On the shores of the French tourist island of Corsica, a young Wahbi Khazri would run, build sandcastles and dream big.
The Montpellier star’s leadership, excellence and ambition were perhaps inspired by the island’s most famous son, Napoleon Bonaparte.
But Khazri’s triumphs and conquests would come on the football pitch.
From the age of four, he showed his athletic skills, a gifted child playing with his older brothers.
His talent, dribbling and formidable shots were, as a youth, honed on the turf of Ajaccio, where he spent eight formative years.
He quickly developed into a skilled and fast midfielder, with great endurance and an ability to make and find space in attack.
Khazri’s professional journey started with French side Bastia in 2009, and in 2014 he moved to Bordeaux for two seasons before a spell at then English Premier League club Sunderland.
A loan spell at Rennes was followed by four highly successful years at Saint-Etienne, where he scored an unforgettable goal against Metz.
Collecting the ball from the Saint-Etienne penalty area he spotted the opposition goalkeeper — Algeria’s Alexandre Oukidja — off his line and proceeded to score a sensational goal from inside his own half.
Throughout his career, the love for the country of his parents never left him. Having represented the French under-21 team in 2012, he opted to play for Tunisia a year later.
His debut came on Jan. 7, 2013, against Ethiopia, and he was called up by national team coach Sami Trabelsi for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
He has since gone on to become the team’s leader and talisman.
Qatar 2022 will be his second World Cup as captain of the Carthage Eagles after Russia 2018.
He heads into the tournament having scored 24 goals in 71 internationals, and in addition to his World Cup appearance four years ago, he has represented Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations five times, in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.
Tunisia may not have had a memorable start to the previous decade but improved with Khazri at the team’s forefront. This culminated in the 2018 World Cup where they landed in a tough group with Belgium and England, but managed a second-ever tournament win. In their 2-1 win over Panama, Khazri scored a 66th minute winner.
Tunisia enter the World Cup with a generation of players — many of whom play at home — hoping to reach the knockout stages for the first time ever.
It is a dream that the Tunisian Napoleon describes as “within the reach, where there is determination, comes big achievements.”
On paper, the Tunisian team appears to be the weakest in its group — with many observers also considering them the weakest among the Arab qualified teams — but Khazri and his teammates will be hoping to channel the spirit of the Golden Generation of 1978 and cause a major upset against reigning champions France, Denmark or Australia.
The tournament also promises to be a swansong for several of the squad’s older players, including Khazri, who explicitly indicated that the 2022 World Cup might see his last appearance in the Tunisia shirt.
The Carthage Eagles will kick off their World Cup campaign against Denmark on Nov. 22, before meeting Australia four days later and concluding their group matches against the world champions on Nov. 30.
And should they manage to negotiate these waters and reach the promised land of the round of 16, it will be the crowning moment of a remarkable international career for Khazri.
