Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1
The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1, formerly known as the Tunisian National Championship between 1956 and 1994, is the highest-level football competition in Tunisia and is organised by the Tunisian Football Federation and the Ligue Nationale du Football Professionnel. The history of the competition is somewhat complex, with the first edition being held in 1907 during the French protectorate in Tunisia, organised by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, it was played in a knockout format, with the first official match taking place on 9 June 1907. In 1921, the Tunisian Football Association League was founded. It is the Tunisian branch of the French Football Federation and a member of the North African Football League, which remained in operation until independence in 1956.
On 29 March 1957, the Tunisian Football Federation was founded, the official governing body for football championships in Tunisia. The Tunisian Championship became professional in the 1994–95 season following the establishment of the Ligue Nationale du Football Professionnel, and the competition took its current name. Espérance Sportive de Tunis is the club that has won the title the most with 34 titles, the last of which was in the 2024–25 season. Coach Faouzi Benzarti has won the tournament on a record ten occasions with Espérance de Tunis, Étoile du Sahel and Club Africain, while Khalil Chemmam has won it twelve times, the most successful player, all with Espérance de Tunis.
The top two teams in the standings automatically qualify for the CAF Champions League, and the third-place team automatically qualifies for the CAF Confederation Cup, while the Tunisian Football Federation selects the clubs that qualify for the Arab Club Champions Cup. The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 ranked first in the Arab world and Africa, and fifteenth globally, according to the 2019 IFFHS rankings.
History
USFSA Tunisian Football Championship
Football was born in Tunisia in 1904 with the unofficial creation of the Racing Club de Tunis, formalized in 1905 but which had to wait for the creation of other clubs in Tunis and Bizerte to participate in an official competition. Then the government is obliged to take an active interest in it. It distributed a few grants, though very small. A committee of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, responsible for the management of all sports in Tunisia, was then created.In 1910, a first series championship was organized with the participation of the Racing Club, Sporting Club de Tunis, Lycée Carnot de Tunis, the Colonial School of Agriculture, the Football Club of Tunis and the Red Star Club de l'Ariana, and a second series made up of the second teams of Racing Club de Tunis, Sporting and Gallia Club. The national title is awarded after a final between Racing and Stade maritime de Bizerte with a score of 2–0.
There are then very few Tunisian player. But, surprisingly, La Dépêche tunisienne published on 12 June 1910 the list of players of the Khereddine Club team, called to play against the Ariana Club and who are all Tunisians. It is the first fully Tunisian team but which we have not heard from later and which precedes the Comète Club team, created in 1914 but which did not survive the First World War. The Racing Club won the championship in 1910, 1911 and 1914, then in 1920 and 1921, while Sporting de Ferryville was crowned in 1912 and 1913.
LTFA Championship
The championship became official with the creation of the Tunisian Football Association League in 1921 was established, which is the Tunisian branch of the French Football Federation. Until 1939, the title of champion was awarded following play-offs between regional champions. From 1946 to 1947, a championship of "excellence" is created and is contested at the national level. In 1944–1945, 1945–1946 and 1952–1953, the championship was not contested and replaced by a criterium. These years saw the creation of the Stade Tunisien.Media coverage
On 31 July 2015, the Tunisian Football Federation announced the sale of the TV rights of the championship to the company B4 Production for three seasons, starting from the 2015–16 season. The latter obtains the exclusivity of these rights concerning the Gulf and Maghreb countries, while maintaining the rights of the Al-Kass Sports Channel for the 2015–16 season and without questioning the rights of the El Watania 1, El Watania 2 and Hannibal TV channels in 2023, Diwan FM started broadcasting games on a new sports channel named Diwan Sport. to also broadcast the matches of the Championship and the Tunisian Cup.The federation and national television seal on 6 October 2016 an agreement on television rights for three seasons. Under the agreement, worth 13 million dinars, or 4.5 million per season, national television will be able to broadcast live four matches of each day of the championship. This agreement concerns the 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons and makes national television the exclusive broadcaster in Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1matches and the only television authorized to film all the matches of the week.
Trophy
According to the competition regulations, the Tunisian Football Federation adopts a new championship trophy every time a club wins the title for three consecutive seasons. Five cups have been adopted in the history of the competition since independence. The first trophy, a lion stretching out on a tree trunk, was adopted in the 1957-58 season, the first season organized by the Tunisian Football Federation. The first team to hoist it was Étoile Sportive du Sahel, and many other teams have won it, including Espérance Sportive de Tunis, Stade Tunisien, Étoile Sportive du Sahel, Club Africain, CS Sfaxien, Sfax RS, and JS Kairouan.It remained in use until the 1999–2000 season, after Espérance Sportive de Tunis won the championship for three consecutive seasons. The second trophy is a cup in the shape of an open-winged eagle standing on a football, mounted on a green marble base, and imported from Italy. Remarkably, Espérance Sportive de Tunis is the only team to have hoisted this cup and retained it so early, having won the championship for three consecutive seasons. The third trophy, also in the form of a closed-winged eagle centered on a wooden base, was imported from Italy and has been used since the 2003–04 season. It was first worn by Espérance Sportive de Tunis and won by other teams, including Étoile Sportive du Sahel, CS Sfaxien, and Club Africain. Espérance Sportive de Tunis retained it after winning the championship for three consecutive seasons.
