Tunisia national football team

Tunisia

Nickname(s)	The Eagles of Carthage
Association	Fédération Tunisienne de Football
Sub-confederation	UNAF (North Africa)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Sami Trabelsi
Captain	Aymen Mathlouthi
Most caps	Sadok Sassi (110)
Top scorer	Issam Jemâa (27)
Home stadium	Stade 14 January
FIFA code	TUN
FIFA ranking	59
Highest FIFA ranking	19 (February 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	65 (July 2010)
Elo ranking	62
Highest Elo ranking	24 (June 1978)
Lowest Elo ranking	103 (July 1988)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Tunisia 1–2 Algeria (Tunisia; 25 June 1957)
Biggest win
Tunisia 7–0 Togo (Tunis, Tunisia; 7 January 2000) Tunisia 7–0 Malawi (Tunis, Tunisia; 26 March 2005)
Biggest defeat
Hungary 10–1 Tunisia (Hungary; 24 July 1960)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1978)
Best result	Round 1, 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	14 (First in 1962)
Best result	Winners, 2004
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2005)
Best result	Round 1, 2005

The Tunisia national football team (Arabic: منتخب تونس لكرة القدم‎), nicknamed Les Aigles de Carthage (The Eagles of Carthage), is the national team of Tunisia and is controlled by the Fédération Tunisienne de Football. They have qualified for four FIFA World Cups, the first one in 1978, but have yet to make it out of the first round. Nevertheless, they created history in that 1978 tournament in Argentina by becoming the first African side to win a World Cup match, beating Mexico 3–1. They also held defending champions West Germany to a goalless draw before bowing out. They have since qualified for the three tournaments in succession, in 1998, 2002 and 2006: they were the only African team to appear at both the 2002 and 2006 tournaments.

Tunisia also won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2004, when they hosted the tournament.

1978 World Cup

Tunisia's first World Cup was the 1978 competition held in Argentina. They became the first African team to win a World Cup game, defeating Mexico 3–1 in Rosario. A 1–0 defeat to 1974 semi-finalists Poland followed, but although The Eagles Of Carthage then held reigning champions West Germany to a 0–0 draw, they failed to reach the next stage. Tunisia failed to qualify for the World Cup again until twenty years later.

1998 World Cup

Adel Sellimi's team were beaten 2–0 by England and 1–0 by Colombia to eliminate them at the group stage. Their only point was in a 1–1 draw with Romania.

2002 World Cup

Tunisia reached their second successive World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. They started with a 2–0 loss against Russia, but a Raouf Bouzaiene free kick gave them a 1–1 draw against Belgium. Their final game resulted in a 2–0 defeat to co-hosts Japan, meaning they were knocked out in the group stages.

2004 Africa Cup of Nations

Tunisia's first major honour was the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations, which they hosted. The tournament started with a 2–1 win over Rwanda in Rades. That was followed by a 3–0 win against DR Congo and a 1–1 draw with Guinea. The quarter-finals saw them beat Senegal 1–0, and the semi-final against favourites Nigeria went to penalties after both Jay-Jay Okocha and Tunisia captain Khaled Badra scored from the spot during normal time. Ali Boumnijel saved Peter Odemwingie's strike, and Karim Haggui scored the winning spot kick to send the host nation through to their third Nations Cup final. The final was against local rivals Morocco, and Brazilian-born striker Francileudo Santos put The Eagles Of Carthage 1–0 ahead on 4 minutes, Morocco equalised just before half-time, but Ziad Jaziri made the score 2–1 on 51 minutes to win the tournament for Tunisia.

2006 World Cup

Tunisia drew their opening game against Saudi Arabia 2–2, but lost their second match to Spain 3–1 and lost their last group match to Ukraine with a 1–0 defeat ending their 2006 World Cup.

2010 World Cup Qualifications

Tunisia lead Group B in the third round of qualifications, gaining two draws against Nigeria and two wins over Kenya, but lost their final game in the group 1–0 to Mozambique, while Nigeria beat Kenya 3–2 to top the group by a single point.

