Tahar El Khalej (Arabic: طهر الخالج‎) (born 16 June 1968 in Marrakech) is a retired Moroccan football player.

He played for several clubs, including UD Leiria (Portugal), SL Benfica (Portugal), Southampton F.C. (England) and Charlton Athletic in England.

He joined Southampton for £350,000 in March 2000 as Glenn Hoddle's first signing for his new club, although the deal had already been arranged by Dave Jones. He scored on his debut in a 7–2 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on 11 March 2000. He faced stiff competition as a central defender from Claus Lundekvam and Dean Richards, and was later employed in a midfield role. For a big man he showed some neat touches and skill on the ball. In all he made 65 appearances for the Saints, scoring 4 goals.

One of his more notable moments was a reckless lunge on Kieron Dyer, where he earned a straight red card. Dyer was injured for months afterwards and threatened Tahar with legal action if Dyer had missed the 2002 World Cup

In January 2003 he moved to Charlton Athletic, before returning to Morocco at the end of the 2002–03 season.

He played for the Morocco national football team and was a participant at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.^[1]

El Khalej was the president of Kawkab Marrakech in 2005/2006 when they played in the Moroccan 2nd division, achieving promotion to the Moroccan first division before he left the club.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tahar El Khalej at National-Football-Teams.com
• Tahar El Khalej career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Morocco squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Azmi • 2 Abdellah • 3 El Hadrioui • 4 El Khalej • 5 Triki • 6 Naybet • 7 Hadji • 8 Azzouzi • 9 Chaouch • 10 El Haddaoui • 11 Daoudi • 12 Dghay • 13 Bahja • 14 Masbahi • 15 Hababi • 16 Nader • 17 El Ghrissi • 18 Neqrouz • 19 Bouyboud • 20 Kachloul • 21 Samadi • 22 Alaoui • Coach: Blinda

v • d • e Morocco squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 El Brazi • 2 Saber • 3 El Hadrioui • 4 Rossi • 5 Triki • 6 Naybet • 7 Hadji • 8 Chiba • 9 Hadda • 10 Ouakili • 11 El Khattabi • 12 Benzekri • 13 Neqrouz • 14 Bassir • 15 Abrami • 16 Azzouzi • 17 Amzine • 18 Chippo • 19 Sellami • 20 El Khalej • 21 Rokki • 22 Chadili • Coach: Michel

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