Réunion to MLS: Elias Achouri's winding road to San Diego FC | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

It’s a very, very long way from Réunion, the small, distant Indian Ocean island where Elias Achouri was born, to Vénissieux, the French town near Lyon where he grew up: more than 5,000 miles as the crow flies. And his new home in Southern California is twice as far from his birthplace, an unlikely journey spanning nearly half the Earth’s circumference.

By comparison, Matchday 27’s five-hour cross-country flight for a daunting Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire visit to reigning MLS Cup champions Inter Miami is light work for San Diego FC’s newest Designated Player (7 pm ET | Apple TV). Achouri has been going places his entire life, and not just because of France’s complicated colonial geography.

His polyglot language skills certainly reflect that.

“I speak also Portuguese, Spanish, French and English,” Achouri explained in a recent conversation with MLSsoccer.com. “I just learned English the last three years, I would say, in Denmark. When I arrived there, my English was really bad, and I would say I'm [now] quite OK with the language.

“I learn fast, because I've been in so many countries all around the world.”

"Difference maker"

A Frenchman with Tunisian and Algerian heritage, he crossed borders in search of his big break as a footballer, moving to Portugal as a teenager to join Vitória Guimarães when his fledgling career hit a cul-de-sac at his childhood club, AS Saint-Étienne. It’s been a steady climb ever since.

At Estoril, followed by a loan stint at Trofense, he turned enough heads to draw the attention of both the Tunisian and Portuguese national team staffs; the latter reportedly inquired about his interest in naturalizing, as did scouts from clubs abroad. That led to a transfer to Danish side Viborg FF, who in turn sold him on to heavyweights FC Copenhagen for a then-record fee after just one season.

There he racked up 12g/28a across three years, working mainly as an inverted left winger with a varied toolkit of dribbling, incisive distribution and a heavy shot. His role in the Lions’ run to a league/cup double last year did not escape San Diego’s notice, given their close affiliation with Danish Superliga outfit FC Nordsjælland under the Right To Dream network.

“He's a difference maker, and that's why we brought him to this team,” said SDFC sporting director and general manager Tyler Heaps when Achouri signed in July. “We believe he can do that in the immediate.”

New surroundings

Though he’d gotten a taste of Mexico while on 2026 FIFA World Cup duty with Tunisia, Achouri knew almost nothing about ‘America’s Finest City’ before inking a three-year contract with the second-year club – a calculated risk, perhaps, or a reflection of the strong pitch made by SDFC’s leadership.

His knowledge of MLS was limited, too, though it helped to see luminaries like Robert Lewandowski and Antoine Griezmann move to the league that same summer.

“It was a good step for me. I wanted something new, and I liked the project,” said the 27-year-old Achouri. “I like the fact that it's a new club who is very ambitious, and want to create their story.

“I'm very surprised with what I'm seeing, to be honest, in terms of the players and the quality of the games. So I'm really happy.”

After a dramatic falling-out last autumn with Mexican icon Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, the cornerstone of their 2025 expansion launch, SDFC had a hole to fill in their attack, and their struggles to match the stunning success of their inaugural season – where Chucky and star winger Anders Dreyer were a devastating one-two punch of creativity, energy and incision – have driven home that reality.

An extensive scouting process identified Achouri as the optimal successor to Lozano, and his appearances in all three of Tunisia’s World Cup matches helped seal the choice for Heaps and head coach Mikey Varas.

“Top guy, very intelligent. He's adapted very quickly, I think that he's shown his quality already, and the best is still to come,” said Varas. “Very willing pressing player, plays with a lot of intensity, he runs a lot for the team. Great running in the depth, 1v1, combination, and we haven't seen it at its full capacity, but he's a big goal threat as well.

“He's already made a huge, immediate impact in terms of our competitiveness in the second half of the season. But he's got three, four, five more levels that he's going to take us to with more training and more time, more chemistry together.”

Instant chemistry

Achouri was familiar with Los Niños’ Danish delegation, led by Dreyer and including holding midfielder Jeppe Tverskov, which helped him build rapport with those around him, particularly Dreyer.

The two linked up to create Achouri’s first two MLS goals, and Varas believes there’s more – much more – to come from that relationship, the nature of which is almost baked into the game model.

“For us, the winger-to-winger connection is so important,” Varas added. “Elias has been playing a little bit wider recently, so it's not been as efficient as I would want, because the distances between them are a little bit big at the moment.

“We're also asking Elias to find some moments to go inside, so when Anders is a little bit more on his side, there's still that connection. But yeah, they’re two top players, two top guys, and they have a good feeling for the game.”

Away from the pitch, as with so many other visitors to the balmy coastal city, San Diego has quickly charmed Achouri, even with his wife still back in Denmark wrapping up their affairs.

“I like the style of play, especially on the ball, a lot of good players who can keep the ball and a lot of passing,” he said. “The fact that we want to press high and we want to keep the ball and be dominant on the pitch with the ball, I really like that. Fantastic players, especially Anders.

“Outside of the football, the city is just amazing. The weather, it's beautiful. The sun is always there, so it makes life much easier. It's been amazing, a great mix between America and Mexico. So it's been a great experience for me so far.”

Playoff push

Fresh off a 5-0 home thrashing at the hands of the Philadelphia Union, SDFC carry a three-game losing skid and a tangible sense of urgency into this weekend’s trip to Miami.

With 30 points from their first 25 matches (8W-11L-6D), they’re precariously perched just above the playoff line in the Western Conference standings, a far cry from last year’s surprise first-place finish.

Achouri is key to their hopes of a fall turnaround.

“It’s a tremendous challenge,” said Varas of Sunday’s test. “They have top players, they have the best player in the history of the game.

But it’s one that we’re all really excited for, because there’s not a single person who has woken up in the last couple days very happy with where we’re at and what’s happening.”