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did Not Enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962	Did Not Qualify
1966	Withdrew
1970	Did Not Qualify
1974
1978	Group Stage	9th	3	1	1	1	3	2
1982	Did Not Qualify
1986
1990
1994
1998	Group Stage	26th	3	0	1	2	1	4
2002	Group Stage	29th	3	0	1	2	1	5
2006	Group Stage	24th	3	0	1	2	3	6
2010	Did Not Qualify
2014	To Be Determined
2018
2022
Total	Group Stage	4/19	12	1	4	7	8	17

FIFA World Cup History
Year	Round	Score	Result
1978	Round 1	Tunisia 3 – 1 Mexico	Win
	Round 1	Tunisia 0 – 1 Poland	Loss
	Round 1	Tunisia 0 – 0 Germany	Draw
1998	Round 1	Tunisia 0 – 2 England	Loss
	Round 1	Tunisia 0 – 1 Colombia	Loss
	Round 1	Tunisia 1 – 1 Romania	Draw
2002	Round 1	Tunisia 0 – 2 Russia	Loss
	Round 1	Tunisia 1 – 1 Belgium	Draw
	Round 1	Tunisia 0 – 2 Japan	Loss
2006	Round 1	Tunisia 2 – 2 Saudi Arabia	Draw
	Round 1	Tunisia 1 – 3 Spain	Loss
	Round 1	Tunisia 0 – 1 Ukraine	Loss

FIFA Confederations Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA	Squad
1992	Did Not Qualify
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005	Group Stage	6th	3	1	0	2	3	5	Squad
2009	Did Not Qualify
2013	To Be Determined
2017
2021
Total	Group Stage	1/8	3	1	0	2	3	5	-

Africa Cup of Nations record

Africa Cup of Nations
Titles: 1 Appearances: 14
Year	Position		Year	Position		Year	Position
1957	Did not enter		1976	Did not qualify		1994	Round 1
1959	Did not enter		1978	Fourth place		1996	Runners up
1962	Third place		1980	Withdrew		1998	Quarter-finals
1963	Round 1		1982	Round 1		2000	Fourth place
1965	Runners up		1984	Did not qualify		2002	Round 1
1968	Did not qualify		1986	Did not qualify		2004	Champions
1970	Did not enter		1988	Did not qualify		2006	Quarter-finals
1972	Did not qualify		1990	Did not qualify		2008	Quarter-finals
1974	Did not enter		1992	Did not qualify		2010	Round 1

African Nations Championship record

Year	Position
2009	Did not qualify
2011	Champions
2014	holders

Coaches

• Rachid Turki (1956–57)
• Hachemi Cherif (1957–60)
• Milan Kristic (1960–61)
• Frane Matošić (1961–63)
• André Gérard (1963–65)
• Mokhtar Ben Nacef (1965–68)
• Rado Radocijic (1968–69)
• Beogovic Sereta (1969)
• Rado Radocijic (1970)
• Hameur Hizem (1970–74)

• André Nagy (1974–75)
• Abdelmajid Chetali (1975–78)
• Hameur Hizem (1978–79)
• Ahmed Dhib (1979–80)
• Hameur Hizem (1980–81)
• Ryszard Kulesza (1981–83)
• Youssef Zouaoui (1984–86)
• Jean Vincent (1986–87)
• Taoufik Ben Othman (1987–88)
• Antoni Piechniczek (1988)

• Mokhtar Tlili (1988–89)
• Antoni Piechniczek (1989)
• Mrad Moujab (1989–93)
• Youssef Zouaoui (1993–94)
• Faouzi Benzarti (1994)
• Henryk Kasperczak (1994–98)
• Francesco Scoglio (1998–01)
• Eckhard Krautzun (2001)
• Henri Michel (2001–02)
• Ammar Souayah (2002)

• Youssef Zouaoui (2002)
• Roger Lemerre (2002–08)
• Humberto Coelho (2008–09)
• Faouzi Benzarti (2009–10)
• Sami Trabelsi (2010)
• Bertrand Marchand (2010)
• Faouzi Benzarti (2011)
• Ammar Souayah (2011)
• Sami Trabelsi (2011–)

