Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

is the most popular sport in Tunisia. The most watched sports in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

are football,

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

. Sport is encouraged in school, and local sports clubs receive financial support from the local governments. The national stadium is the

Stade Olympique de Radès Stade Olympique Hamadi Agrebi, opened as Stade 7 November, is a multi-purpose stadium in Radès, Tunis, Tunisia about 10 kilometers south-east of downtown Tunis, in the center of the Olympic City. It is currently used mostly for football matches a ...

Football

is the most popular sport in Tunisia. The

Tunisia national football team The Tunisia national football team ( ar, منتخب تونس لكرة القدم; ) represents Tunisia in men's international association football. The team is a member of both FIFA and CAF, the Confederation of African Football. It is governe ...

, also known as ''"The Eagles of Carthage"'', won the

2004 African Cup of Nations The 2004 African Cup of Nations, known as the NOKIA African Cup of Nations, Tunisia 2004 for sponsorship reasons (also referred to as AFCON 2004 or CAN 2004) is the 24th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's footb ...

(CAN) which was held in Tunisia. They also represented Africa in the

2005 Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FIFA World Cup winners B ...

which was held in Germany, but they could not go beyond the first round. The Eagles of Carthage have participated in 5

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Championships. The Premier Football League is the ''" Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1"''. The main clubs are Espérance Sportive de Tunis,

Club Africain Club Africain ( ar, النادي الإفريقي) is a Tunisian football club based in Tunis that competes in the Tunisian Championship. It fields several sports teams, including football, handball, basketball, swimming and volleyball. The foot ...

Club Sportif Sfaxien Club Sportif Sfaxien ( ar, النادي الرياضي الصفاقسي) is a Tunisian professional association football club founded in 1928. History The club was founded in 1928 as ''Club Tunisien'', playing in green and red stripes. The team ...

and Étoile du Sahel. The latter team participated in the

2007 FIFA Club World Cup The 2007 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament played in Japan from 7 to 16 December 2007. It was the fourth FIFA Club World Cup, a tourn ...

and reached the semi-final match, in which it was eliminated by

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

from Argentina. Some of Tunisia's star players were centre forward Issam Jemaa, left back Ahmed Seliet and right back Aiyah Wliid Fatiha'a.

Handball

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

is the second most popular sport in Tunisia. The

Tunisia men's national handball team The Tunisian national handball team ( ar, منتخب تونس لكرة اليد), nicknamed ''Les Aigles de Carthage (The Eagles of Carthage or The Carthage Eagles)'', is the national handball team of ...

has participated in several Handball World Championships. In 2005, Tunisia held the 2005 Handball World Championship, and they came fourth. The national league consists of about 12 teams, with Etoile du Sahel and Espérance Sportive de Tunis dominating. The most famous Tunisian handball player is

Wissem Hmam Wissem is a unisex Arabic given name. Notable people with the name include: * Wissem Hmam (born 1981), Tunisian handball player * Wissem Hosni (born 1985), Tunisian long-distance runner * Wissem Ben Yahia Wissem Ben Yahia (born 9 September 1984 ...

. In the

2005 World Men's Handball Championship The 2005 World Men's Handball Championship was the 19th team handball World Championship. It was played in Tunisia from 23 January to 6 February 2005. The winner of the gold medal was Spain, Croatia took silver and France won the bronze. Venu ...

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, Wissem Hmam was ranked as the top scorer of the tournament. The Tunisian national handball team won the African Cup 10 times as a record, being the team dominating the competition. The Tunisians won the 2012 African Cup in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

for the 2nd Consecutive time and it is the 9th title at all by defeating

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

in the final, the last time tunisia won the African Cup was in 2018 against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Basketball

Tunisia recently celebrated a revival in basketball when its national team won the

2011 FIBA Africa Championship AfroBasket 2011 was the 26th FIBA Africa Championship, played under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Basketball, the basketball sport governing body, and the African zone thereof. At stake is the berth allocated to Africa in th ...

, a title rarely won by North African nations. Since then, Tunisia has been home to several players in the Spanish ACB, which is often regarded as one of the world's strongest basketball leagues. And now Tunisia have an NBA player, in the season of 2015,

Salah Mejri Salah Mejri ( ar, صالح الماجري; born June 15, 1986) is a Tunisian professional basketball player for Beirut Club. He also represents the senior Tunisian national basketball team internationally. Standing at , he plays at the center p ...

has joined the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

Beach volleyball

Tunisia featured a men's national team in

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

that competed at the

2018–2020 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup The 2018–2020 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup were a beach volleyball double-gender event. Teams representing African countries were split into groups of four, where an elimination bracket determined the 2 teams to advance to the next stage ...

Cycling

Cycling is a popular recreational sport, with the Tour De Tunisia, being the main annual competition of Cycling in Tunisia.

Pétanque

Pétanque is mostly played in the north of Tunisia. Tunisia has won the world championship many times.

Tennis

, Tunisia holds a tournament called

Tunis Open The Tunis Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour. It is held annually at the Tennis Club de Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia, sinc ...

. Tennis is a minor sport in Tunisia. The Tunisian Tennis Federation is governing body of sport in Tunisia.

References

{{Sport in Africa