Espérance Sportive de Tunis

The club was founded in Bab Souika, which is one of the historic neighborhoods of the capital Tunis, by Mohamed Zouaoui and Hédi Kallel as an act of resistance against French colonization. The club was named 'Espérance' after the coffeehouse where the founders used to meet each other often, Café de L'Espérance (Arabic: مقهى الترجي). They appealed to Louis Montassier, a member of the French administration, to obtain authorization from the colonial authorities, given the regulations of the time which required that all foundations and clubs must be chaired by a Frenchman. EST was officially registered on 15 January 1919.[3]

Their first colours were green and white. In 1920, the club recruited a young high school student, Chedly Zouiten, who provided a set of jersey with vertical red and yellow bands, which became the club's new colors.[4] Zouiten became a member of the club's management committee in 1923 before becoming president in 1931. On 29 June 1930, Habib Bourguiba was part of the club's management committee.

Under Zouiten's tenure, which lasts more than three decades, Espérance was nearly on the verge of abandonment until promotion to the honorary division of the League of Tunisia in 1936. Espérance also managed to reach the final of the Tunisian Cup, but were beaten by Stade Gaulois. Three years after its failure against the Stade Gaulois, Espérance won the Tunisian Cup (1939) against the Etoile Sportive du Sahel (3–1), its first ever triumph and title. It was in 1955 that Espérance qualified to represent the Tunisian League in the North African championship. In the knockout match, two of the five teams were drawn at random to compete against each other and the winner immediately qualifies for the semi-finals. Wydad of the Moroccan League and the Espérance Sportive de Tunis faced each other; the meeting took place in Tunis on 15 May 1955, the Tunisian club losing on the score of 2 goals to 1.

Between the start of the Second World War and independence (1956), the squad quality improved, especially since the club received the reinforcement of Algerian players like Abdelaziz Ben Tifour. The French, Italian and Maltese clubs which until then dominated football in Tunisia, had to compete with a "indigenous" club.

Mohamed Zouaoui, the co-founder of Espérance

When independence was proclaimed, Espérance stood out as one of the leading clubs in the country. The titles (champion in 1958 and 1960 and winner of the cup in 1957) but also the style of play, resolutely spectacular and turned towards the offensive, explain the popular enthusiasm. Attacking football was abandoned in 1963 following the passage of Ben Azzedine as coach. The latter opts for very rigorous Italian-style defensive principles.

In 1971, violent riots occurred in Stade El Menzah by Espérance supporters following the final lost against the Club Sportive Sfaxien (historic goal of Abdelwahed Trabelsi in the first minute of the game). The authorities then sanctioned Espérance and withdrew the right to play in the first division. The football section of the Espérance was dissolved while the team was one day away from being crowned as champions.

In 1977, Espérance's iconic playmaker Tarak Dhiab won the African Ballon d'Or, becoming the only Tunisian football player to have received the trophy to date.

Slim Chiboub, son-in-law of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, took charge of the club in 1989. Quickly, he kept one of his promises with a double in 1990–1991, which increased his popularity. In 1993, he won several international and local titles and signed the striker of the Zambian national team, Kenneth Malitoli. Espérance also won its first regional cup, the Arab Club Champions Cup, becoming the first Tunisian team to do so in 1993. The following year, the club won its first CAF Champions League at the expense of defending champion Zamalek. In 1995, EST won the CAF Super Cup as well as the Afro-Asian Cup, becoming the first Tunisian club to win all possible continental titles. Espérance Sportive de Tunis won ten Tunisian league titles, including seven successive titles between 1998 and 2004 and set a new national record.[5]

Espérance Sportive de Tunis was designated by IFFHS as the World Club of the Month for July 2004.

Espérance Sportive de Tunis, CAF Champions League Champions in 2011

Espérance Sportive de Tunis, CAF Champions League Champions in 2018

Between 2005 and 2007, Aziz Zouhir led the club, which won the double (championship and cup) in 2006. In 2007, Hamdi Meddeb took charge of the club. He focused on boosting Espérance financially and recruiting African and Tunisian talents. This is how, in a few years, Espérance signed many promising players like Michael Eneramo, Harrison Afful, Youssef Msakni, Mejdi Traoui and Yannick N'Djeng.

