• Toulouse FC will play the first final of the Coupe de France in its history, Saturday (21 hours) at the Stade de France, against the defending champions, FC Nantes.
  • A true revelation of TFC this season, attacking midfielder Farès Chaibi (20 years old) combined 3 goals and 2 assists in this competition, including the decisive goal in Annecy in the semi-finals (1-2).
  • 20 Minutes delves into the career of the young Algerian international, who only joined the Toulouse training center at almost 17 years old, after growing up in the neighborhood of a certain Karim Benzema, in Bron Terraillon.

Three weeks later, does Farès Chaibi still haunt Arnold Temanfo's nights? By anticipating with flair and malice the risky back pass of the Annecy defender, then by poking his ball in front of Thomas Callens, the Franco-Algerian attacking midfielder sent Toulouse FC to the Stade de France for the first time in its history. This decisive goal, five minutes from the end of a semi-final of the Coupe de France tense in Haute-Savoie (1-2), symbolizes the brilliant first professional season of Farès Chaibi (20 years old), author of 5 goals and 5 assists in 30 appearances in Ligue 1. He is above all the big man of the unexpected adventure in the Coupe de France, with 3 goals and 2 offerings cumulated in the competition, before challenging FC Nantes on Saturday (21 hours).


Stats significantly higher than those he posted last season... with the TFC reserve team in Nationale 3 (1 goal and 3 assists in 17 games), without playing a single minute with the professional group in Ligue 2. This shows how much the pitchoun came out of nowhere or almost last summer. Pitchoun, pitchoun, well not really because he joined the TFC training center at almost 17 years old. And this after growing up in Bron Terraillon (Rhône), where football is omnipresent, a few steps from Karim Benzema's family. "The big brother", as Farès Chaibi considered him this month in L'Equipe. And an inspiring icon for an entire sensitive neighborhood, like the huge fresco dedicated to him in November, after his Ballon d'Or.

"You'll see if next year I'm still here"

After first steps at Sporting Club Bron-Terraillon (from 5 to 8 years old), as the star of Real Madrid, the youngest of the Chaibi siblings moved to AS Bron, before joining FC Lyon in the U15 elite years thanks to a detection. Then defender of FC Lyon in this category, Kenny Oun came to attend to discover possible future teammates. "Farès may have scored three goals that day, but it was not the guy who was directly catching the eye," says the current Lyon La Duchère player (National 2). He had a good leg, he kept the ball well and he always put his hand on his opponent to control it, but he did not stand out yet in our U15 and U16 team. It is in U17 national that he rose in power, shining while still working a lot for the collective. »


The kind of unexpected season that changes a destiny. An amateur structure, with almost the entire squad that was not in sport-studies (including Farès Chaibi), the club from the 8th arrondissement of Lyon managed the feat of winning its pool in which there are six training centers, including OL and ASSE. Kenny Oun remembers a discussion he had in the summer of 2018 with his promising teammate.

Farès has always been a confident guy and he told me: "You'll see if next year, I'm still here". And in the process, he scored the goal of our first victory against Saint-Etienne (1-0). »

The one that triggered the epic of FC Lyon, aka "the troublemakers of the training centers", and by rebound piqued the curiosity of recruiters from all over the France. The Girondins de Bordeaux do not regret having bet at the same time on the defender Junior Mwanga, one of the revelations this season in Ligue 2. However, the recovery with the new staff of FC Lyon had sometimes been tense for Farès Chaibi in 2018.

"Farès slept football and ate football"

"He's a strong character," said assistant coach Marcelo Collazos at the time. He felt a little untouchable during the preparation and he had been late in training. He had not been retained for a prep match in Nîmes and he had quickly corrected the shot behind. So "at the limit of the frame", as summed up by his former coach Jordan Gonzalez, he was then very often decisive, with 13 goals scored, including 7 from free kicks. The current coach of the N2 group of Lyon La Duchère retains in particular the strike of 25 meters in full skylight, of the one who was nicknamed "Juninho" at AS Bron, synonymous with success at the last minute against AJ Auxerre (2-1).


