Tunisia has participated in two editions of the African Nations Championship. In the 2009 edition, she is represented by the olympic team, under the management of Mondher Kebaier. Tunisia is eliminated there in the qualification phase. In 2011, under the leadership of Sami Trabelsi, Tunisia qualified for the finals and won the championship by beating Angola in the final.[1] In 2014, placed under the direction of Nabil Maâloul, she was eliminated in the qualification phase.[2] In the 2016 edition, under the leadership of Henryk Kasperczak, Tunisia qualified for the finals, but Hatem Missaoui led the team in Rwanda. Tunisia was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Mali. In the next edition, the Tunisian Football Federation announced that Tunisia will not participate in the 2018 African Nations Championship due to the participation of the first team in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
In 2020 African Nations Championship qualification, Tunisia faced Libya two home and away games, winning the first match 1–0 at Stade Olympique de Radès and the second 2–1 at Stade Boubker Ammar; Anice Badri scores the goals for Tunisia in both cases. The national team qualified for the final phase but, on 20 December 2019, the qualification was withdrawn by the Tunisian Football Federation due to the intensity of the matches.[3] The team didn't enter to the 2022 African Nations Championship qualification.
| African Nations Championship record | African Nations Championship qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Squad | ||||||||||||||
 2009 | Did not qualify | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | [4] | |||||||||
 2011 | Champions | 1st | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 3 | Squad | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | [5] | |
 2014 | Did not qualify | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | [6] | |||||||||
 2016 | Quarter-finals | 8th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | Squad | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | [7] | |
 2018 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||||
 2020 | Withdrew after qualifying | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | [8] | |||||||||
 2022 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||||
  2024 | Qualified | Qualified automatically | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 8 | — | 12 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 12 | — | |||
| Year | Stage | Date | Opponent | Result | Tunisia scorers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2011 | 1 | Group stage | 7 February 2011 | 1–1 | [9] | ||
| 2 | Group stage | 11 February 2011 | 3–1 | [10] | ||||
| 3 | Group stage | 15 February 2011 | 2–0 | [11] | ||||
| 4 | Quarter-final | 19 February 2011 | 1–0 | [12] | ||||
| 5 | Semi-final | 22 February 2011 | 1–1 | [13] | ||||
| 6 | Final | 25 February 2011 | 3–0 | [14] | ||||
| 2 | 2016 | 7 | Group stage | 18 January 2016 | 2–2 | [15] | ||
| 8 | Group stage | 22 January 2016 | 1–1 | [16] | ||||
| 9 | Group stage | 26 January 2016 | 5–0 | [17] | ||||
| 10 | Quarter-final | 31 January 2016 | 1–2 | [18] |
See main article: 2011 African Nations Championship.
The beginning of 2011 saw tough political events in Tunisia. Under new coach Sami Trabelsi, during the finals in Sudan, Tunisia is in Group D alongside Angola, Rwanda and Senegal. On 7 February, Tunisia played their first match against Angola, which ended in a 1–1 draw,[19] with Youssef Msakni scoring Tunisia's first goal in the finals.[20] Four days later, the team achieved its first victory against Rwanda 3–1 with goals from Oussama Darragi, Salema Kasdaoui and Zouheir Dhaouadi.[21] [22] The team achieved another victory against Senegal, with a score of 2–0,[23] with goals from Kasdaoui and Khaled Korbi,[24] to qualify for the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, Tunisia faced last edition title holder DR Congo.[25] The team managed to win, with a goal by Dhawadi's in the 50th minute.[26] The semi-final witnessed a strong confrontation during the Maghreb derby between Tunisia and Algeria. Kasdaoui scored Tunisia's first goal after a cross from Dhaouadi in the 18th minute, during his celebration of the goal, he took out a paper and addressed it to the camera, on which was written in arabic "Tunisia is free".[27] [28] While Abdelmoumene Djabou scored the equaliser for Algeria with a shot from outside the area that Aymen Mathlouthi was unable to stop. The regular and extra time ended in a 1–1 draw, with Tunisia winning on penalties 5–3,[29] with Rami Jeridi stopping Hocine Metref's kick with his fist.[30] Tunisia qualified for the final match to face Angola.
