was given his first managerial job, at Segunda División B club Marbella FC, despite reportedly not possessing the licence required to manage at that level.[27] After a series of poor results, he was fired on 7 March 2017.[28]

Nafti was hired by another Segunda B club, Mérida AD, on 27 June 2017;[29] he lasted until 20 December.[30] The following 12 March, after the resignation of his successor, Loren, he returned to the Estadio Romano as manager,[31] but left at the end of the season after failing to prevent their relegation.[32]

In October 2018, Nafti took over as manager of CD Badajoz, also of the third division, until the end of the season.[33] In the 2019–20 season, his team eliminated UD Las Palmas (second tier) and SD Eibar (top flight) from the Copa del Rey before an extra-time loss to Granada CF in the last 16.[34] He was dismissed on 4 February 2020 with the team fourth in the league.[34]

On 9 October 2020, Nafti was announced as manager of Étoile Sportive du Sahel in his home nation,[35] but returned to Spain five days later, after being appointed in charge of second division side CD Lugo.[36]

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Toulouse 1998–99[37] Ligue 11100000—110
1999–2000[37][1] Ligue 21312010—161
2000–01[37] Ligue 1100000—110
Total 2512010—281
Racing B 2000–01[38] Segunda División B210———210
Racing Santander 2000–01[39] La Liga3010——40
2001–02[40] Segunda División30000——300
2002–03[41] La Liga31210——322
2003–04[42] La Liga30110—00311
2004–05[43] La Liga16021——181
Total 110341—001144
Birmingham City (loan) 2004–05[44] Premier League100———100
Birmingham City 2005–06[44] Premier League100000—10
2006–07[45] Championship3201010—340
2007–08[46] Premier League2600010—270
2008–09[47] Championship1100011—121
Total 8001031—841
Aris 2009–10[48][49] Superleague Greece 22460—2[lower-alpha 1]0304
2010–11[48][49] Superleague Greece 10010—4[lower-alpha 2]0150
Total 32470—60454
Real Valladolid 2010–11[50] Segunda División181——2[lower-alpha 3]0201
2011–12[51] Segunda División33010—4[lower-alpha 3]0380
Total 51110—60581
Real Murcia 2012–13[52] Segunda División30000——300
Cádiz 2013–14[53] Segunda División B150——00150
Career total 36491514112049511
  1. Appearance(s) in Superleague Greece Champions League play-offs
  2. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  3. Appearances in Segunda División play-offs

Managerial statistics
As of match played 1 February 2021
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Marbella 10 June 2016[27] 7 March 2017[28] 28 14 7 7 39 33 +6 050.00 [54]
Mérida 27 June 2017[29] 20 December 2017[30] 20 6 7 7 19 21 −2 030.00 [55]
Mérida 12 March 2018[31] 28 May 2018[32] 11 3 5 3 9 9 +0 027.27 [55]
Badajoz 30 October 2018[33] 3 February 2020 57 30 14 13 77 46 +31 052.63 [56]
Étoile du Sahel 8 October 2020 14 October 2020 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !—
Lugo 14 October 2020 Present 20 8 7 5 23 17 +6 040.00 [57]
Total 136 61 40 35 167 126 +41 044.85 —

Honours

Tunisia

References
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  2. Llamas, Fernando (16 March 2003). "La Real salta el obstáculo del Racing" [Real jump the Racing hurdle]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  3. "El Albacete sale del descenso con una goleada (4–0) al Racing" [Albacete get out of the relegation zone with a rout (4–0) of Racing]. ABC (in Spanish). 8 December 2003. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  4. Soto, Víctor (10 January 2005). "Mucha bronca, poco fútbol" [Plenty of aggro, not much football]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  5. "Birmingham recruit Nafti on loan". BBC Sport. 31 January 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  6. "Man Utd 2–0 Birmingham". BBC Sport. 5 February 2005. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  7. Clarkson, Ian (20 February 2005). "Football: I'm called nasty for a reason". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  8. "Birmingham complete Nafti signing". BBC Sport. 30 June 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
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  10. "Nafti continues comeback trail". BBC Sport. 11 April 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  11. "Bolton 1–0 Birmingham". BBC Sport. 7 May 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
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  13. "Squad rebuilding begins". Birmingham City F.C. 8 May 2009. Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
  14. "Mehdi Nafti signed Aris FC". Aris F.C. 10 June 2009. Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
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