Étoile du Sahel

Etoile du Sahel
Full name	Etoile Sportif du Sahel
Nickname(s)	Diables Rouges (Red Devils)
Founded	May 11, 1925
Ground	Stade Olympique de 97ab Sousse; Sousse, Tunisia; (Capacity: 25,000)
Chairman	Hafedh Hemayed
Manager	Faouzi Benzarti
League	CLP-1
2010/11	2nd
Home colours	Away colours

The Etoile Sportif du Sahel (ESS) (Arabic: النـجـم الرياضي الساحلي‎, often referred to as Etoile du Sahel, Arabic: النـجـم الساحلي‎) is a sports club from Sousse in the Sahel region of Tunisia, known primarily for its football team. The club also has sections for handball, volleyball, basketball, judo and wrestling. In English the name means Sport (or Athletic) Star of the Sahel.

Étoile is one of the two clubs in the world, together with Italy's Juventus F.C., to have won all international club competitions organized by their respective continental confederation and the only one in Africa to have won all CAF club competitions.^[1]

[edit] History

The club was founded during a public meeting at the French-Arabic school on Laroussi Zarrouk Street, in Sousse. Chedli Boujemla was elected as the first chairman of the multi-sport club. La Soussienne and La Musulmane ("The Muslim") were rejected as club names in favor of L'Étoile Sportive. Club members eventually settled on L'Étoile Sportive du Sahel to reflect the goal of representing a broader region than Sousse alone. The Protectorate administration officially recognized the club on July 17, 1925. In March 1926, Ali Larbi became chairman of the soccer section of the club, which entered the Fédération Tunisienne de Football.

L'Étoile became the Islamic club in Sousse. Tunisia also had the French Patriote de Sousse club, the Jewish Maccabi club, the Italian La Savoia club and the Maltese Red Star club: Though communitarian football had been banned officially since 1919 in Tunisia, in reality, it still existed.

Bouha, the official mascot of the club

ESS's first major honour was the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 title in 1950, but they had to wait 8 years to pick it up again. They won their first Tunisian President Cup in 1959, and completed a league and cup double in 1963 - becoming one of the first Tunisian teams to do so. But ESS struggled throughout the 1970s and 1980s, although they did manage to win back-to-back league titles in 1986 and 1987. In 1995 Etoile won their first continental trophy, winning the CAF Cup. 2 years later in 1997 they completed a league and African Cup Winners Cup double, and they continued to impress on the continental stage - they won the African Super Cup in 1998 and the CAF Cup (for the 2nd time) in 1999. But Sahel's problem was that they struggled domestically - a perfect example was when they won the league in 1987 and failed to win it again until 10 years later. It was exactly the same in 1997. They won the African Cup Winners Cup (for the 2nd time) in 2003, and made it to their 1st ever African Champions League final a year later, but lost to Nigerian outfit Enyimba on penalties. ESS lost in the final of the same competition the following season, being defeated by Egyptian giants Al-Ahly 3-0 over 2 legs. Although, they did have some success that year - winning the Tunisian League Cup for the first time in their history. In 2006 Etoile won the CAF Confederation Cup for the first time, but continued to struggle in the league. But the 2006-2007 season proved to be possibly the greatest season in the club's history - they won the CLP 1 title and the African Champions League title (for the first time). The final of the Champions League that year was a memorable one, as ESS played Al-Ahly in a repeat of the 2005 final. The first leg finished 0-0 in Sousse, and with ESS huge underdogs, they won 3-1 in Egypt to take the trophy. But despite this they missed out on the league again the following campaign (after losing on the last day of the season) and then in 2008-2009 they finished 3rd, which meant manager Gernot Rohr was sacked. Lofti Rhim then became manager but just till October 2009, Lotfi Rhim resignition held Dr Hamed Kammoun (Vice president at that time and currently president) to call the club son Khaled Ben Sassi who did a good performance till the winter of 2009. On December 22, Piet Hamberg became General manager and the first Dutch who take a such position in a Tunisian club. Hamberg could not finish the season and was fired after a defeat against historical rivals club africain 3-0. Coach assistant Mohamed Mkacher and the youth team trainer Naoufel Team were appointed for the rest of the season. A new exprerience with the former Morocco national coach Mohamed Fakher just started on June 2010 along with a huge recruitment campaign for the coming season.

