Coach: Mohamed Ali Sghir
Key Players: Slim Skander (Goalkeeper), Abdelaziz Helaoui (Left Back)
Road to Qualification: Runners-up – 2014 African Men’s Junior Championship
History in Tournament: 1977: Disqualified, 1979-1995: DNQ, 1997: 8th, 1999: 9th, 2001: 18th, 2003: 9th, 2005: 17th, 2007: 17th, 2009: 21st, 2011: 3rd, 2013: 15th
Overview:
Tunisia took part in the first IHF Men’s Junior World Championship held in Sweden in 1977, but the team were disqualified after playing the preliminary round. 20 years later, in Turkey, they participated in their second U21 WCh. They pulled off an astonishing performance and finished eighth, momentously defeating Poland (4th in that championship) in the first phase to rank at the top of Group B.
Since 1997, Tunisia has competed in all Junior World Championships and finished in the top ten on three more occasions. In Qatar (1999) and Brazil (2003) they were ninth, whilst in Greece in 2011 they made a big leap from 21st at the previous championship to win the bronze medal.
On that occasion, the African side defeated Spain in the quarter-final (31:30) with 12 goals from Amine Bannour – currently one of the most outstanding players in their senior team. In the semi-final they lost to Denmark, but then played a formidable match to beat Egypt in the third-place play-off.
After they finished 15th in the last edition of the World Championship, in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2013, the team coached by Mohamed Ali Sghir look forward to improving their ranking in Brazil.
At the 2014 African Men’s Junior Championship, Tunisia were not able to achieve their fourth gold medal following those accomplished in 2002, 2008 and 2012. They beat Libya and Guinea in the first round and Algeria in the semi-final (26:18), but were beaten by Egypt in the final (23:25) to take the silver. The first three teams at the tournament qualified for the World Championship.
Head coach Mohamed Ali Sghir, former trainer of the women’s senior Tunisia team, will have some promising players in offensive positions in Brazil, such as Abdelaziz Helaoui. The El Makarem de Mahdia left back has scored 137 goals in 36 international matches for the African side. Sghir will also count on centre backs Bilel Abdello (120 goals) and Hamza Kablouti (114).
At the 2015 U21 WCh Tunisia will face a demanding debut against title-holders Sweden. They will also share Group A with Russia, Netherlands, Belarus and Paraguay.
To gear up for Brazil they met local club team El Makarem de Mahdia and the result was 32:28 in favour of the junior national squad. Tunisia was supposed to participate in the Scandinavian Open Championship from 8 to12 July, playing Sweden, Denmark and hosts Norway, but they did not participate because of visa complications.
Group at Brazil 2015:
Group A: Sweden, Russia, Netherlands, Tunisia, Belarus and Paraguay
Games at Brazil 2015:
All times local
Monday 20 July: SWE-TUN (09:30)
Tuesday 21 July: TUN-RUS (16:15)
Thursday 23 July: TUN-BLR (14:00)
Friday 24 July: PAR-TUN (20.45)
Sunday 26 July: NED-TUN (11:45)