The fourth trophy, an iron pole with a bronze football and two iron handles on top, was imported from France and adopted since the 2011–12 season. It was first worn by Espérance Sportive de Tunis and won by other teams, including Étoile Sportive du Sahel, CS Sfaxien, and Club Africain. Espérance Sportive de Tunis retained it after winning the championship for three consecutive seasons. The fifth emblem, adopted since the 2019–20 season, is an eagle with outstretched wings. This emblem is distinguished by its Tunisian design and manufacture. It weighs 17 kg, is 14 cm thick, is 50 cm long, and is 88 cm wide. The trophy is made of bronze and coated in 18-karat gold.
Qualification for African competitions
Association ranking for the 2024–25 CAF club season
The association ranking for the 2024–25 CAF Champions League and the 2024–25 CAF Confederation Cup is based on results from each CAF club competition from 2019–20 to the 2023–24 season.;LegendCL: CAF Champions LeagueCC: CAF Confederation Cup≥: Associations points might increase on basis of its clubs performance in 2023–24 CAF club competitions
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Current season
2025–26 season participating Clubs
Performance comparison since 2010
Performance comparison of top teams since 2009–10 season.Records and statistics
Most titled Managers
Faouzi Benzarti has won the tournament on a record ten occasions with Espérance de Tunis, Étoile du Sahel and Club Africain.Youssef Zouaoui have won the title on five occasions
Top scorers
The day after Tunisia's independence in 1956, the newspaper Le Petit Matin took charge of establishing the classification of the top scorer in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1.The newspaper Al Amal took over in 1961 then it was L'Action Tunisienne which formalized the classification and endowed it with a price from 1967, in parallel with the weekly Le Sport. Then, with the development of the media and the coverage of Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 matches, this ranking becomes more known.
Top scorers by season
This is the list of top scorers by season.
All-time table (1956–2020)General classificationThe classification of the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 table all seasons combined is a classification which aims to determine which team in the history of the Tunisian football championship has had the most success, not by the number of titles but by the number of points.This ranking combines all the points and goals of each team that has played in the Tunisian championship since independence in 1956 until the end of the 2019–20 season. African and international competitionsBest finish in African and international competitions by clubTunisian teams are among the best African teams with a total of 24 titles. 12 Tunisian team in total played in African competitions. Étoile du Sahel is the Tunisian club that has won the most African Cups with 9 titles, followed by Espérance de Tunis with 8 titles.Tunisian clubs also have a share in the FIFA Club World Cup with four participations, three for Espérance de Tunis in 2011, 2018 and 2019 thanks to the African Champions League title in 2011, 2018 and 2018–19 and the only participation of Etoile du Sahel in 2007, which was then ranked fourth as the best result for Tunisian teams in the FIFA Club World Cup. In the CAF Champions League, Tunisian clubs occupy a huge position in the competition. Espérance de Tunis has the most Tunisian clubs participating in the competition with 25 times. It reached the final 8 times and was crowned four times in 1994, 2011, 2018 and 2018–19. As for the Étoile Sportive du Sahel, he participated 13 times and reached the final 3 times and was crowned once in 2007, and finally Club Africain participated 10 times and crowned it in its first final in 1991, and Club Sfaxien was satisfied with second place in 2006 with four participations. In the CAF Confederation Cup, Tunisian clubs are the most crowned champions in the history of this competition with 5 championships. Club Sfaxien is the most crowned team with three titles in 2007, 2008 and 2013, followed by Étoile du Sahel with two titles crowned in 2006 and 2015. But misfortune always follows the Tunisian teams in the CAF Super Cup, as they participated 13 times and were crowned only 3 times. Etoile du Sahel won it in 1998 and 2008 and was satisfied with the runner-up in 2004, 2007 and 2016. As for Espérance de Tunis, it participated 5 times and won it once in 1995, and was satisfied with the runner-up in 1999, 2012, 2019 and 2020. As for Club Sfaxien, it participated three times in 2007, 2008 and 2014, one of which was against Etoile du Sahel in 2008.
Best finish in Arab competitions by clubTunisian clubs are the second most titled Arab clubs with 11 championships. Espérance de Tunis is the most titled Tunisian club in the Arab championships with 4 championships, followed by Club Sfaxien and Stade Tunisien with two championships each.Tunisian teams won the most prestigious Arab championships, Arab Club Champions Cup 7 times, 3 of which were for the Tunisian Espérance de Tunis, which has the record for the number of trophies in 1993, 2008–09 and 2017, two championships for the Club Sfaxien in the 2000 and 2003–04 editions, and one championship for Étoile du Sahel in 2018–19 and the same for Club Africain in 1997. As for the runners-up, the Tunisian teams took second place five times, twice for Espérance de Tunis in 1986 and 1995, twice also for Club Africain in 1988 and 2002, and Club Sfaxien in 2004–05. Tunisian clubs have won the Arab Cup Winners' Cup three times. Stade Tunisien is the most titled Tunisian club in the championship with 2 titles in 1989 and 2001, followed by Club Africain, which won the championship only once in 1995. As for Étoile du Sahel, it was satisfied with the runner-up position in 1995 in the match that brought it together with Club Africain.
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