The 2010–2011 season was one of the most successful in the history of the club when Espérance completed a historical treble by winning the League, National Cup and the African Champions League, under coach Nabil Maâloul.[6] Following this success, a new committee chaired by Hamdi Meddeb was elected on 25 September 2011 for a three-year term. However, Maâloul resigned after a sixth place in the FIFA Club World Cup. However, the team lost the 2012 CAF Champions League final to Al Ahly, and the team star Youssef Msakni was sold to Qatari club Lekhwiya for 23 million Tunisian dinars.[7]

On 6 August 2017, the club won their fourth Arab title and third Arab club championship by beating the Jordanian side Al Faisaly (3–2) after extra time.[8] After winning its 28 league title on 8 April, Espérance won its third CAF Champions League against Al Ahly despite a defeat (3–1) on the home soil of the eight-time African champions in the first leg. In the second match, the Tunisians won with a score of 3–0, in front of a crowd of 60,000 people, with goals from Saad Bguir and Anice Badri. With the help of the young coach Moïne Chaâbani the club clinched the third Champions League in its history, a few months before its centenary on 15 January 2019.[9] The club ended the 2018–2019 season as African champions for the fourth time after winning the CAF Champions League against Wydad (1–1 away and 1–0 at home), due to Wydad refusing to play in protest of VAR decision.[10][11]

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During the first year of its establishment, Espérance played in white and green, their uniform green with the elegance of the shirt and hands and black veil. When Dr. Chedly Zouiten came in 1920 and joined the board of directors as a general clerk, he carried with him the uniform of the school team “Football Club of Tunisia,” which he supervised before dissolving and dividing his property between his managers. Chadli Zouiten’s share was the red and yellow sports uniforms, which were better than Esperance’s uniforms. He gifted them to Esperance, and since then red and yellow become their official colors.

Scene from a 2007 Tunis derby at the Radès Stadium

Officially, the club's fans and supporters are framed by the Espérance Sportive de Tunis, but many ultras groups have appeared alongside it that organize the club's income during major interviews. The oldest group of them is the Ultras L'Emkachkhines, which belong to the ultras movement but do not have any legal system as is the case for the European bands' lovers groups. We also find the Supras, which appeared in 2004, the Blood & Gold group appeared in 2005, Zapatista Esperanza in 2007 and Torcida in 2008, and in the same year the Matadors group appeared. In 2009 the Fedayn, Ayounos Algres and Strano Boys group appeared, and in 2010 the Los guerreros group, the Resista Armada group and others... All of these groups share the southern runways behind a guard the goal under the banner of Curva Sud. Among the acronics that some of these groups raise is A.C.A.B, which is also raised by other groups in Europe and even in Tunisia. The elderly Ultras made many incomes and carcasses and created more than 35 for them at the local level only, without counting the years of repression from 2009 to 2011 when Ultras in Tunisia were prevented from entering.

Ultras L'Emkachkhines, and its symbol (ULE02), is an ultras group established in 2002 by a group of fans of Espérance Sportive de Tunis. Ultras was established in the summer of 2002, specifically on 16/08/2002, and it was the result of the idea of a group of Esperance fans who love the team and were influenced by the activity of long-standing ultras groups in Europe, such as Ultras Romani and Fossa Dei Leoni.

After many consultations and discussions via the Internet, they decided to organize Their first meeting was at the Opera Café in the Cité Ennasr in the Tunisian capital, where it was agreed to establish the group under the name Ultras Giallorosso, but soon the name was changed through a proposal by one of the members to replace the word Galloroso with L'Emkachkhines for the symbolism of this word among the supporters of Esperance and to impart a spirit of belonging and identity More for the group, and the image of the warrior leader Geranimo was chosen as the group's emblem as a symbol of resistance and struggle... Ultras L'Emkachkhines had the first match and the initiation of creativity in the Esperance match against the Egyptian Zamalek in 2002.

Zapatista Esperanza, the ultras group that supports Espérance Sportive de Tunis, was founded in 2007 and its symbol is (ZE07) and with its word (siamo solo noi).

The name comes from the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) is an armed revolutionary group from the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. The movement consists mainly of the indigenous people of the region. The movement takes the name Emiliano Zapata - one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

The tragedy of 13 June 1971, when the red and yellow lost the Tunisian Cup final against CS Sfaxien at Stade El Menzah, and from it a spark of a conflict with the security erupted behind several human and material losses to order the Minister of Interior and Sports at that time to dissolve the team until President Habib Bourguiba returned to bring him back to the sports arena.

