Étoile Sportive 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 | |||
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 | |||
| ||||
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.
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 |
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]
Performance in national & domestic competitions
- Tunisian League: 10
- 1950, 1958, 1963, 1966, 1972, 1986, 1987, 1997, 2007, 2016
- Tunisian Cup: 10
- 1959, 1963, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1996, 2012, 2014, 2015
- 2005
- 1973, 1986, 1987
Performance in FIFA competitions
- 2007 – Fourth Place
Performance in CAF competitions
- 2007
- Runners-up: 2004, 2005
- 1995, 1999, 2006, 2015
- Runners-up: 1996, 2001, 2008
- 1997, 2003
- 1998, 2008
- Runners-up: 2004, 2007, 2016
Performance in UAFA competitions
- Finalist: 1995
Performance in UNAF competitions
- 1972
- 1975
Individual honours
Top scorers
Name | Season | Goals |
---|---|---|
1955 / 1956 | 25 goals | |
1957 / 1958 | 28 goals | |
1969 / 1970 | 15 goals | |
1970 / 1971 | 17 goals | |
1973 / 1974 | 16 goals | |
1975 / 1976 | 20 goals | |
1977 / 1978 | 22 goals | |
1998 / 1999 | 14 goals | |
2010 / 2011 | 14 goals | |
2013 / 2014 | 14 goals |
Tunisian Golden Boot
Year | Name |
---|---|
1970 | |
1978 | |
1986 | |
1995 | |
1996 | |
2006 | |
2007 | |
2016 | |
African Competitions Golden Boot
Year | Name |
---|---|
2007 | |
Arab Golden Boot
Year | Name |
---|---|
1999 | |
Staff
Position | Name |
---|---|
President | |
Director of Football | |
Head Coach | |
Assistant Coach | |
Sporting Director | |
Technical Director | |
Goalkeeping Coach | |
Physical Coach | |
Team Doctor | |
Team Coordinator |
Players
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Reserve squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
Managers
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
- ↑ African club competitions recognized by CAF – Record Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation – www.rsssf.com.
External links
- (in Arabic) (in French) Official Site
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Étoile Sportive du Sahel. |