Located in the northernmost part of the Africa, Tunisia has a varied geography containing the eastern part of the Atlas Mountains and the northern part of the Sahara. However, with most of the country being very fertile land, the Tunisian people have come to enjoy many things and one of their greatest passions is of course sports.

And when it comes to sports in Tunisia, football is king. Their national team, The Eagles of Carthage, took the 2004 African Cup of Nations, which they hosted. They have also played in the FIFA World Cup seven times, in 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022 and 2026, without ever reaching the knockout rounds. Their most celebrated results are the 3–1 win over Mexico in 1978, the first ever World Cup victory by an African nation, and the 1–0 defeat of the reigning champions France at Qatar in 2022.

Qualifying for the 2026 tournament was itself a record. Tunisia won their African group with 28 points from ten matches and did not concede a single goal along the way, reportedly the first team ever to complete a World Cup qualifying campaign with a clean sheet throughout. The finals went the other way: drawn with the Netherlands, Japan and Sweden, they lost all three matches and conceded twelve goals, and the coach was dismissed after the opening game.

If football is the king in the hearts of Tunisia, handball is undoubtedly the prince. Their national team has participated in many Handball World Championships and they even hosted the 2005 Handball World Championship where they finished in fourth place, with Wissem Hmam finishing as the tournament’s leading scorer. They have won the African Championship 10 times, more than any nation except Egypt, who drew level in 2026. The last time they took the top place was in 2018, and they were runners-up to Egypt again at the 2026 African Championship in Kigali.

Horse racing in Tunisia Horse racing in Tunisia

Basketball has been another strong suit. Tunisia won the African Championship in 2011 and went on to win it again in 2017 and 2021, though the side slipped to 12th at AfroBasket 2025. Volleyball is arguably the most successful team sport of all: the men have been African champions a record 11 times.

Individually, Tunisia punches well above its weight in the pool, on the athletics track and on the taekwondo mat. Oussama Mellouli won Olympic gold in the 1500m freestyle in 2008 and in the 10km open water marathon in 2012, and remains the only swimmer to have won Olympic titles in both the pool and open water. Ahmed Hafnaoui took the 400m freestyle gold at Tokyo aged 18, swimming out of lane eight as the slowest qualifier, and Ahmed Jaouadi won both the 800m and 1500m freestyle world titles in 2025. The country is also a genuine Paralympic power, with well over a hundred medals, almost all of them in athletics.

Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Tunisia. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.

Popular sports of Tunisia

  • Football (Soccer), handball, basketball, volleyball, swimming, athletics, taekwondo, fencing, judo, tennis, and rugby union

Traditional or Regional Sports

  • Fantasia (also known as tbourida) — the traditional equestrian display of the Maghreb, in which riders in traditional dress charge in a single line on Arabian and Barb horses and fire muzzle-loading muskets into the air, the skill being that the volley sounds as one shot. Performed at festivals, weddings and religious holidays.
  • Camel racing and camel marathons — contested in the south, above all at the International Festival of the Sahara in Douz.
  • Sloughi coursing — hunting with the North African sighthound, also demonstrated at Douz.
  • Horse racing — run at the Hippodrome de Ksar Saïd near Tunis, with separate programmes for pure Arabian horses and for Tunisian-bred thoroughbreds. Arabian horse breeding is centred on the national stud at Sidi Thabet.

Tunisia Sporting Success

  • Winner of the 2004 African Cup of Nations, beating Morocco 2–1 in the final in Radès on home soil (football)
  • Winner of the FIBA Africa Championship in 2011, 2017 and 2021 (basketball)
  • African men’s handball champions 10 times, and fourth at the 2005 World Championship they hosted
  • African men’s volleyball champions a record 11 times
  • Six Olympic gold medals: Mohammed Gammoudi in the 5000m in 1968, Oussama Mellouli in the 1500m freestyle in 2008 and the 10km open water in 2012, Habiba Ghribi in the 3000m steeplechase in 2012, Ahmed Hafnaoui in the 400m freestyle in 2021 and Firas Katoussi in taekwondo at Paris in 2024
  • Ahmed Jaouadi won the 800m and 1500m freestyle at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, the 800m being the third fastest swim in history
  • Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi became world taekwondo champion at 63kg in 2025, having already won Olympic silver in 2021 and bronze in 2024
  • 115 Summer Paralympic medals, including 48 golds, with 11 medals at Paris 2024 alone
  • Tunisia qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup without conceding a goal in ten qualifying matches