Tunisia all time record against all nations

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
Algeria	37	11	12	14	32	38	−6
Angola	3	1	2	0	5	2	+3
Argentina	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Australia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Austria	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Belarus	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
Belgium	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Benin	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3
Botswana	4	2	0	2	7	4	+3
Burkina Faso	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1
Burundi	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2
Cameroon	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1
Congo	2	2	0	0	8	1	+7
Congo DR	4	3	1	0	14	2	+12
Côte d'Ivoire	5	2	2	1	6	5	+1
Denmark	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Egypt	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
France	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2
Gabon	2	1	1	0	5	3	+2
Germany	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Ghana	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2
Guinea	6	1	3	2	5	7	−2
Italy	1	1	0	0	0	4	−4
Japan	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3
Kenya	6	5	1	0	10	2	+8
South Korea	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Liberia	1	1	0	0	7	2	+5
Libya	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3
Madagascar	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3
Malawi	2	1	1	0	9	2	+7
Mali	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2
Mauritius	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2
Morocco	7	1	4	2	6	8	−2
Mozambique	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1
Namibia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Netherlands	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Nigeria	4	0	4	0	4	4	0
Norway	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Portugal	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Romania	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Russia	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Rwanda	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Saudi Arabia	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1
Senegal	4	2	2	0	4	2	+2
Serbia	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Seychelles	4	4	0	0	14	0	+14
Slovenia	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
South Africa	4	3	0	1	7	3	+4
Spain	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2
Sudan	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4
Sweden	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Switzerland	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Togo	1	0	0	1	1	0	+1
United Arab Emirates	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Ukraine	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Uruguay	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Zambia	4	2	1	1	6	3	+3
Total

Players

Current Squad

The following squad was selected to participate in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Caps and goals correct as of 27 January 2012.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Moez Ben Cherifia 24 June 1991 (1991-06-24) 0 0 Espérance 16 GK Aymen Mathlouthi 14 September 1984 (1984-09-14) 31 0 Étoile du Sahel 22 GK Rami Jridi 25 April 1985 (1985-04-25) 4 0 Stade Tunisien 2 DF Bilel Ifa 9 March 1990 (1990-03-09) 11 0 Club Africain 3 DF Karim Haggui 20 January 1984 (1984-01-20) 74 6 Hannover 96 5 DF Ammar Jemal 20 April 1987 (1987-04-20) 22 4 1. FC Köln 12 DF Khalil Chemmam 24 July 1987 (1987-07-24) 8 0 Espérance 20 DF Aymen Abdennour 6 August 1989 (1989-08-06) 13 1 Toulouse 21 DF Anis Boussaïdi 10 April 1981 (1981-04-10) 20 0 SC Tavriya Simferopol 4 MF Jamel Saihi 27 January 1987 (1987-01-27) 6 1 Montpellier 6 MF Hocine Ragued 11 February 1983 (1983-02-11) 33 0 Karabükspor 7 MF Youssef Msakni 28 October 1990 (1990-10-28) 10 2 Espérance 8 MF Khaled Korbi 16 December 1985 (1985-12-16) 23 2 Espérance 9 MF Yassine Chikhaoui 22 September 1986 (1986-09-22) 24 3 FC Zürich 10 MF Oussama Darragi 3 April 1987 (1987-04-03) 26 6 Espérance 13 MF Wissem Ben Yahia 9 September 1984 (1984-09-09) 21 2 Mersin İdmanyurdu 14 MF Mejdi Traoui 13 December 1983 (1983-12-13) 26 1 Espérance 15 MF Zouheir Dhaouadi 1 January 1988 (1988-01-01) 22 2 Club Africain 18 MF Adel Chedli 16 September 1976 (1976-09-16) 56 3 Étoile du Sahel 11 FW Sami Allagui 28 May 1986 (1986-05-28) 18 5 1. FSV Mainz 05 17 FW Issam Jemâa 28 January 1984 (1984-01-28) 58 27 Auxerre 19 FW Saber Khelifa 14 October 1986 (1986-10-14) 6 2 Evian 23 FW Amine Chermiti 26 December 1987 (1987-12-26) 30 6 FC Zürich

Recent call-ups

Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club Latest Call-up GK Farouk Ben Mustapha 1 July 1989 (1989-07-01) 0 0 CA Bizertin v. Catalonia, December 30, 2011 DF Walid Hicheri 5 March 1986 (1986-03-05) 5 1 Espérance AFCON 2012 pre-tournament squad DF Fatah Gharbi 12 March 1983 (1983-03-12) 4 0 CS Sfaxien v. Catalonia, December 30, 2011 DF Mohamed Ali Yacoubi 5 October 1990 (1990-10-05) 0 0 Club Africain v. Catalonia, December 30, 2011 MF Iheb Msakni 18 July 1987 (1987-07-18) 7 0 Stade Tunisien AFCON 2012 pre-tournament squad MF Hatten Baratli 9 January 1991 (1991-01-09) 0 0 CA Bizertin AFCON 2012 pre-tournament squad FW Lamjed Chehoudi 8 May 1986 (1986-05-08) 6 2 Étoile du Sahel v. Catalonia, December 30, 2011

Kit Providers

Name	Start	End
Puma	Unknown	Unknown
Burrda	November 2010	October 2014

External links

• Tunisian FA official site
• Tunisia World Cup Team Blog