Etoile Sahel's Press conference room logo

[edit] Honours & Achievements

Étoile Sportive du Sahel was the first African squad to have won all official club competition recognized by Confederation of African Football.^[2]

[edit] Performance in national & domestic competitions

Tunisian League: 9

1950, 1958, 1963, 1966, 1972, 1986, 1987, 1997, 2007

Tunisian President Cup: 7

1959, 1963, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1996

Finalist: 1939¹, 1946¹, 1950¹, 1954¹, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1967, 1991, 1994, 2001, 2008,2011

Tunisian League Cup: 1

2005

Tunisian Super Cup: 1

1973

[edit] Performance in CAF competitions

African Champions League 1

2007

Runner-up: 2004, 2005

CAF Confederation Cup: 1

2006

African Cup Winners' Cup: 2

1997, 2003

CAF Cup: 2

1995, 1999

Runner-up: 1996, 2001

African Super Cup: 2

1998, 2008

Runner-up: 2004, 2007

[edit] Performance in UAFA competitions

Arab Cup Winners Cup: 0

Finalist: 1995

[edit] Performance in other international competitions

FIFA Club World Cup: 0

2007 - Fourth Place

Maghreb Champions Cup: 1

1972

Maghreb Cup Winners Cup: 1

1975

¹titles won prior to independence

[edit] Individual Honours

[edit] Top scorers

Habib Mougou : (25 goals)
Habib Mougou : (28 goals)
Othman Jenayah : (15 goals)
Abdesselam Adhouma : (17 goals)
Abdesselam Adhouma : (16 goals)
Raouf Ben Aziza : (20 goals)
Raouf Ben Aziza : (22 goals)
Francileudo dos Santos Silva : (14 goals)

[edit] Golden Boot

[edit] Arab Golden Boot

Kais Ghodhbane : (1999)

[edit] Rivalries

Etoile's most fierce rivalry is with Esperance Sportive de Tunis, as the teams are 2 of Tunisia's finest. Similarly, they also have a rivalry with Club Africain and Club Sportif Sfaxien. In terms of location, ESS are quite an isolated club, so games against US Monastir and ES Hammam-Sousse (the latter are from a town just north of Sousse) are considered local derbies.

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad (2011-12)

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Aymen Mathlouthi
3	DF	Abdelrazzek Ghazi
4	DF	Radhouene Felhi
5	FW	Francileudo Santos
6	DF	Hatem Bejaoui
7	MF	King Osanga
8	FW	Justin Junior Mengolo
9	FW	Marouène Belghoul
11	MF	Mossaâb Sassi
12	MF	Hamed Namouchi
13	MF	Issam Jebali
14	MF	Adel Chedli
15	GK	Mohamed Bouderbala

No.	Position	Player
16	GK	Wael Bellakhal
17	FW	Lasaâd Jaziri
18	DF	Mohamed Ali Nafkha (on loan from FC Zürich)
19	MF	Aymen Belaid
20	GK	Nadim Thabet
21	FW	Amine Ltaïef
22	MF	Abdel Meïté
23	DF	Fahd Chagra
24	DF	Rami Bedoui
25	FW	Lamjed Chehoudi
26	FW	Fwayo Tembo
27	DF	Chamseddine Dhaouadi
28	MF	Nabil Taïder

[edit] Staff

Management

President: Hafed Hmayed
Vice presidents: Hachemi Maâlel (development strategies), Béchir Ben Ali (Communication, Marketing and external affairs), Ridha Ben Othmane (Law), Slah Ben Ahmed (Infrastructures), Moncef Kaboudi (Football-youth), Radhi Ben Ali (Basket-ball), Hassen Ben Ameur (Supporters)

Commissions presidents: Moneem Ben Ali (Volleyball), Kamel Gana (Handball), Mounir Belkhiria (Individual Sports), Raouf Ben Amor (Sportive), Khaled Belhaj Ali (Financial), Béchir Belhaj Yahia (Media), Dr. Jalel Dahmen (Health), Sadok Khalfallah (Organisation)

Permanenet departments: Hassine Bouslama (Human Resources), Mohamed Chiheb Ben Hamouda (Media), Mehdi Haoua (Marketing), Mohamed Ali Mhedhebi (Organisation and tickets), Hakim Brahem (Football), Hédi Khemiri (indoor Sports)