Global InformationHistory of the Tunisia national football team information
The Tunisia national football team is the national team that represents Tunisia in men's international football, since it played its first match on 2 June 1957 against Libya, which ended with Tunisia winning 4–2. It is a member team of the FIFA internationally and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on the continent. It is supervised by the Tunisian Football Federation, which was established on 29 March 1957, after Tunisia's independence. Jalel Kadri has been coaching the team since 30 January 2022,[1] accompanied by his assistants Ali Boumnijel and Selim Benachour.[2] The Tunisian national team is nicknamed the Eagles of Carthage,[3] The team's colors are red and white, similar to the colors of the Tunisian flag, and its symbol is the Bald eagle. There have been periods of regular Tunisian representation at the highest international level: from 1962 to 1978, from 1994 to 2008 and again from 2014 onwards. Most of its matches have been played since 2001 at the Stade Hammadi Agrebi which is located in the city of Radès, in the southern suburbs of the capital, Tunis. It has a capacity of 60,000 spectators.
The Tunisian national team participated in three major football competitions every four years, appeared in the final stages of five FIFA World Cups and twenty participations in the Africa Cup of Nations, and participated in four editions of the Olympic football tournaments. Nevertheless, Tunisia created history in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, when it became the first African and Arab team to win a World Cup match by defeating Mexico 3–1 in Tunisia's first match in the competition,[4] and a negative tie with defending champions West Germany,[5] before being eliminated from the group stage, which led finally to an addition of a second team from Africa in the world Cup. After that, the team has qualified for three consecutive tournaments, in 1998 in France, 2002 in South Korea and Japan and 2006 in Germany, before returning to the 2018 edition in Russia. But despite this historical record, Tunisia has never succeeded in qualifying for the second round of the World Cup or the Summer Olympics. In terms of rivalry, the Tunisian national football team plays against North African teams such as Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria. In fact, the Tunisian national team played with them many matches, whether through friendly matches, World Cup qualifiers, Africa Cup of Nations, African Nations Championship and African Nations Cup qualifiers. Tunisia is one of the most successful national teams in African competitions, having won the Africa Cup of Nations at home in 2004,[6] after defeating Morocco in the final.[7] It also achieved the final in 1965 as hosts and 1996 in South Africa. And it achieved third place in the 1962 edition. The Tunisian team also won the African Nations Championship its first participation in the 2011 edition that was held in Sudan.[8]
The Tunisian national team is fully recognized by all international sports organizations. In 1960, Tunisia joined the FIFA and the CAF, and joined the UAFA in 1978 and the UNAF in 2005. The biggest loss for the Tunisian team was on 24 July 1960 against Hungary, with a score of 10–1, While the biggest victory was on 12 June 2015 against Djibouti with a score of 8–1.[9] Radhi Jaïdi, with 105 international matches, holds the record for the number of matches played by the Tunisian national team.[10] while Issam Jemâa, with 36 goals, is the top scorer in the history of the selection.[11] The highest rank achieved by the team in the FIFA World Rankings was 14th place in April and May 2018,[12] while the 65th lowest rank was in July 2010.[13] On 17 November 2020, after securing qualification for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the Tunisian team has become the most successful African team to qualify for consecutive times in the history of the competition with 15 consecutive participations as it did not miss the tournament since 1994, breaking the Egyptian team’s record of 14 consecutive participations.[14]
- ^ "Tunisia appoint Jalel Kadri as new coach after dismissing Mondher Kebaier". Sporty Africa. 31 January 2022. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ Media365 (11 February 2022). "Tunisie : Benachour et Boumnijel adjoints". Orange Actualités (in French). Retrieved 19 April 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. ""Carthage Eagles" home glory". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina™: Tunisia – Mexico". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina™: Germany FR – Tunisia". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "CAN 2004 : c'est parti". L'Obs (in French). 26 January 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "Tunisia win Cup of Nations". 14 February 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "Tunisian trio revel in CHAN glory". 23 June 2016. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "Tunisia 8–1 Djibouti – 12 June 2015 – Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Radhi Jaïdi (Player)". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Issam Jemâa (Player)". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ "FIFA World Rankings (17 May 2018)". www.fifa.com (in French). Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ "FIFA World Rankings (14 July 2010)". www.fifa.com (in French). Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ @CAF_Online. "Tunisia hasn't missed a single #TotalEnergiesAFCON since 1994!". Twitter. Retrieved 22 April 2022.