But also the "intelligence of the game, the big volume and the passion" of his former midfielder or playmaker. "Farès slept football and ate football, he played football all the time with his friends in Bron, often with older players," said the 32-year-old French-Spanish coach. His many five-game games at the Golden Goal pitch in his Terraillon district cost him that season, through injury, the return match against Rayan Cherki's OL.

"I felt it was already programmed for the top level"

A rare adventure in an almost perfect season, both individually and collectively. "His mentality was different from that of most of our players, in the sense that he never took a joking practice," insists Marcelo Collazos. He always wanted to win every exercise. Where some might have thought their luck behind them, still being at 16 years old "off the radar" of OL's youth selections and recruiters, Farès Chaibi still imagines a professional future. Jordan Gonzalez returns to the problem that was then that of the Algerian neo-international, who last month had his first two selections with the group of Djamel Belmadi.

For a long time, he escaped the eyes of scouts, unlike other players on the team. Many people had reservations about him by putting a label of slow fake. They didn't imagine him going any higher. But in his head, I felt he was already programmed for the top level. That's why I saw him pass the mental cap in Toulouse. He has really matured, you can see how elegant he is, able to find hidden passes. »


Do you hear the "Farès, Farès" by @ZAboukhlal? 😏🐍

A goal synonymous with victory and which brings our Violets a little closer to their goal! pic.twitter.com/ZVG8lj89gC

— Toulouse FC (@ToulouseFC) April 24, 2023

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Like the latest for Zakaria Aboukhlal, last Sunday in Lorient (0-1), sublime and achieved only four minutes after entering the game. Kenny Oun had no real doubts either, when he saw his friend join the Haute-Garonne: "Farès loves football too much, so if you put him in a footballer's living environment, he can only enjoy. This opportunity in Toulouse came at the right time for him."

The example of his big brother Ilyes can help him

And this at a time when his older brother Ilyes, 26-year-old striker of Servette Geneva (Switzerland) was in the trough of the wave, in Thonon Evian, after four years at the training center of AS Monaco (alongside Kylian Mbappé), and two appearances with the pros. "I think his brother's journey helped Farès," says Marcelo Collazos. As it was the second time, his family probably knew better how to manage everything involved in signing at a training center. We felt that there was a very good accompaniment around Farès. His father was very present but he did not put pressure on him. »


In an interview last year for the Actufoot website, Ilyes Chaibi acknowledged "a lack of maturity" on his Monegasque period. "I was young, without any responsibility, I lived alone and I did a little bit of it at my head," he said. Words that must have sounded like warnings to the young brother landing at TFC. As a twist of fate, Jordan Gonzalez, Marcelo Collazos and Kenny Oun found and faced Farès Chaibi in Lyon on February 2, 2020, on the occasion of the 3rd round of the Gambardella Cup between La Duchère and TFC (0-3).

"What he was doing in U17, he still does, but in L1"

"He was very good that day, it showed that he had a promising future in this club," said Marcelo Collazos. U19 national, N3 and now Ligue 1, the great hope quickly crossed the levels in the Pink City, where he signed his first professional contract in February 2022. "On TV, I see almost the same player I knew," smiles Kenny Oun. His big strike against Montpellier (4-2 in October), he put two in exactly the same way in U17 with FC Lyon. Everything he did in the U17 nationals, he still does now, but in Ligue 1. »



And also in the Coupe de France, where we left him, megaphone in hand in Annecy, celebrating the sesame for the final in front of a parking lot of Toulouse supporters unleashed. "I don't know if it's the goal of a lifetime, but it's the most important goal of my young career," he said after his interception and crucial dive ball. Before another even more explosive flash on Saturday at the Stade de France?

  • Football
  • Sport
  • Toulouse Football Club (TFC)
  • FC Nantes
  • France Cup
  • Toulouse
  • Haute-Garonne
  • Occitania
  • Midi-Pyrénées
  • Lyon
  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
  • Rhône-Alpes
  • Bron