This is Club World Cup participant Esperance Tunis
Esperance Tunis is the Tunisian league champion with 34 titles and will face Chelsea FC, among others, in Group D of the 2025 Club World Cup.
This is Esperance Tunis
Espérance Tunis: History
Espérance Tunis was founded in 1919 by two football fans, Mohamed Zaoui and Hédi Kallel, in a café in Bab Souika, a district in the old town of Tunis, and is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in Tunisia.
The two sports enthusiasts wanted to found a sports club as a symbol of the spirit of their city. Over the years, the club has earned itself a prominent position in Tunisian football.
Esperance quickly gained importance in its early years and dominated the national competition. The club also made a name for itself on the international stage in the 1990s, primarily by winning the CAF Champions League.
Since then, ES Tunis has been considered one of the best clubs in Africa. Its biggest (city) rival is Club Africain.
The club initially played in white and green, until 1920 when a player brought black jerseys with red and yellow stripes.
The club has been able to rely on a loyal fan base for years. Not only among its fans, but also throughout Tunisia, ES Tunis is a symbol of pride, tradition, and success.
The greatest successes
Espérance Tunis is considered the most successful club in Tunisia and has already won numerous titles.
Espérance has been Tunisian champion a total of 34 times, winning the title for the first time in 1942.
This makes Espérance Tunis the Tunisian record champion. The club also won the title in its domestic league last season. In addition, the club has won the cup 16 times and the Tunisian Super Cup seven times.
Tunis has also made a name for itself internationally. In 1994, the club won the CAF Champions League, Africa’s most important club football competition, for the first time.
Esperance has since won the competition five times, most recently in 2019.
Esperance squad: These are the top stars
The total value of the Esperance Tunis squad is currently around €20 million.
Sasse is certainly a player to watch. Brazilian right winger Yan Medeiros Sasse made a name for himself in the 2024/25 season with ten goals. The left-footed player currently has the highest market value in the squad at €1.8 million.
Unlike other clubs participating in the Club World Cup, there are no big stars in the Espérance Tunis squad.
ES Tunis currently has ten Tunisian internationals in its ranks, making it the strongest club in Tunisia at present. Five of the 35 players currently have a market value of over one million but less than two million euros.
One of the club’s best-known players is captain Yassine Meriah. The national team player, who has been sidelined recently due to a cruciate ligament injury, plays as a defender and is valued for his defensive strength and international experience.
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This is head coach Maher Kanzari
Former Bundesliga pro Laurentiu Reghecampf was well on his way to leading Esperance Tunis to the championship in his first season as coach in 2024/25. He originally signed a contract there until June 2026.
However, Reghecampf’s contract was terminated prematurely after only four months, effective March 17, 2025, as the club stated it wanted to bring in new impetus.
On the same day, Maher Kanzari was announced as the club’s new head coach – he is no stranger to Espérance Tunis fans. Kanzari himself played for Esperance Tunis as a midfielder during his active career and also played for the Tunisian national team.
Maher Kanzari led the club to the championship as head coach in the 2024/25 season. It remains to be seen whether the club will cause a surprise or two at the Club World Cup under Kanzari.
The stadium
Esperance Tunis plays its home games in Radés, a city 14 km south of Tunis, at the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 60,000.
The arena, which is also the Tunisian national stadium, was inaugurated in July 2001 with the Tunisian Cup final. Since then, Esperance has played its home games there, and six games of the 2004 African Cup of Nations, including the final, were also held in the arena.
The stadium was named after Hammadi Agrebi, a national soccer player who died on August 21, 2020. He came from the CS Sfax youth team and played professionally for the club for 16 years.
