Espérance Sportive de Tunis

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For other uses, see Esperance.

Espérance ST

Full name

Espérance Sportive de Tunis

Nickname(s)

Mkachkha (The Grinners)

Founded

January 25, 1919

Ground

Stade El Menzah
Tunis, Tunisia
(Capacity 45,000)

Chairman

Hamdi Meddeb

Manager

Cabralzinho

League

CLP-1

2006/07

3rd





Home colours





Away colours

Espérance's active sections
Football	Handball	Volleyball
Rugby	Swimming	Wrestling
Boxing	Judo

Espérance Sportive de Tunis (Arabic: الترجي الرياضي التونسي‎, also known as EST, taraji, or Espérance) is a sports club based in Tunis, Tunisia. It fields several sport teams in football, handball, volleyball, etc.

It is one of the four most popular and successful teams in Tunisia and was founded on January 25, 1919. The Stade Olympique d'El Menzah is the club's home stadium.

1 History
- 1.1 Crest
2 Honors & Achievements
3 Players
- 3.1 Current squad
4 Former personnel
- 4.1 Notable Former Players
- 4.2 Selected Former Coaches
5 External links

[edit] History

Mahamed Zaoui and Hédi Kallei founded the club in the café that gave the club its name: the Café de l'Espérance. The Espérance Sportive de Tunis was officially registered on January 25, 1919. The first colors of EST were white and green. In 1920, the club hired a young high-school pupil, Chadly Zouiten, who provided the club with a set of shirts with red and yellow vertical stripes. These became the new colors of EST. Zouiten became president of the club in 1923, keeping that position for the next four decades. Under his chairmanship, the EST was mostly neglected, until its promotion into the Division d'Honneur de Tunis (Honor Division of Tunis) in 1936. The EST then reached the finals of the Coupe de Tunisie (Tunisia Cup), but the club Stade Gaulois prevailed. Three years after its defeat by the Gaulois, the EST team won the 1939 cup after beating the Etoile sportive du Sahel, with a final score of 3 to 1.

Between the beginning of World War II and the independence of Tunisia (1956), the EST was home to a selection of skilled players; the Tunis club welcomed a number of Algerian players like Ben Tifour and Draoua. The EST, a "native Tunisian" football club was now a force the French, Italian and Maltese clubs that had dominated football in Tunisia until then had to take seriously.

After independence, the Esperance became the country's most successful club. The club became popular not only because of the titles it had won (the Champions of Tunisia in 1958 and 1960 and Tunisian Cup winners in 1957) but also because of the team's spectacular and aggressive playing style. In 1963, the team converted from its attack-oriented style after Abderrahmane Ben Azzedine became its coach. Azzedine introduced rigorous defensive principles inspired by Italian football.

Noureddine Ben Fraj had contributed great deal to Esperance, known for his powerful headers. Later Noura took his expertise to Saudi Arabia as a manager of Ohud Club. he later returned to take charge of the youth team.

In the 1970s the club has discovered several great local players, such as Tarak Dhiab, Temime Ben Abdallah later Lahzami, Abdelmajid Ben Mrad,Abdeljabbar Machouche, Abdelkader, Raouf El Meddeb, Kochbati, Torkhani, Mokhtar Gabsi, Ahmed Hammami, El Kamel, Ben Mahmoud, Zoubeir Boughnia famous for his powerful shots at a distance, Ridha Akacha, Adel Latrache, Lassad Dhiab and many more. All these players were picked up from neighbourhood competitions in various district of Tunis, to mention few, Bab Souika, Bab El Khadhra, Rue Essouahel Halfaouine the heart beat of Esperance. Not forget Bab Laasal, Bab Lakwas famous for their love of football.

In the 1990s, the Espérance won all possible titles on the continental level: the African Cup Winners' Cup, the CAF Cup, and the Champions' Cup (now the Champions League) and the African Super Cup, as well as many Arab and Afro-Asian cups.

Since the beginning of the new century, the club has not managed to win any African title, but it has often qualified for advanced rounds in the Champions League and, as of 2005, it has been Champion of Tunisia uninterruptedly for seven years, since 1997.

[edit] Crest

Esperance's 1^st Blood & Gold logo.	Esperance's 80's logo	Mid 80's to mid 90's logo	Logo adopted in 2000.
The "star" added on 2003.	Rearly used French logo.	_	the 2004 shirt logo with 2 stars

[edit] Honors & Achievements

[edit] Performance in national & domestic competitions

Tunisian League (21):

Champion: 1942¹, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006

Tunisian President Cup (12):

Winner: 1957, 1964, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2007

Runner-up of Tunisian President Cup: 1959, 1969, 1971, 1976, 2004, 2005

[edit] Performance in CAF competitions

African Cup of Champions Clubs (1):

Winner : 1994

Runner-up of CAF Champions League: 1999, 2000

African Cup Winners' Cup (1):

Winner :1998

Runner-up of CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 1987

CAF Super Cup (1):

Winner : 1995

Runner-up of CAF Super Cup : 1999

CAF Cup (1):

Winner : 1997

[edit] Performance in UAFA competitions

Arab Club Champions Cup (1):

Winner : 1993

Runner-up of Arab Club Champions Cup: 1986, 1995

[edit] Performance in other international competitions

Afro-Asian Club Championship (1):

Winner : 1995

¹titles won prior to independence

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Hamdi Kasraoui
3	DF	Boulbaba Saafi
4	DF	Hamza Zakkar
5	DF	Moïne Chaâbani
6	DF	Larbi Jabeur
7	FW	Ahmed Ben Yahia
8	MF	Naim Berbat
10	MF	Zied Bhairi
11	MF	Mourad Melki
12	FW	Chakib Lachkham
13	DF	Wissem El Bekri
15	MF	Ahmed Hammi

No.	Position	Player
16	GK	Mohamed Zouabi
17	DF	Sameh Derbali
19	FW	Walid Tayeb
20	FW	Hicham Aboucherouane
21	FW	Salama Kasdaoui
22	GK	Bilel Souissi
23	MF	Kamel Zaiem
24	FW	Amine Ltaïef
26	DF	Ramzy Ben Younès
28	MF	Aymen Mnafeg
29	MF	Saber Khalifa