Great athletes from Tunisia

  • Mohammed Gammoudi (athletics) — long-distance runner who was Tunisia’s first gold medal winner, winning the men’s 5,000m at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He won four Olympic medals in all across three Games and remains the country’s most decorated Olympian.
  • Oussama Mellouli (swimming) — Olympic champion in the 1500m freestyle in 2008 and the 10km open water in 2012, plus a 1500m bronze in 2012. A six-time Olympian and the only swimmer to have won Olympic gold in both the pool and open water.
  • Habiba Ghribi (athletics) — steeplechaser who became Tunisia’s first female Olympic medallist and then its first female Olympic champion when her London 2012 silver was upgraded to gold in 2016. Also world champion in 2011.
  • Ahmed Hafnaoui (swimming) — won the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics at 18, then took the 800m and 1500m world titles in 2023.
  • Ahmed Jaouadi (swimming) — double world champion over 800m and 1500m freestyle in 2025.
  • Firas Katoussi (taekwondo) — Olympic champion at −80kg at Paris 2024, Tunisia’s first Olympic taekwondo gold.
  • Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi (taekwondo) — world champion in 2025, Olympic silver medallist in 2021 and bronze medallist in 2024.
  • Raoua Tlili (para athletics) — Tunisia’s greatest Paralympian, with seven Paralympic gold medals in the shot put and discus across five Games from 2008 to 2024, and eleven world titles.
  • Marwa Amri (wrestling) — Olympic bronze medallist in 2016, the first African woman to win an Olympic wrestling medal, and an eleven-time African champion.
  • Farès Ferjani (fencing) — Olympic silver medallist in the men’s sabre at Paris 2024.
  • Inès Boubakri (fencing) — bronze medallist in the women’s foil at Rio 2016, the first Arab and first African woman to win an Olympic fencing medal.
  • Ons Jabeur (tennis) — reached world number 2 in 2022, the highest ranking ever achieved by an African or Arab player, and was a losing finalist at Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023 and at the US Open in 2022. She stepped away from the tour in 2025 and gave birth to a son in April 2026, saying she intends to return.
  • Issam Jemaa (football) — Tunisia’s all-time leading scorer with 36 goals in 84 internationals.
  • Radhi Jaïdi (football) — the country’s most-capped player with 105 appearances.
  • Wissem Hmam (handball) — top scorer of the 2005 World Championship with 81 goals.
  • Salah Mejri (basketball) — the first and so far only Tunisian to play in the NBA, appearing 204 times for the Dallas Mavericks between 2015 and 2019, and a EuroLeague winner with Real Madrid.

Tunisia Sports trivia

  • The National Football team is known as "The Eagles of Carthage"
  • Tunisia competed for the first three days of the 1976 Olympic Games before withdrawing in support of the boycott by most other African nations.
  • Tunisia has never competed at a Winter Olympic Games.
  • Tunisia’s 3–1 win over Mexico at the 1978 World Cup was the first match ever won by an African country at the tournament.
  • The country has more than six times as many Paralympic medals as Olympic ones, and almost all of them have come in athletics.
  • Ahmed Hafnaoui won his Olympic title from lane eight, having qualified slowest of the eight finalists — only the third swimmer in Olympic history to win from that lane.
  • Espérance de Tunis have won the Tunisian league 34 times and the Tunisian Cup 17 times, both national records, and the CAF Champions League four times.
  • Étoile du Sahel of Sousse are the only Tunisian club to have won every CAF club competition.
  • Tunisia hosted the very first FIFA World Youth Championship, now the Under-20 World Cup, in 1977.
  • Stade El Menzah in Tunis, built for the 1967 Mediterranean Games, has been closed since 2019 because of structural problems and is due to be rebuilt.

Tunisia at major events

  • Tunisia at the Summer Olympics — since 1960, with 18 medals including six golds.
  • Tunisia at the FIFA World Cup — seven appearances, all ending in the group stage.
  • Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations — 22 appearances, champions in 2004, runners-up in 1965 and 1996.
  • Tunisia at the Paralympic Games — since 1988, with 115 medals.
  • Tunisia at the Mediterranean Games, the African Games and the Islamic Solidarity Games.

