Espérance Sportive de Tunis

Espérance ST
Full name	Espérance Sportive de Tunis
Nickname(s)	Taraji / Mkachkha / Blood & Gold
Founded	January 15, 1919
Ground	Stade El Menzah; Tunis, Tunisia; (Capacity: 45,000)
Chairman	Hamdi Meddeb
Manager	Faouzi Benzarti
League	CLP-1
2008/09	1st
Home colours	Away colours

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For other uses, see Esperance.

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 15, 1919. The Stade Olympique d'El Menzah is the club's home stadium.

[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. 2007-2008 a new era has started with Mr Hamdi Meddeb as president and Mr Tarak Dhiab at the helm of the football pyramid monitoring the heart of the team, Esperance has triumphed over ESS by winning a record 13th President Cup with an excellent manager as Cabral we can only look forward to a bright future.

[edit] Honors & Achievements

[edit] Performance in national & domestic competitions

Tunisian League (22):

Champion: 1942¹, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009

Tunisian President Cup (13):

Winner: 1957, 1964, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008.

Finalist: 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 : 1996

[edit] Performance in UAFA competitions

Arab Club Champions Cup (2):

Winner : 1993, 2009

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

[edit] Performance in other international competitions

Afro-Asian Club Championship (1):

Winner : 1995

North African Cup Winners Cup (1):

Winner : 2009

¹titles won prior to independence

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Arbi Mejri
3	DF	Janvier Besala Bokungu
4	DF	Hamza Tlili
6	DF	Larbi Jabeur
7	FW	Khaled Ayari
8	MF	Zine el Abidine Souissi
10	MF	Oussama Darragi
11	FW	Henri Bienvenu
12	DF	Khalil Chemmam
13	DF	Wissem el Bekri
14	FW	Michael Eneramo
17	MF	Sameh Derbali
18	FW	Wajdi Bouazzi

No.	Position	Player
19	MF	Walid Tayeb
20	MF	Tarek Achour
21	MF	Skander Echikh
23	MF	Khaled Korbi
25	DF	Wissem Abdi
26	DF	Seifeddine Chammamri
27	DF	Zied Derbali
28	MF	Youssef Msakni
29	MF	Hamza Baghouli
32	GK	Wassim Naouara
33	DF	Mohamed Ben Mansour
--	FW	Oussou Konan Anicet