Étoile Sportive du Sahel

Étoile du Sahel
Full name Étoile Sportive du Sahel
النجم الرياضي الساحلي
Short name ESS
Founded May 11, 1925
Ground Stade Olympique de Sousse
Sousse, Tunisia
Ground Capacity 28,000
Chairman Ridha Charfeddine
Manager Hubert Velud
League CLP-1
2015-16 1st
Website Club website

The Étoile Sportive du Sahel (ESS, Arabic: النـجـم الرياضي الساحلي‎‎), 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. In English the name means Sport (or Athletic) Star of the Sahel.

The club is considered to be one of the best clubs in Tunisia.

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]

Performance in national & domestic competitions

1950, 1958, 1963, 1966, 1972, 1986, 1987, 1997, 2007, 2016
1959, 1963, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1996, 2012, 2014, 2015
2005
1973, 1986, 1987

Performance in CAF competitions

2007
Runners-up: 2004, 2005
2006, 2015
Runners-up: 2008
1997, 2003
1995, 1999
Runners-up: 1996, 2001
1998, 2008
Runners-up: 2004, 2007, 2016

Performance in UAFA competitions

Finalist: 1995

Performance in other international competitions

2007 – Fourth Place
1972
1975


Individual honours

Top scorers

Golden Boot

Arab Golden Boot


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 Tunisia GK Balbouli
3 Tunisia DF Ghazi Abderrazzak
4 Tunisia DF Oualid El Hasni
5 Tunisia DF Ammar Jemal
6 Tunisia MF Wajdi Kechrida
7 Tunisia MF Hamza Lahmar
8 Tunisia DF Alaya Brigui
9 Tunisia FW Hazem Haj Hassen
10 Tunisia MF Iheb Msakni
13 Guinea FW Al Khaly Bangoura
15 Tunisia DF Zied Boughattas
16 Tunisia DF Bilel Mohsni
No. Position Player
9 Egypt FW Amr Marey
18 Brazil FW Diogo Acosta
21 Tunisia DF Hamdi Nagguez
23 Tunisia MF Stéphane Nater
24 Tunisia GK Zied Jebali
25 Ivory Coast FW Vakoun Bayo
26 Tunisia DF Rami Bedoui
27 Tunisia GK Achraf Krir
28 Tunisia MF Aymen Sfaxi
29 Tunisia MF Mohamed Amine Ben Amor
30 Tunisia MF Slim Ben Belgacem
31 Tunisia DF Haythem Ayouni

Staff

Presidents

Former coaches

Notes

  1. ↑ African club competitions recognized by CAF – Record Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation – www.rsssf.com.
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