Espérance lived several stations that its sons considered as a struggle, such as the events of 8 April 2010 against the security, which witnessed several wounded and arrested as a result of unprecedented clashes with the security in a famous match in which the lights of El Menzah stadium went out in a match between Espérance and CS Hammam-Lif that ended in a 3–3 draw.

Stade Olympique Hamadi Agrebi, opened as Stade 7 November, is a multi-purpose stadium in Radès, Tunis, Tunisia about 10 kilometers south-east of downtown Tunis, in the center of the Olympic City. It is currently used mostly for football matches and it also has facilities for athletics. The stadium has a capacity of up to 60,000 spectators and was built in 2001 for the 2001 Mediterranean Games. The stadium and is considered to be one of the best stadiums in Africa.

The exterior of Radès stadium

It was inaugurated in July 2001 for the final of the Tunisian Cup between CS Hammam-Lif and Étoile du Sahel (1–0).

Stade El Menzah is a multi-purpose stadium, located in the north of Tunis, Tunisia.

El Menzah Stadium

It is built to host the 1967 Mediterranean Games at the same time as the Olympic swimming pool and gymnasium. Since then, it is an integral part of Tunisia's main sports complex. Tunisia's three major football teams, Espérance de Tunis, Club Africain and Stade Tunisien played their games there.

The stadium was completely renovated for the 1994 African Cup of Nations. It has a capacity of 45,000 seats.[13] The VIP section consists of a grandstand and 2 salons that can accommodate 300 people in a "cocktail" configuration. The stadium hosted the matches of Tunisia national football team until the inauguration of the Stade 7 November in the south of Tunis in 2001.

• African Inter-Club Team of the Year: 2011
• FIFA Fair Play Award: 2019

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  TUN Amenallah Memmiche 2 DF  TUN Mohamed Ben Ali 3 DF  TUN Amenallah Majhed 4 MF  TUN Mohamed Wael Derbali 5 DF  TUN Yassine Meriah 6 MF  NIG Youssouf Oumarou 7 FW  JOR Sharara 8 MF  TUN Houssem Teka 9 FW  BRA Rodrigo Rodrigues 10 MF  BRA Yan Sasse 11 FW  TUN Oussama Bouguerra 12 GK  TUN Moez Ben Cherifia (captain) 13 DF  TUN Raed Bouchniba 15 DF  ALG Mohamed Amine Tougai 16 GK  TUN Hamza Ghanmi 17 FW  TUN Zied Berrima 18 FW  ALG Houssam Ghacha

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF  TUN Mootez Zaddem 20 DF  TUN Mohamed Amine Ben Hamida 21 FW  TUN Aziz Abid 22 DF  TUN Hani Amamou 23 MF  TUN Ghaith Ouahabi 24 FW  TUN Bilel Sahli 25 MF  TUN Ghailene Chaalali 26 GK  TUN Mohamed Sedki Debchi 27 FW  GAM Kebba Sowe (on loan from Avenir de Soliman) 28 MF  TUN Aziz Fellah 29 FW  TUN Mohamed Ali Ben Hammouda 30 DF  TUN Oussama Shili 31 MF  TUN Zakaria Ayeb 32 MF  TUN Montassar Triki 33 FW  TUN Farouk Mimouni 35 DF  TUN Zinedine Sassi 36 MF  NGA Onuche Ogbelu

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  CIV Cedrik Gbo (at Minnesota United until 31 December 2023) — DF  TUN Ghassen Mahersi (at Union de Tataouine until 30 June 2024) — MF  TUN Wael Chaieb (at Union de Tatouine until 30 June 2024) — GK  TUN Wassim Karoui (at Avenir de Soliman until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  TUN Rayen Hamrouni (at Avenir de Soliman until 30 June 2024) — FW  TUN Achref Jebri (at Espérance de Zarzis until 30 June 2024) — MF  TUN Khalil Guenichi (at Avenir de Soliman until 30 June 2025)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  TUN Bilel Chabbar — DF  TUN Zied Machmoum

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ALG Riad Benayad