The Tunisia national football team represents Tunisia in men's international association football competitions, and is controlled by the Tunisian Football Federation (TFF). The team competes under the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on the continental level, and is affiliated with FIFA for global competitions. Additionally, the team is a member of the Union of North African Football (UNAF) and the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The team is colloquially known as Eagles of Carthage by fans and the media, with the bald eagle serving as its symbol. Their home kit is primarily white and their away kit is red, which is a reference to the national flag of the country. The team has qualified for the FIFA World Cup seven times and the Africa Cup of Nations 22 times, and has appeared in four editions of Summer Olympics and participated once in the FIFA Confederation Cup. Since 2001, Tunisia's home stadium is the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium in Radès, Tunis.
Tunisia's first match after independence was against Libya, which they won 4–2. The team qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 1978 as the only representative of the continent, and became the first African and Arab team to win a World Cup match by beating Mexico 3–1 in the first game. Tunisia holds the most consecutive appearances in the Africa Cup of Nations, with 17, qualifying for every tournament between 1994 and 2025. By winning the 2004 African Cup of Nations, they qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and was eliminated in the group stage. The team qualified twice for the African Nations Championship, winning the title in their first appearance in 2011, while also competing in the FIFA Arab Cup three times, winning the title in the inaugural edition in 1963 and finishing second in 2021. Radhi Jaïdi, with 105 international matches, holds the record for the number of matches played for Tunisia while Issam Jemâa, with 36 goals, is their all-time highest scorer. Their highest-ever FIFA Men's World Ranking was 14th in April and May 2018, while their lowest rank was 65th in July 2010.
On 13 October 2025, Tunisia became the first team in history to qualify for the World Cup without conceding a goal, during the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.
History
1928–1956: French protectorate of Tunisia and beginning
Before independence, an unofficial team was formed in 1928, comprising the best Tunisian players from the Tunisian League. The team's first match was on 11 March 1928, against the France national football B team; Tunisia lost 8–2. Their next friendlies, against the same team on 23 March 1930 and 26 March 1933, also resulted in heavy defeats: 0–5 and 1–6 respectively.
Tunisia had to wait until 1932 for their first match win: a 1–0 victory over French Algeria. Most of the matches that Tunisia played in the 30s and 40s were against French teams, whether it was French Algeria, the French military team or the France B team, in addition to a match against the France national team in 1941. Most of these matches were played at the Stade Vélodrome in Tunis.
1956–1962: Post independence, First international participation Tunisia gained independence from France on 20 March 1956. The Tunisian Football Federation was founded on 29 March 1957 and the Tunisian team played a match with Austrian club FC Admira Wacker Mödling on 30 December of the same year, winning 4–1. Tunisia became affiliated with FIFA and the Confederation of African Football in 1960. The independent Tunisia played their first match against Algeria on 1 June 1957, in the midst of the Algerian War, in which Tunisia lost 2–1. They played their first official match at the 1957 Arab Games where they won against Libya 4–3 after scoring the first Tunisian goal in an official competition by . They won against Iraq 4–2 and Lebanon 4–2 before losing in the final against Syria 3–1. In 1960, Yugoslavian Milan Kristić became the first foreign manager. The national team qualified for the 1960 Summer Olympics, their first international event after beating Malta, Morocco and Sudan. In the Olympic Games, the team suffered three defeats: against Poland 6–1, Argentina 2–1, and Denmark 3–1. Frane Matošić was appointed as the second Yugoslav coach of Tunisia after Kristić led Tunisia to qualify for the Olympics.
1962–1978: Golden generation, First World Cup participation
In 1962, Tunisia entered the African Cup of Nations qualifiers for the first time. The team qualified for the tournament after beating Morocco and Nigeria, and went on to finish third after beating Uganda in the third-place match. The team won the 1963 Arab Cup, after winning against Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait. Tunisia also qualified for the 1963 Africa Cup of Nations, and CAF decided that Tunisia would host the 1965 AFCON, making the final after beating Ethiopia 4–0 in the opening match in Stade Chedly Zouiten, losing 3–2 to Ghana in extra-time of the final. Despite this early success, Tunisia did not enter the Cup of Nations again until 1976, and did not qualify until 1978. In 1973, the team entered the Palestine Cup of Nations and won in dominant fashion, winning all six of their matches overcoming Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq, scoring 19 goals. In February 1975, after a short stint with Hungarian manager André Nagy, Abdelmajid Chetali was hired. Tunisia qualified for their FIFA World Cup debut in 1978. Tunisia defeated Mexico 3–1, but were defeated by Poland 1–0, and drew scoreless against defending champion West Germany.
1978–1994: Decline and Missing six editions of the AFCON After their inaugural World Cup, Tunisia experienced a decline. Between 1980 and 1992, the team managed to qualify for only two tournaments: the 1982 African Cup of Nations, and the 1988 Summer Olympics. In both, they were knocked out in the first round. They, however, reached the last round of the 1986 World Cup qualifiers by beating Nigeria before being defeated by Algeria. Former Cameroon manager Jean Vincent was hired but the team was unable to qualify for the 1988 African Cup in Morocco after a defeat against Algeria.
