Football in Tunisia is experiencing an unprecedented financial crisis due to the decline in club revenues and the authorities’ decision to impose restrictions on fans’ attendance at stadiums, which has clearly affected the clubs’ profits, while the absence of advertisers and sponsoring companies has exacerbated the economic difficulties of most first division clubs.
Wholesale deals for Esperance and Africa
However, these conditions did not prevent various Tunisian league clubs from signing new players during the summer transfer period, which began in early July and will continue until August 31, 2024.
Esperance, the Tunisian champion for the 2023-2024 season, Club Africain and Club Sfaxien succeeded in lifting the ban on signing contracts imposed on them by the International Football Association, to enter the transfer market strongly, as the Tunisian league champion and the most decorated club, Esperance, succeeded in signing 3 new players in preparation for the next season.
Esperance signed a contract with the Tunisian national team goalkeeper, Bashir Ben Said, for 3 seasons, coming from Monastir Union after the end of his contract on June 30.
Ben Said, 29, is one of the most prominent goalkeepers in the Tunisian league in recent years, having spent 6 years with Monastir, during which he won the Tunisian Cup and the Super Cup for the first time in the club’s history.
Since 2023, Ben Said has been the goalkeeper of the Carthage Eagles’ first team, and participated in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Esperance Sportive de Tunis has signed defender Aymen Ben Mohamed from French club Le Havre on a free transfer, and Etoile Sportive du Sahel striker Youssef Abdelli on two two-year contracts.
Youssef Abdelli, 26, signed a two-season contract with Esperance after leaving Etoile du Sahel at the beginning of 2024.
Youssef Abdelli previously played for Esperance Sportive de Tunis before moving to Monastir Union and then Etoile Sportive du Sahel. He also had experience with Nice and Lens in France.
In turn, the African Club succeeded in lifting the ban on contracting after paying off all its debts and closing the dispute files registered against it in FIFA, before announcing its first deal last Wednesday.
Al-Afriqi signed a contract with the central defender Yassin Bouabid, coming from Olympique Béja, until June 2026.
In addition, Club Africain, the second most successful club in Tunisia, has officially concluded its agreement with Stade Tunisien to sign its players Hamza Al-Khadhraoui and Hamza Ben Abda for 3 seasons.
In addition to announcing the signing of 3 new deals, the African Club contracted with French coach David Bettoni, the former assistant coach to Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid.
Bettoni, who signed a two-year contract to coach Al-Afriqi, said that he will use his experience in coaching in Europe to succeed in Al-Afriqi, in his first experience in African football.
“Coaching the Tunisian club is a great honor for me in my coaching career, and it is my first experience outside Europe. I am optimistic about achieving success with the club, which has a huge fan base in Tunisia, and which I consider a miniature version of Real Madrid, and it is similar to the French club Olympique de Marseille in its history and legacy,” Betoni said in a press conference held by the African club to introduce the new technical staff.
Financial temptations
Club Sportif Sfaxien, third in the Tunisian Professional League, signed three players: Frenchman David De Angelo, Portuguese Pedro Sa, and Tunisian midfielder Firas Sekouhi.
The Sfax club obtained the services of its new players during the current summer Mercato after contracting with the Portuguese coach Alexander Santos and the Tunisian sports director Salim Ben Othman, who will supervise the first team.
For its part, the Tunisian stadium, the Tunisian Cup champion, included the Esperance midfielder, Ziad Belrima, in a free transfer deal, but the team lost the services of its stars Hamza Al-Khadhraoui and Hamza Ben Abda, who recently transferred to the African Club.
The sports director of the Tunisian stadium, Jamal Limam, justified the disposal of Al-Khadhraoui and Ben Abda by saying that the financial offer presented by Al-Afriqi prompted the club’s board of directors to accept it and dispense with its most prominent players.
“We could not hold on to the services of our players. The transfer market is subject to supply and demand and financial temptations. Club Africain made the offer that will enable our team to benefit financially. As for Stade Tunisien, it will work to train other young players and contribute to their emergence and success, just as it did with Ben Abda, Khadrawi and all its young players,” Limam added.
Monastir Union, the runner-up of the Tunisian League, signed contracts with both French player Malcolm El Hamidi and Tunisian player Mehdi El Fenni for 4 years.
Al-Hamidi (20 years old) was trained in Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Clermont and then Bastia in the French second division.
The summer transfer period in the Tunisian league continues until August 31, while contracting laws require each club to contract with a maximum of 8 players to register new players.
The Tunisian Premier League will start on August 17 in a new system consisting of one group of 16 teams.
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