In the final match, Angola found the ease of winning the match and crowning the title with a score of 3–0.[31] Angola started off well piling feverish pressure on the Eagles of Carthage through the right flank but lacked a lot of polish with their finishing. Tunisia came close to scoring in the 13th minutes, but the Palancas Negras man between the woodworks Lamá made a point blank save. Three minutes after, Zouheir Dhaouadi came close to scoring, but the Angolan goalkeeper anticipated well to block it from his post. Mejdi Traoui's powerful drive in the 20th minutes was punched aside by Lama, who was well positioned to deny the Eagles their first goal.[32] Adel Chedli sent the Carthage fans on their foot at the Al-Merrikh Stadium in the 37th minutes, but he missed the post by an inch. Their one-two-one-two upfront kept mesmerizing the Angolan guardsmen, but their finishing were poorly executed. The north Africans returned from the interval determined. Two minutes into the second half Traoui Mejdi Traoui in the ball from waist level with a right foot from Dhaouadi's cross from the left flank. Tunisia’s onslaughts began paying off from the 74th minute when Zouhaier doubled their lead with a left foot roll of the ball that went past Lamá straight into the woodwork. As the game wore on substitute Oussama Darragi put the final nail on the coffin in the 80th minutes to give the north Africans the ultimate.[33] Zouheir Dhaouadi was also selected as the best player in the tournament.[34]
See main article: 2011 African Nations Championship Final.
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See main article: 2016 African Nations Championship. During the finals in Rwanda, Hatem Missaoui led the team. Tunisia was drawn in Group C alongside Guinea, Nigeria and Niger.[35] [36] Tunisia played the opening match on 18 January 2016 against Guinea. The match ended in a 2–2 draw. Ahmed Akaïchi scored two goals in the 33rd and 50th minutes, while Alsény Camara also scored two goals in the 40th and 87th minutes.[37] Tunisia also drew 1–1 against Nigeria in the second match. The opponents took the lead in the 52nd minute with a goal by Chisom Chikatara, while Tunisia equalized with a goal by Akaïchi in the 69th minute.[38] In the third match against Niger, Tunisia achieved a big victory with a score of 5–0.[39] Saad Bguir scored two goals in the 5th and 39th minutes, Akaïchi added the third goal in the 78th, Mohamed Amine Ben Amor scored the fourth goal in the 80th, and Hichem Essifi concluded the five goals in the 90+1 minute, to qualify for the quarter-finals in the top of the group with two draws and a win.[40] In the quarter-finals, Tunisia faced Mali.The team took the lead through Mohamed Ali Moncer in the 14th minute, however Mali turned the game around with goals from Aliou Dieng from the penalty spot in the 70th minute and Abdoulaye Diarra adding the second ten minutes later to eliminate Tunisia from the competition after the 1–2 defeat.[41] [42]
| Versus | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Def | First match date | Last match date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 February 2011 | 22 February 2011 | ||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 February 2011 | 25 February 2011 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 19 February 2011 | 19 February 2011 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 18 January 2016 | 18 January 2016 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | –1 | 31 January 2016 | 31 January 2016 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 26 January 2016 | 26 January 2016 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 January 2016 | 22 January 2016 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 11 February 2011 | 11 February 2011 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 15 February 2011 | 15 February 2011 | ||
| Total | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 8 | +16 | 7 February 2011 | 31 January 2016 |
| Rank | Player | 2011 | 2016 | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ahmed Akaïchi | 4 | 4 | ||
| 2 | Salema Gasdaoui | 3 | 3 | ||
| Zouheir Dhaouadi | 3 | 3 | |||
| 3 | Oussama Darragi | 2 | 2 | ||
| Saad Bguir | 2 | 2 | |||
| 4 | Khaled Korbi | 1 | 1 | ||
| Youssef Msakni | 1 | 1 | |||
| Mejdi Traoui | 1 | 1 | |||
| Mohamed Ben Amor | 1 | 1 | |||
| Hichem Essifi | 1 | 1 | |||
| Mohamed Ali Moncer | 1 | 1 | |||
| Total | 11 | 9 | 20 | ||
Top scorer
Best player
Team of the Tournament