The team experienced poor results in the African Games with defeats against Cameroon, Madagascar and Kenya. Taoufik Ben Othman, assistant manager in 1978, improved Tunisia's results, as they qualified for the Olympic Games after surpassing Morocco and Egypt in the qualifiers. However, he was removed days before the start of the competition after poor results in the 1988 Arab Cup and failure to win in their matches against Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq, as well as friendlies against Malta, Finland and East Germany. Polish manager Antoni Piechniczek was temporarily appointed and supervised the team in the first round of 1990 World Cup qualifiers and also in the finals of the Olympic Games; in the latter, Tunisia tied China 0–0 and Sweden 2–2 and lost to West Germany 4–1. Mokhtar Tlili was appointed manager, however, he still missed the African Cup in 1990 after a defeat to Senegal. Piechniczek returned but still failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. Despite missing the 1992 African Cup, the federation renewed confidence in him because of the respectable performance he had given in the qualifiers; an early exit from the World Cup qualifiers for 1994 contributed to his dismissal after a draw with Morocco. Youssef Zouaoui replaced him; Tunisia hosted the 1994 African Cup of Nations replacing original hosts Zaire, but finished at the bottom of the group, after a 2–0 loss to Mali and a draw with Zaire.
1994–2002: Beginning of Resurgence, 1996 AFCON runners-up Henryk Kasperczak became the new manager after Tunisia hosted the 1994 African Cup of Nations. Tunisia qualified for the 1996 AFCON and finished second in their group, putting them through to the quarter-finals. Tunisia went on to beat Gabon in the quarter-finals and Zambia in the semi-finals, to reach their first major final in 31 years, but lost to host country South Africa 2–0. Tunisia reached the quarter-finals of the 1998 African Cup of Nations in the lead of the group with a win over DR Congo, Togo and a defeat from Ghana, where they were eliminated in a penalty shootout by host country Burkina Faso. The team also qualified for that year's World Cup after a 20-year absence: they again failed to advance from the group stages, losing 2–0 to England and 1–0 to Colombia, and drawing 1–1 with Romania. Kasperczak was sacked and replaced with Francesco Scoglio, who guided the team to the 2000 African Cup of Nations, where they finished in fourth place after losing to Cameroon in the semi-finals. The following year, Scoglio departed to rejoin Genoa CFC, sparking a period of severe instability. Eckhard Krautzun initially took over and guided the team to a second World Cup appearance, but then resigned, citing interference from the Tunisian FA with his coaching. Henri Michel replaced him, but was sacked when Tunisia crashed out of the 2002 African Cup of Nations without scoring a single goal after scoreless draws with Senegal and Zambia and a defeat from Egypt. Finally, Ammar Souayah took over in time for the 2002 World Cup; the team drew in friendlies with Norway and South Korea and were defeated by Denmark and Slovenia. In the finals, Tunisia exited the tournament in the group stage, drawing 1–1 with Belgium, losing 2–0 to Russia and co-hosts Japan, prompting a search for a new manager.
2002–2008: Roger Lemerre era, 2004 AFCON champions
In September 2002, the Tunisian Football Federation announced that it was finalizing a contract with former France manager Roger Lemerre. Tunisia hosted the 2004 African Cup of Nations, winning the group. They defeated Senegal in the quarter-finals, and Nigeria in the semi-finals. Tunisia built a 1–0 lead after four minutes with Mehdi Nafti's concentration pushed by Francileudo Santos, before Morocco levelled. Tunisia restored their lead, giving them their first African Cup of Nations title. They also won the CAF's African National Team of the Year award. Lemerre became the first manager to win two different continental tournaments, having previously won Euro 2000 with France. As a result, Tunisia qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany, playing the hosts, Argentina and Australia. The only points they would win was a victory over Australia. Before their 2006 World Cup appearance, Lemerre took the Tunisians to a training camp in Switzerland, where they played international friendlies against Swiss clubs. Tunisia would only record one draw in Germany, against Saudi Arabia, losing against Spain and Ukraine. Hatem Trabelsi announced his retirement from international football after eight years, and Lemerre led Tunisia to the 2008 African Cup of Nations. Tunisia won their 2008 AFCON group after a draw in the opening match against Senegal 2–2, a 3–1 victory over South Africa, and a goalless draw against Angola. They then lost against Cameroon 3–2 in extra time.
2008–2014: Disappointments and missing the World Cup
Portuguese Humberto Coelho was appointed as the new manager on 3 June 2008. Coelho would fail to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Faouzi Benzarti was appointed as the new manager, and was also sacked after Tunisia were eliminated from the group stage in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. In June 2010, Bertrand Marchand was appointed manager for a two-year contract. After a series of horrendous results, Tunisia fell to 65th in the FIFA World Rankings, the worst in its history. Sami Trabelsi was appointed, and the team qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, where they were eliminated in the quarter-finals after a defeat by Ghana.