2007 Teams - Etoile Sahel Team Profile

Etoile Sahel have appeared in the group phase of the MTN CAF Champions League on three previous occasions, reaching the final in 2004 and 2005.

But in was in the old African Cup Winners’ Cup and CAF Cup that the side from the coastal city of Sousse made their biggest mark, winning both of the continental competitions twice. They appeared in four CAF Cup finals.

They were winners of last year’s Africa Confederation Cup, beating Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces on the away goal rules. They two sides share the same group in this year’s MTN CAF Champions League.

In May, Etoile ended a decade without success in the Tunisia league, having finished runners-up for seven successive seasons. The club has provided many of the north African country’s leading internationals including Zoubeir Baya, who went on to play in the German Bundesliga, and Kaies Ghodhbane, a previous winner of the Arab Footballer of the Year award, now back at the club after a spell in Turkey.

The club was also responsible for the importation of Brazilian-born Clayton and Francileudo dos Santos, who both went on to take Tunisian nationality and play for the Carthage Eagles.

Etoile Sahel are coached this season by Frenchman Bertrand Marchand, who last season was with Club Africain, pipped at the post to the Tunisian title by Etoile Sahel.