Tunisia national football team

Tunisia
Nickname(s)	Les Aigles de Carthage; (The Eagles of Carthage)
Association	Fédération Tunisienne de Football
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Humberto Coelho
Captain	Radhi Jaidi
Most caps	Sadok Sassi "Attouga" (110)
Top scorer	Francileudo Santos (22)
Home stadium	Stade 7 November
FIFA code	TUN
FIFA ranking	46
Highest FIFA ranking	19 (February 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	56 (March 2008)
Elo ranking	49
Highest Elo ranking	24 (June 1978)
Lowest Elo ranking	103 (July 1988)
	Home colours
	Away colours
First international
	Tunisia 2 - 1 Algeria ; (Tunisia; 25 June 1957)
Biggest win
	Tunisia 7 - 0 Togo ; (Tunis, Tunisia; 7 January 2000); Tunisia 7 - 0 Malawi ; (Tunis, Tunisia; 26 March 2005)
Biggest defeat
	Hungary 10 - 1 Tunisia ; (Hungary; 24 July 1960)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1978)
Best result	Round 1, 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006
African Nations Cup
Appearances	13 (First in 1962)
Best result	First place, 2004
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2005)
Best result	1st round, 2005

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The Tunisia national football team (Arabic: منتخب تونس لكرة القدم‎), nicknamed Les Aigles de Carthage (The Eagles of Carthage), is the national team of Tunisia and is controlled by the Fédération Tunisienne de Football. They have qualified for four FIFA World Cups, the first one in 1978, but have yet to make it out of the first round. Nevertheless, they created history in that 1978 tournament in Argentina by becoming the first African side to win a World Cup match, beating Mexico 3-1. They also held defending champions West Germany to a goalless draw before bowing out. It took them 20 years to return to the finals but they have since qualified for the past three tournaments in succession, in 1998, 2002 and 2006. They were the only African team to appear at 2002 and 2006 - 2002 qualifiers Senegal, Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa were replaced by Ivory Coast, Angola, Ghana and Togo, who were all first-time qualifiers.

Tunisia also won the African Nations Cup in 2004, for the first time in their history, when they hosted the tournament.

[edit] World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1930	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1934	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1966	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Round 1	9	3	1	1	1	3	2
1982	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Round 1	27	3	0	1	2	1	4
2002	Round 1	29	3	0	1	2	1	5
2006	Round 1	24	3	0	1	2	3	6
Total	4/18		12	1	4	7	8	17

[edit] African Nations Cup record

1957 - Did not enter
1959 - Did not enter
1962 - Third place
1963 - Round 1
1965 - Second place
1968 - Did not qualify
1970 to 1974 - Did not enter
1976 - Did not qualify
1978 - Fourth place
1980 - Withdrew
1982 - Round 1
1984 to 1992 - Did not qualify
1994 - Round 1
1996 - Second place
1998 - Quarterfinals
2000 - Fourth place
2002 - Round 1
2004 - Champions
2006 - Quarterfinals
2008 - Quarterfinals

[edit] Famous and Retired Players

[edit] 2006 World Cup

At first many Tunisians criticized the coach for not putting in Selim Benachour who many considered the best player for the country who currently plays for Vitoria SC

Tunisia managed to draw their opening game against Saudi Arabia. They took the lead at half time thanks to Ziad Jaziri, but Tunisia didn't start well in the second half and Saudi Arabia equalized from Yasser Al-Qahtani. Substitute Sami Al-Jaber came on and scored with 4 minutes to go to put the Saudi's 2-1 up, but in added time Bolton defender Radhi Jaidi headed in an equalizer.

Tunisia lost their second match to Spain. Jaouhar Mnari put Tunisia in the lead with a goal in the eighth minute that kept them up until halftime. However, Spain came back in the second half scoring an equalizer that came from Raúl(72') and two additional goals from Fernando Torres(76', pen 90') that defeated Tunisia with a final score of 3-1.

Tunisia lost their last group match to Ukraine with a 1-0 defeat effectively ending their 2006 World Cup. Andriy Shevchenko(70') scored the only goal from a penalty kick.

[edit] Current Squad

Squad for the friendly match against Ghana on November 19, 2008.

Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
GK	Hamdi Kasraoui	18 January 1983	16	0	Espérance de Tunis
GK	Nadim Thabet		0	0	Jendouba Sport
DF	Yamen Ben Zekry	10 June 1979			SC Bastia f
DF	Yassin Mikari	9 January 1983	13	0	Grasshopper Zürich
DF	Anis Boussaidi	10 April 1981			Red Bull Salzburg
DF	Saïf Ghezal	30 June 1981			BSC Young Boys
DF	Abdelmonem Derbali		0	0	Club Africain
DF	Khaled Souissi				Club Africain
DF	Bilel Ifa				Club Africain
DF	Khaled Zairi		0	0	Stade Tunisien
MF	Chaouki Ben Saada	1 July 1984	28	5	OGC Nice
MF	Tijani Belaid	6 September 1987	13	3	Slavia Prague
MF	Wissem Ben Yahia	9 September 1984	7	0	Club Africain
MF	Mohamed Ali Nafkha	25 January 1986	5	0	Etoile du Sahel
MF	Oussama Darragi	24 July 1987	3	0	Espérance de Tunis
MF	Jamel Saihi		0	0	Montpellier
MF	Hocine Ragued	11 February 1983			RAEC Mons
MF	Mejdi Traoui	13 December 1983			Red Bull Salzburg
FW	Francileudo Dos Santos	20 March 1979	40	22	FC Sochaux
FW	Issam Jemâa	28 January 1984	31	12	RC Lens
FW	Sami Allagui	28 May 1986	1	0	SpVgg Greuther Fürth
FW	Ali Zitouni	11 January 1981			Antalyaspor

* Players from Etoile du Sahel and CS Sfaxien were exempted from the squad due to CAF Cup final.

[edit] Recent call-ups

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Aymen Mathlouthi	14 September 1984			Etoile du Sahel (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
1	GK	Jassem Khalloufi	2 September 1981	0	0	AS Marsa (WCQ v. Seychelles, 11 October)
16	GK	Arbi Mejri	3 February 1985			Espérance de Tunis (WCQ v. Burkina Faso, 6 September)
16	GK	Adel Nefzi	16 March 1974	0	0	Club Africain (WCQ v. Seychelles, 7 June)
3	DF	Karim Haggui	20 January 1984	46	5	Bayer Leverkusen (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
	DF	Alaeddine Yahia	26 September 1981	14	0	RC Lens (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
	DF	Radhouane Felhi	25 March 1984			Etoile du Sahel (WCQ v. Seychelles, 11 October)
4	DF	Ammar Jemal	20 April 1987	0	0	Etoile du Sahel (WCQ v. Seychelles, 11 October)
13	DF	Saber Ben Frej	3 July 1979			Le Mans (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
15	DF	Radhi Jaidi	30 August 1975	102	7	Birmingham City (WCQ v. Burkina Faso, 6 September)
5	DF	Khalil Chemmam	3 July 1987			Espérance de Tunis (WCQ v. Burkina Faso, 6 September)
4	DF	Karim Saidi	24 March 1983	15	2	Sivasspor (WCQ v. Burundi, 21 June)
14	DF	Fatah Gharbi	12 March 1983			CS Sfaxien (WCQ v. Burundi, 21 June)
	DF	Mehdi Meriah	5 June 1979			Etoile du Sahel (Friendly v. Ivory Coast, 26 March)
	DF	Souheïl Ben Radhia	26 August 1985	1	0	CS Sfaxien (Friendly v. Ivory Coast, 26 March)
	DF	Wisam El-Abdi	2 April 1979			Zamalek (African Nations Cup, January 2008)
	DF	Wissem El Bekri	16 June 1984			Espérance de Tunis (African Nations Cup, January 2008)
	MF	Anis Boujelbene	6 February 1978	20	2	Al-Ahly (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
	MF	Fahid Ben Khalfallah	9 October 1982	3	1	SM Caen (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
	MF	Majdi Mosrati		2	0	Etoile du Sahel (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
10	MF	Youssef Mouihbi	1 April 1985	3	0	Club Africain (WCQ v. Burkina Faso, 6 September)
12	MF	Jaouhar Mnari	8 November 1976	58	3	1. FC Nuremberg (WCQ v. Burkina Faso, 6 September)
	MF	Chadi Hammami	14 June 1986			CS Sfaxien (Friendly v. Angola, 20 August)
14	MF	Chaker Zouaghi	10 January 1985	11	1	Lokomotiv Moscow (WCQ v. Seychelles, 7 June)
	MF	Mehdi Nafti	28 November 1978	41	1	Birmingham City (Friendly v. Ivory Coast, 26 March)
	MF	Kamel Zaiem	25 May 1983	8	2	FK Partizan (Friendly v. Ivory Coast, 26 March)
	FW	Hichem Essifi	27 February 1987	4	2	US Monastir (Friendly v. France, 14 October)
9	FW	Mohamed Selliti	28 March 1981			Stade Tunisien (WCQ v. Burkina Faso, 6 September)
	FW	Mehdi Ben Dhifallah	6 May 1983			Etoile du Sahel (Friendly v. Angola, 20 August)
	FW	Mohamed Amine Chermiti	26 December 1987			Hertha Berlin (Friendly v. Angola, 20 August)
	FW	Yassine Chikhaoui	22 September 1986			FC Zürich (Friendly v. Ivory Coast, 26 March)