Etoile Sahel

Beginnings (1925–1931)

The club was founded during a public meeting at the French-Tunisian school on Laroussi Zarrouk Street, in Sousse. Chedli Boujemla was elected as the first chairman of the multi-sport club. La Soussienne and La Musulmane ("The Muslim") were rejected as club names in favor of Etoile Sportive. Club members eventually settled on Etoile Sportive du Sahel to reflect the goal of representing a broader region than Sousse alone. The Protectorate administration officially recognized the club on 17 July 1925. In March 1926, Ali Larbi became chairman of the soccer section of the club, which entered the Tunisian Football Federation.

Its first team members were Mohamed Bouraoui, Abdelkader Ben Amor, Abdelhamid Baddaï, Sadok Zmentar, Ali Guermachi, Mohamed Mtir, Benaïssa Hicheri, Béchir Dardour et Tahar Kenani.

In March 1926, Ali Laarbi became president of the football section affiliated to the Tunisian Football League (number 4922). After a year of running in which the club played friendly matches, it enters the Honor Promotion Division Center, which corresponds to the second division ranked under the South-South Division of Honor, which awards the title of regional champion.

ESS played in the final of the national championship against the North Champion.

The lineup was: Mohamed Bouraoui, Abdelkader Ben Amor, Abdelhamid Baddai, Sadok Zmentar, Sadok Chalouat, Ali Guermachi, Mohamed Mtir, Benaïssa Hicheri, Bashir Dardour and Tahar Kenani.

The club played the leading roles and matured in 1930–1931, where it won the regional championship and then played against the champions of the Southwest (La Gafsienne) and the South (Club Sportif Gabesien). He entered the honor division to no longer experience a lower division demotion.

Stability and improvement (1931–1939)

On 25 June 1931, the club held its general meeting early enough to prepare the new season. The elected committee is composed of:

Abderrahman Limam and Mustapha Ghachem (vice-president)

Ahmed Mlayeh and Salem Ben Hmida (members)

Abdelhamid Baddai is appointed coach. With young Habib Sayeh, Mustapha Ksia, Bouraoui Gnaba and Abdessalem Saad joining in quickly, the club won the district championship by scoring 31 goals in fourteen games and conceding ten goals. But it fails at the national level against the Italia, champion of the North (1–3 with a goal of Bashir Dardour and 2–4 with goals of Sadok Zmentar and Bashir Dardour), after leading 2–0 in the middle. time.

In 1934, he hired for the first time a qualified coach, the first Tunisian to obtain the license of the French Football Federation, Mohamed Boudhina, former coach of Esperance Sports Tunis and former player of FC Metz and AS Nancy. The team improves and reaches the semi-finals of the Tunisian Football Cup in 1937 and the final in 1939.

The Ligue de Tunisie de Football Association (LTFA) which was a Tunisian body affiliated to the French Football Federation has organized the national competitions during this period of the French protectorate of Tunisia.

Disruptions (1940–1946)

The outbreak of the Second World War disrupts sports activity: the team plays against El Makarem de Mahdia and the Patriote de Sousse in 1941 and a lost final of a Center-South region against the CS Gabèsien in 1942. This period saw the confirmation of great players like Habib Mougou, Sadok Soussi, Abdallah Ghomrasni, Abdelhamid Blal and Aleya Douik. The halting of competitions in the region leads to join the ranks of Grombalia Sports. The team resumed its activity in 1946: they won the Center-South championship but failed against the CA Bizertin in the national final and also lost the final of the Tunisian Cup against the other club of Bizerte, the Patrie Football Club bizertin.

Privileged position at the national level (1947–1955)

From 1946 to 1947, the Tunisian football championship was organized at the national level. The team that has never left the national division that called "Division of Excellence". In 1947, the team settled in fourth place in the local league in addition to the early exit of the cup from the round of 16 against the US Béja and Habib Mougou scored 13 goals to be the scorer of the team followed by Hamed Douik with 6 goals.

In the following year, ES Sahel maintained the same position in the league and was defeated in the Cup against Patrie Football Club bizertin in the semi-final. Mougou was the team's top scorer for the second year in a row with 11 goals.

In 1949 the team advanced and a finished second in the tournament and Habib Mougou was again a scorer with 10 goals and withdrew from the cup in the quarter-finals against the CS Hammam-Lif.

The team waited until 1950 to win their first league title, and Habib Mougou was the national league's top scorer with 20 goals, but he lost the cup final to CS Hammam-Lif again. ESS's first major honour was the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 title in 1950, but they had to wait 8 years to pick it up again.

In the year that followed this season, the team finished sixth in the championship, as was Bechir Jerbi, the team's top scorer, ending the domination of Mogou, in addition to the exit from the quarter-final against CS Hammam-Lif for the third year.