Étoile Sportive du Sahel

Étoile du Sahel

Full name	Étoile Sportive du Sahel النجم الرياضي الساحلي
Nickname(s)	L'Étoile (The Star) Hamra & Bidha (The Red & White) Nejma (The Star) Jawharat Sahel (Jewel Coast)
Short name	ESS
Founded	11 May 1925 (1925-05-11)
Ground	Stade Olympique de Sousse Sousse, Tunisia
Capacity	28,000
Chairman	Ridha Charfeddine
Coach	Georges Leekens
League	CLP-1
2016-17	CLP-1, 2nd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The Étoile Sportive du Sahel (ESS, Arabic: النـجـم الرياضي الساحلي‎; transliterated: Najm Riadhi Sahli), or Étoile du Sahel (Arabic: النـجـم الساحلي‎), is a sports club from Sousse in the Sahel region of Tunisia, known primarily for its football and basketball team. The club also has sections for handball, volleyball, judo and wrestling. ESS was founded in 11 May 1925 after a general meeting under the chairmanship of Chedly Boujemla, Ali Laârbi and Ahmed Zaklaoui, at the headquarters of the Association of the ancient French-Arab School Laroussi Zarouk Street, in the heart of the ancient city of Sousse. The aim of the meeting was to establish a sports education society. The Tunisian flag was chosen in the selection of the colors of the team. The red shirt with the star and the white shorts. The French colonial authorities prevented the use of these colors, but with the insistence of the team leaders they prevailed and in the latter they played this kit. In English the name means Sport (or Athletic) Star of the Sahel

In Tunisia, Étoile du Sahel is considered to be one of the best clubs. For many years it had a reputation of playing entertaining football. In fact, the club has evolved recently into a more professional outfit capable of winning trophies at home and abroad. Since 1925, ESS has been crowned domestic champions on ten occasions.

On the continental side, Étoile du Sahel has won more CAF trophies than any other Tunisian team. The club has 1 CAF Champions League, 2 CAF Super Cup titles, 4 CAF Confederation Cup titles and 2 African Cup Winners' Cup. ESS was listed as one of the most valuable football clubs in Africa and one of the most widely supported teams in the continent.

Internationally, Étoile du Sahel was the first Tunisian club to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup. They competed in the fifth edition that took place in 2007 in Japan. the club became the second club to reach the FIFA Club World semi-final as the representative of CAF, after Al Ahly SC in 2006, as they defeated Pachuca CF at the quarter-final of 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.

History

The club was founded during a public meeting at the French-Arabic school on Laroussi Zarrouk Street, in Sousse. Chedli Boujemla was elected as the first chairman of the multi-sport club. La Soussienne and La Musulmane ("The Muslim") were rejected as club names in favor of L'Étoile Sportive. Club members eventually settled on L'Étoile Sportive du Sahel to reflect the goal of representing a broader region than Sousse alone. The Protectorate administration officially recognized the club on July 17, 1925. In March 1926, Ali Larbi became chairman of the soccer section of the club, which entered the Fédération Tunisienne de Football.

Its first team members were Mohamed Bouraoui, Abdelkader Ben Amor, Abdelhamid Baddaï, Sadok Zmentar, Ali Guermachi, Mohamed Mtir, Benaïssa Hicheri, Béchir Dardour et Tahar Kenani.

Bouha, the official mascot of the club

ESS's first major honour was the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 title in 1950, but they had to wait 8 years to pick it up again. They won their first Tunisian President Cup in 1959, and completed a league and cup double in 1963 – becoming one of the first Tunisian teams to do so. But ESS struggled throughout the 1970s and 1980s, although they did manage to win back-to-back league titles in 1986 and 1987. In 1995 Etoile won their first continental trophy, winning the CAF Cup. 2 years later in 1997 they completed a league and African Cup Winners' Cup double, and they continued to impress on the continental stage – they won the African Super Cup in 1998 and the CAF Cup (for the 2nd time) in 1999. But Sahel's problem was that they struggled domestically – a perfect example was when they won the league in 1987 and failed to win it again until 10 years later. It was exactly the same in 1997. They won the African Cup Winners' Cup (for the 2nd time) in 2003, and made it to their 1st ever African Champions League final a year later, but lost to Nigerian outfit Enyimba on penalties. ESS lost in the final of the same competition the following season, being defeated by Egyptian giants Al Ahly 3–0 over two legs. Although, they did have some success that year – winning the Tunisian League Cup for the first time in their history. In 2006 Etoile won the CAF Confederation Cup for the first time, but continued to struggle in the league. But the 2006–07 season proved to be possibly the greatest season in the club's history – they won the CLP 1 title and the African Champions League title (for the first time). The final of the Champions League that year was a memorable one, as ESS played Al-Ahly in a repeat of the 2005 final. The first leg finished 0–0 in Sousse, and with ESS huge underdogs, they won 3–1 in Egypt to take the trophy. But despite this they missed out on the league again the following campaign (after losing on the last day of the season) and then in 2008–09 they finished 3rd, which meant manager Gernot Rohr was sacked. Lofti Rhim then became manager but just till October 2009, Lotfi Rhim resignition held Dr Hamed Kammoun (Vice president at that time and currently president) to call the club son Khaled Ben Sassi who did a good performance till the winter of 2009. On December 22, Piet Hamberg became General manager and the first Dutch who take a such position in a Tunisian club. Hamberg could not finish the season and was fired after a defeat against historical rivals club africain 3–0. Coach assistant Mohamed Mkacher and the youth team trainer Naoufel Team were appointed for the rest of the season. A new exprerience with the former Morocco national coach Mohamed Fakher just started on June 2010 along with a huge recruitment campaign for the coming season.

