Sakina Karchaoui French Footballer Born in 1996

Sakina Karchaoui is a French professional footballer who plays as a defender, typically at left-back, and sometimes in midfield. She was born on 26 January 1996 in Salon-de-Provence. She has played for Montpellier, Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain, where she became captain in 2025, and she has represented France at youth level and with the senior national team since 2016.

Early life

Karchaoui was born in Salon-de-Provence, in the Provence region of southern France, and grew up in the nearby town of Miramas. Her parents are of Moroccan origin. She started playing football informally in her neighborhood, alongside boys. After two years with the local club US Miramas she moved to Montpellier, whose women's team she joined in 2012.

As a teenager she also entered the French youth national set-up. Her first listed appearances for a national side came in 2012 with the France under-17 team. She went on to play for the under-19 side from 2013 to 2015 and the under-20 side in 2016.

Club career

Karchaoui made her professional debut for Montpellier on 18 November 2012, in a 6-0 league win against Vendenheim. Her first full season with the first team, 2013-14, brought six league appearances and 475 minutes of play. The next year she appeared twelve times, nine of them as a starter, and in 2015-16 she started 19 of the 20 matches she played. She scored her first goal for the club on 1 November 2015 in a 4-0 win over Rodez. Montpellier lost the final of the Coupe de France Feminine in both 2014-15 and 2015-16. She stayed with the club until 2020.

In June 2020 Lyon announced her signing for the 2020-21 season, and her stay in the Rhone city lasted one season. On 10 July 2021 she moved to Paris Saint-Germain on a three-year contract. She extended that agreement on 2 May 2024 to run until June 2028, and in September 2025 she was named club captain. With Paris Saint-Germain she has won the Coupe de France Feminine twice, in 2021-22 and 2023-24.

International career

Karchaoui earned her first cap for the senior France team in April 2016, and later that year she was selected for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She started the group match against New Zealand, which France won 3-0, and the quarter-final against Canada, which France lost 1-0. The same year she was part of the under-20 team that finished as runner-up at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

In March 2017 she was in the France side that beat the United States 3-0 to win the SheBelieves Cup for the first time. She went on to be called up for the UEFA Women's Euro in 2017 and again in 2022, and for the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019 and 2023. On 23 February 2024 she scored her first international goal in a 2-1 win over Germany, and in July of that year she was named in the squad for the Paris Olympics. France finished as runner-up in the 2023-24 UEFA Women's Nations League.

Recognition

Karchaoui was chosen for the IFFHS World Team in 2020 and for the team of the tournament at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. In France she was named the UNFP Premiere Ligue young player of the year for 2016-17, and she has appeared in the UNFP team of the year in 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2025-26. She was also part of the league's own team of the season in 2016-17 and 2017-18, and in every season from 2020-21 to 2025-26. The Premiere Ligue named her player of the month in December 2021, February 2025 and March 2026.

Personal life

Karchaoui has said that as a child she admired the footballers Robin van Persie, Hatem Ben Arfa and Samir Nasri. Her listed height is 160 centimeters.