Tunis - Sport

Sport

At the beginning of the 20th century a number of sports institutions were established in Tunis, particularly in school and college settings. In 1905 the Muslim Association of Tunisia brought together students from Lycée Alaoui and Sadiki College to organize gymnastics. A regional gymnastics competition was held in Tunis in 1912 with the participation of thousands of French gymnasts. Football made its appearance in the capital on 15 September 1904, followed by the formal creation of the country’s first league, the Racing Club Tunis, on 11 May 1905. It took some time to run properly but soon organized meetings between the teams in schools. The first took place on 9 June 1907, between teams from Lycée Alaoui and Lycée Carnot (1–1).

But football is not the only discipline to emerge. Between 1928 and 1955 the city competed for nine editions of the Grand Prix of Tunis, where notable drivers such as Marcel Lehoux, Achille Varzi, Tazio Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola took part. The Grand Prix of Tunis has re-emerged since 2000. The city has also held the Mediterranean Games twice, in 1967 and 2001, and the intertational tennis tournament, the Tunis Open, which is included in the ATP Challenger Series. The 2005 World Championship final for men in team handball was played in Tunis, on 6 February. In total the governorate of Tunis registered 24,095 licences for various clubs in the municipal area in 2007.

The Esperance Sportive de Tunis (EST), Club Africain (CA), and Stade Tunisien are the major sports clubs in the city. A symbolic class difference is present between the EST's and the CA's supporters, despite their playing at the same stadium. The EST is supported by the majority of the masses, while the CA, a poorer club, is supported by the others. The first true sports facilities were managed under the French protectorate, as illustrated by the development of the Ksar Said racecourse and construction of the Stade Chedli Zouiten in the neighborhood of Belvedere, which had long been the main stadium in the capital before being supplanted by the Olympic stadium, Stade El Menzah, where EST and CA play their football today. The Olympic stadium and village area was built to accommodate the Mediterranean Games in 1967. A 60,000-seat stadium was also built in Radès for the Mediterranean Games in 2001 at an estimated cost of 170 million dinars, with nearly half of the loans financed by South Korean businessmen. The Olympic village was financed by an investment estimated at 50 million dinars. In 2008, the government announced the start of construction of a large sports complex that will include several sports academies, a 20,000-seat stadium, and a swimming centre. Known as Tunis Sports City, it will expand around the lake of Tunis, on the road to La Marsa.