Past sporting events hosted in Tunisia

  • 1965 — Africa Cup of Nations, with the final at the Chedly Zouiten Stadium in Tunis
  • 1967 — Mediterranean Games, Tunis, for which Stade El Menzah was built
  • 1977 — FIFA World Youth Championship, the inaugural edition of what is now the Under-20 World Cup
  • 1994 — Africa Cup of Nations, in Tunis and Sousse
  • 2001 — Mediterranean Games, Tunis, for which the stadium at Radès was built
  • 2004 — Africa Cup of Nations, across six venues, won by the hosts
  • 2005 — World Men’s Handball Championship, with Tunisia finishing fourth
  • 2015 and 2017 — AfroBasket, in Tunis
  • 2023 — African Beach Games, Hammamet, with 1,100 athletes from 53 nations
  • 2026 — World Para Athletics Grand Prix, Radès, in June

Upcoming sporting events in Tunisia

  • Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifiers — Tunisia host Uganda in the opening Group H match on 24 September 2026, with further home fixtures against Libya and Botswana to follow
  • Ultra Mirage El Djerid, Tozeur, 3 October 2026 — the tenth edition of the Sahara ultramarathon, adding a 162km distance
  • International Festival of the Sahara, Douz, late December 2026
  • COMAR Marathon of Tunis-Carthage, 6 December 2026 — the 39th edition
  • Tunis Sabre Grand Prix (fencing), Tunis, January 2027
  • Tunisian Super Cup, 31 January 2027, Club Africain against Espérance de Tunis

Annual sporting events held in Tunisia

  • Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 — the top football league, 16 clubs playing from August to May. Club Africain won the 2025–26 title, their 14th.
  • Tunisian Cup and Tunisian Super Cup — the national knockout competitions, with the cup final traditionally played at Radès.
  • Tunis Open — an ATP Challenger Tour clay-court tennis tournament held in Tunis in May. Monastir also hosts ITF events almost year-round.
  • COMAR Marathon of Tunis-Carthage — a World Athletics label road race held each December since 1986.
  • Ultra Mirage El Djerid — a desert ultramarathon at Tozeur each October, over distances from 25km to 100 miles.
  • Tunis Sabre Grand Prix — an International Fencing Federation Grand Prix held in January.
  • Tunis African Open — an International Judo Federation event held in February.
  • International Festival of the Sahara, Douz — four days at the end of December featuring camel racing, fantasia, sloughi coursing and desert poetry.
  • Africa Triathlon Cup, Yasmine Hammamet — a sprint-distance race held in June.

Sporting Facilities in Tunisia

  • Stade Hammadi Agrebi, Radès — the national stadium, opened in 2001 for the Mediterranean Games and holding around 60,000. Known as the Stade 7 Novembre and then the Stade Olympique de Radès before being renamed in 2020. Home to the national team, Espérance and Club Africain, and in 2026 the only Tunisian ground cleared by CAF to stage the final stages of African competition.
  • Salle Omnisport de Radès — a 17,000-seat indoor arena built for the 2005 World Handball Championship and since used for AfroBasket and African handball championships.
  • Stade Olympique de Sousse — home of Étoile du Sahel, opened in 1973 and reopened after a long and contested renovation completed in 2024.
  • Stade Taïeb Mhiri, Sfax — home of CS Sfaxien, opened in 1938 and a venue for the 1965 and 2004 Africa Cup of Nations, with an extension programmed.
  • Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet, Monastir — a 20,000-capacity ground in an eleven-hectare sports complex, home of US Monastir.
  • Stade Chedly Zouiten, Tunis — opened in 1942 and the venue for the 1965 Africa Cup of Nations final, now a secondary ground.
  • Stade 15 Octobre, Bizerte — a 20,000-capacity stadium used at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.
  • Stade El Menzah, Tunis — built for the 1967 Mediterranean Games and once the country’s main stadium, closed since 2019 on structural grounds. A full rebuild backed by Chinese financing is due to begin at the end of 2026.
  • Hippodrome de Ksar Saïd, Den Den — the principal racecourse, staging the Grand Prix of the President of the Republic for Arabian horses.