African Club Soccer: Esperance Sportif de Tunis seek glory after 16-year wait
Tunisian giants, Esperance are seeking to reach the promise land of continental club football after a 16-year wait. The ‘Blood and Gold’ winners in 1994 came closest in 1999 and 2000 but lost out to Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Ghana’s Hearts of Oak at the final.This season, Esperance have been in superb form in their quest to land the crown which has eluded them all this years. After squeezing past East End Lions of Sierra Leone 5-4 on aggregate at the prelims, the Tunisians eased past Burkina Faso champions, ASFA 7-2 on aggregate at the 1/16th round before scaling over Sudanese giants Al-Merrikh 4-1 to book their place at the mini-league stage.Housed in Group A alongside holders TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Ente Setif (Algeria) and Dynamos (Zimbabwe), the ‘Blood and Gold’ finished as group winners on 13 points, two points richer than Mazembe, with Entente Setif and Dynamos in that order on six and three points respectively.At the semis, Esperance lost 1-2 to Al-Ahly of Egypt in the first leg in Cairo before managing a lone goal victory in the reverse fixture to seal their place at the final.The Tunisians suffered a 0-5 loss in the final first leg held on October 31 and will be seeking to overturn the tables in the second leg on November 13.
Club Profile
Headquarters: Parc Hassen Belkhodja, Av. Mohamed V, Tunis B.P. 700, Tunis RP 1000
Téléphone: +216 71 83 21 19 / +216 71 83 20 99
Fax : 216 71 83 41 74
Stadium : El Menzah/Tunis, 7 novembre/Radès, Zouiten/Tunis
President: Hamdi MeddebWebsite: www.est.org.tn
National Championships(22): 1942[ ], 1959, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010
Coupe (12): 1939 1957, 1964, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008
Super Cup(2): 1994, 2001Continental trophiesChampions Cup (1) : 1994
Champions league : Finalist 1999, 2000
CAFCup (1) : 1997
Cup Winners Cup (1) : 1998
Finalist :1987
Super Cup (1) : 1995
Afro Asia Cup (1) :1995
History
The club has its origins around 1918 when then colonial authorities decided to create an indigenous Tunisian football outfit. Esperance effectively came into being on January 15 1919 after an official ceremony.   After that followed the great story of « Sang et Or » (the colours of the club). Esperance then went through periods of suffering, courage, success and glory. Its first major steps came during the 1927/1928, when the club was promoted to division three and during the 1929/1930 season to the division of honour. In the 1935/1936 season the club won the champions title and moved up to the division of excellence (the present division one championships) where she has stayed till date. Esperance is a popular outfit from the Bab Souika neighbourhood in Tunis. It was only in 1928 that it started making waves and became a regular feature in newspapers, and its players were later seen as some of the best in the land.
One man who played a vital role in the development of Esperance is Chadly Zouiten who was a medical doctor but did all to ensure the club becomes one of the greatest in Tunisian. Zouiten even celebrated his 80th birthday in 2009 and was acknowledge for his contribution to the development of the game in Tunisia.Winners of the Tunisian club in 1939 and the championships during the 1941/1942 season, Esperance went on to dominate the game in Tunisia, especially after independence in 1956.
Esperance Sportive of Tunis (EST) was the first team on the continent to win the CAF Cup three times, The Champions Cup (in 1994), and the Cup winners Cup in (1998). The team has what it takes to continue as pace setters of the game in Tunisia.
Source: CAF Online
