Houssine Kharja (; born 9 November 1982) is a Moroccan former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Born in France, he spent most of his career in Italy after starting out his senior career at Sporting CP, amassing Serie A totals of 117 games and 13 goals. He represented in the competition A.S. Roma, Internazionale and Fiorentina, amongst other clubs. At international level, he represented the Morocco national team earning 78 caps and scoring 13 goals between 2003 and 2015. Club career Youth Kharja began his career with Paris Saint-Germain's youth side and in 1998 he joined Gazélec Ajaccio. Portugal In 2000 he joined the Portuguese side Sporting CP. Italy After only one season for Sporting, he joined Ternana in 2001. He played four impressive Serie B seasons for the Rossoverdi, gaining a place in the Moroccan national team, and being loaned to Roma in 2005, with option to buy him in co-ownership deal for €3.6 million. Kharja played 12 matches and scored one goal during a 1–1 draw against Juventus. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Roma decided not to extend Kharja's loan, so the Moroccan player returned to Ternana, but he refused this transfer because in the meantime the Rossoverdi had been relegated to Serie C1. Ternana considered him as their own player, and Lega Calcio Serie C even suspended him until 26 April 2007. After appeals, FIGC's court decided that Kharja was a free agent, and so, on 20 March 2007 he signed a three-year contract with Serie B team Piacenza. In January 2008, he was loaned to Siena for the second half of the season, with this deal being turned a permanent one on 11 July. In June 2009, Genoa announced the club was reaching an agreement to sign the player and on 2 July the transfer from Siena was completed. Genoa got Kharja for €6.5 million, while Siena signed the remain 50% registration rights of Manuel Coppola for €1.5 million and the full rights of Gianluca Pegolo for €1 million. It was announced on 29 January 2011, that Kharja had joined Internazionale on a loan deal with the option of Inter signing him permanently. He scored his first goal for Internazionale during his second appearance for the club against Bari on 3 February 2011. At the end of his loan spell, Inter decided not to give the player a permanent deal, and