Etoile's active sections
Football	Handball	Volleyball
Basketball	Wrestling	Judo

Étoile Sahel's Press conference room logo

Rivalries

Etoile's most fierce rivalry is with Espérance de Tunis, as the teams are two of Tunisia's finest. Similarly, they also have a rivalry with Club Africain and CS Sfaxien. In terms of location, ESS are quite an isolated club, so games against US Monastir and ES Hammam-Sousse (the latter are from a town just north of Sousse) are considered local derbies.

Honours and achievements

Étoile Sportive du Sahel was the first African squad to have won all official club competition recognized by Confederation of African Football.^[1]

Individual honours

Top scorers

Name	Season	Goals
Habib Mougou	1955 / 1956	25 goals
Habib Mougou	1957 / 1958	28 goals
Othman Jenayah	1969 / 1970	15 goals
Abdesselam Adhouma	1970 / 1971	17 goals
Abdesselam Adhouma	1973 / 1974	16 goals
Raouf Ben Aziza	1975 / 1976	20 goals
Raouf Ben Aziza	1977 / 1978	22 goals
/ Francileudo Santos	1998 / 1999	14 goals
Ahmed Akaichi	2010 / 2011	14 goals
Baghdad Bounedjah	2013 / 2014	14 goals

Tunisian Golden Boot

Year	Name
1970	Othman Jenayah
1978	Raouf Ben Aziza
1986	Kamel Azzabi
1995	Zoubeir Baya
1996	Zoubeir Baya
2006	Yassine Chikhaoui
2007	Amine Chermiti
2016	Hamza Lahmar

African Competitions Golden Boot

Year	Name
2007	Amine Chermiti

Arab Golden Boot

Year	Name
1999	Kaies Ghodhbane

Staff

Position	Name
President	Ridha Charfeddine
Director of Football	Mehdi Ajimi
Head Coach	Georges Leekens
Assistant Coach	Patrick De Wilde Taoufik Zaaboub
Sporting Director	Hakim Brahem
Technical Director	Christophe Dessy
Goalkeeping Coach	Adel Bouzouita
Physical Coach	Ahmed Berriri
Team Doctor	Fayçal Khachnaoui
Team Coordinator	Mohamed Letaief

Players

Current squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Rami Gabsi 2 DF Saddam Ben Aziza 3 DF Ghazi Abderrazzak (Vice-captain) 5 DF Ammar Jemal (Captain) 6 DF Wajdi Kechrida 8 MF Alaya Brigui 9 FW Amine Chermiti 10 MF Iheb Msakni 11 FW Amr Marey 14 MF Mohamed Methnani 15 DF Zied Boughattas 16 GK Makrem Bdiri

No. Position Player 17 FW Yassine Chikhaoui 18 MF Firas Belarbi 19 MF Maher Hannachi 21 FW Ahmed Akaïchi 23 MF Aymen Trabelsi 24 DF Ahmed Raddaoui 25 MF Karim Aouadhi 26 DF Rami Bedoui 27 GK Achraf Krir 28 MF Omar Zekri 29 MF Mohamed Amine Ben Amor 30 MF Slim Ben Belgacem

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player — MF Anis Saltou (on loan to Ahli Tripoli)

No. Position Player — FW Aymen Sfaxi (on loan to Stade Tunisien)

Reserve squad

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

No. Position Player DF Mohamed Konaté DF Ameur Omrani DF Nizar Boussifi DF Moez Jameli MF Malek Baayou FW Jacques Mbe MF Mortadha Ben Ouanes FW Shaka Bienvenue FW Hazem Haj Hassen

