Änis Ben-Hatira (born 18 July 1988) is a Tunisian professional footballer who last played as an attacking midfielder for Espérance Tunis.
Career
Club
Born in Berlin, Ben-Hatira started his football career playing for local club Reinickendorfer Füchse before moving to TeBe Berlin, where he spent most of his youth. Following a spell at Hertha BSC, he was signed by Hamburger SV.
Ben-Hatira made his Bundesliga debut on 24 February 2007 against Eintracht Frankfurt, coming on as a substitute for Mehdi Mahdavikia. He made his first Bundesliga start against Wolfsburg on 1 April 2007. Hamburg extended his contract until 2012. He joined on 1 February 2009 MSV Duisburg on a loan until 30 June 2009 and was for another season loaned out to MSV Duisburg.
In July 2010, Ben-Hatira joined West Ham United on trial, making his debut on 28 July when he played for 64 minutes in a 2-0 win against MK Dons. However, he did not sign for West Ham and remained in Hamburg for the following season. On the final day of the 2011 summer transfer window, Ben-Hatira returned to Hertha BSC. He moved to Eintracht Frankfurt on 1 February 2016.
Ben-Hatira signed for SV Darmstadt 98 on 22 August 2016. He was released on 25 January 2017 by mutual agreement and due to alleged connections he has with Düsseldorf based organization Ansaar International, which has been described by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia's internal intelligence agency as being "tightly interwoven in the Salafist movement".
On 1 February 2017, Ben-Hatira joined Süper Lig side Gaziantepspor on a contract until June, with the option of a further year.
After dissolving his contract with Gaziantepspor in July 2017, he joined Tunisian club Espérance Tunis in September 2017.
International
After playing for several German international youth sides, Ben-Hatira was first called up for the Tunisian national football team on 21 February 2012. Eight days later, he made his debut for Tunisia in a friendly match against Peru.
He scored his first goal against Guinea in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification on 9 october 2016 in the 79th minute.