Managers

Name	Nationality	From	To	Honours
Ali Dardour		1925	1929
Abdelhamid Beddaï		1929	1934
Mohamed Boudhina		1934	1954	1949–1950 Tunisian League
Rachid Sehili		1953	1954
Roger Chrétin		1954	1955
Boumedienne Abderrhamane		1955	1956
Georges Berry		1956	1958	1957–1958 Tunisian League
Habib Mougou		1958	1959	1958-1959 Tunisian Cup
Said Ibrahimi		1959	1960
Božidar Drenovac		1960	1965	1962-1963 Tunisian Cup 1962–1963 Tunisian League
Aleksei Paramonov		1965	1967	1965–1966 Tunisian Lague
Bella Harzeg		1967	1968
Turay		1968	1968
Bechir Jerbi		1968	1969
Habib Mougou		1969	1969
Božidar Drenovac		1969	1970
Abdelmajid Chetali		1970	1975	1971–1972 Tunisian League 1972 Maghreb Champions Cup 1973 Tunisian Super Cup 1973-1974 Tunisian Cup 1974-1975 Tunisian Cup 1975 Maghreb Cup Winners Cup
Raouf Ben Aziza		1975	1976
Aleksei Paramonov		1976	1978
Ammar Ben Ahmed		1978	1980
Mohsen Habacha		1980	1983	1980-1981 Tunisian Cup 1982-1983 Tunisian Cup
Dragan Vasiljević		1983	1984
Ammar Ben Ahmed		1984	1985
Amor Dhib		1985	1986	1985–1986 Tunisian League 1986 Tunisian Super Cup
Faouzi Benzarti		1986	1988	1986–1987 Tunisian League 1987 Tunisian Super Cup
Nicolaï Koudiev		1988	1989
Asparuh Nikodimov		1989	1990
Raouf Ben Amor		1990	1990
Ammar Ben Ahmed		1990	1991
Faouzi Benzarti		1991	1992
Ivan Chteline		1992	1993
Rabah Saadane		1993	1994
José Dutra dos Santos		1994	1997	1995 CAF Cup 1995-1996 Tunisian Cup 1996 CAF Cup 1996-1997 Tunisian League 1997 African Cup Winners' Cup
Ivan Buljan		1997	1998	1998 CAF Super Cup
Jean Fernandez		1998	1999
Lotfi Benzarti		1999	2000	1999 CAF Cup
Mahieddine Khalef		2000	2000
Ivica Todorov		2000	2001
Bernard Casoni Chedly Mlik		1 July 2001	30 June 2002	2001 CAF Cup
Paulo Rubim		2002	2002
Ammar Souayah		2002	2003
René Lobello		1 July 2003	30 December 2003	2003 African Cup Winners' Cup
Bernard Simondi		23 January 2004	30 June 2004	2004 CAF Super Cup
Mrad Mahjoub		2004	2004
Abdelmajid Chetali		2004	2005	2004 CAF Champions League
Mehmed Baždarević		1 July 2005	11 April 2006	2005 CAF Champions League
Faouzi Benzarti		14 April 2006	30 May 2007	2006 CAF Confederation Cup 2007 CAF Super Cup 2006–07 Tunisian League
Bertrand Marchand		1 June 2007	30 June 2008	2007 CAF Champions League 2007 FIFA Club World Cup Fourth Place 2008 CAF Super Cup
Michel Decastel		May 2008	November 2008	2008 CAF Confederation Cup
Gernot Rohr		27 November 2008	15 May 2009
Lotfi Rhim		27 May 2009	16 December 2009
Piet Hamberg		22 December 2009	15 April 2010
Mohamed Mkacher		15 April 2010	20 June 2010
Mohamed Fakhir		1 July 2010	4 October 2010
Mondher Kebaier		4 October 2010	3 October 2011
Khaled Ben Sassi		3 October 2011	12 February 2012
Bernd Krauss		12 February 2012	26 March 2012
Faouzi Benzarti		27 March 2012	10 June 2012
Mondher Kebaier		12 June 2012	27 February 2013
Denis Lavagne		28 February 2013	8 December 2013	2011–12 Tunisian Cup
Roger Lemerre		8 December 2013	30 June 2014	2013–14 Tunisian Cup
Dragan Cvetković		10 July 2014	11 August 2014
Faouzi Benzarti		12 August 2014	27 December 2016	2014–15 Tunisian Cup 2015 CAF Confederation Cup 2016 CAF Super Cup 2015–16 Tunisian League
Hubert Velud		27 December 2016	18 November 2017
Kheïreddine Madoui		18 December 2017	24 May 2018
Chiheb Ellili		4 June 2018	9 October 2018
Georges Leekens		10 October 2018	present

Notes:

• Suspended in 2012 and resumed in 2013.

Presidents

N°	Country	Name	Years		N°	Country	Name	Years
1		Chedly Boujemla	1925–1926		13		Hamed Karoui	1961–1981
2		Ali Laârbi	1926–1927		14		Abdeljelil Bouraoui	1981–1984
3		Younès Bouraoui	1927–1929		15		Hamadi Mestiri	1984–1988
4		Ali Laâdhari	1929–1932		16		Abdeljelil Bouraoui	1988–1990
5		Mohammed Maârouf	1932–1935		17		Hamadi Mestiri	1990–1993
6		Hamed Akacha	1935–1944		18		Othman Jenayah	1993–2006
7		Mohamed Ghachem	1944–1953		19		Moez Driss	2006–2009
8		Sadok Mellouli	1953–1954		20		Hamed Kammoun	2009–2011
9		Abdelhamid Sakka	1954–1956		21		Hafedh Hmaied	2011–2012
10		Ali Driss	1956–1959		22		Ridha Charfeddine	2012–present
11		Mohamed Atoui	1959–1960
12		Ali Driss	1960–1961

Notes

External links

• (in Arabic) (in French) Official Site

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